The Vignette of a Gender Zeitgeist

Abstract

Queer genders often exist outside architecture, due to the binary spaces the practice has made hegemonic. Sociologists in the last ten years have been documenting the negative social, psychological, and physical effects of gender-segregated spaces on persons with Queer gender identities. In the last two years, changes have been made to the International Plumbing Code, and civil discrimination laws to accommodate for bathroom typologies outside gender-segregated options. By utilizing Public Interest Design methods, questions like — what inclusive bathroom spaces do stakeholders want, what do persons with Queer gender identities want in inclusive bathrooms, can these two interest groups’ programs be integrated — are what this thesis uses installations, mapping, and social inquiry to answer. It is the aim of this thesis, The Vignette of a Gender Zeitgeist, to be a tool for architects to develop as Queer gender norms, social geographies, and architectural paradigms change.