BAHAYHARI: Home for the LGBTs (An Integration of Queer Space Design into a Housing Development through Gender-Sensitive Architecture)
THESIS PROPONENT: John Allyson A. Guillen
THESIS ADVISER: Ar. Sarah Jane Pahimnayan-Pagador
SCHOOL: Polytechnic University of the Philippines, College of Architecture, Design, and the Built Environment
YEAR OF DEFENSE: 2023, (July 07, 2023)
Thesis Summary
Queer people deserve inclusion and equality in every facet of society. As a minority, queer people experienced so much oppression and struggle up to this day. Architecture can facilitate creating a comfortable, inclusive, and uniting space for representation, diversity, and dignity. This thesis will explore the concept of queer space as a space for empowerment while arguing the assertion that queer space cannot be designed. Queer space in architecture is connecting the relationship between queer social narratives and their impact on spatial conditions. These spaces are important for a minority community that is vastly pushed outside the common culture—neglected, overlooked, and unprivileged with the right to be heard. The goal of the development is to have community housing with facilities that will provide shelter and housing, a health center with HIV/AIDs services and gender-affirming care, a livelihood training center, and community-centered spaces for all those within the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies.
This proposed design intervention will be the embodiment of a strong queer identity in architecture and to society. This thesis validates the queer approach to design that will challenge the binarization of architecture—exterior/interior, exclusion/inclusion, and simplicity/complexity—instead of being defined by heteronormative social and architectural norms. Blurring these thresholds is the inherent challenge for a space that welcomes the boundaries while negating its power to encourage socialization across, through, and within. Applying the queer approach to architecture will create vibrant moments that will evoke an opportunity to connect the emotional stories of unprivileged queers and their spatial narratives. This will give people the agency to distort their preconceived notions of the binaries of architecture and develop an understanding of what queer space is and its representation of the urban fabric.
For the last several decades, the standard for queer statistics has been Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s claim on the LGBTQ+ population comprises 10% of the general population. However, the proponent used the University of the Philippines Population Institute’s study on sexuality to grasp the context of queer people in the country. According to their study, the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFSS) that was conducted from August 2021 to October 2022, an average of 7% of the respondents answered that they are not exclusively heterosexual. Additionally, 24% of these are young adults who are aged 15-24 years old.
Moreover, a study from Pew Research Center revealed that the vast majority of Filipinos, with 73%, declared that “society should accept homosexuality”. However, 65% of Filipinos said that homosexuality was morally unacceptable. This leads to hate crimes and discrimination. 1 in 3 queers are assaulted by a family member after coming out that’s why 47% of queer people say that they do not “fit in” in their community.
According to a study, LGBTQ+ youth and the elderly are at risk of homelessness at a 30%-40% rate. These findings indicate that the vulnerabilities and trauma of homelessness are highly likely to be present in LGBTQ+ youth and elderly populations. They are more likely to face homelessness compared to their heteronormative counterparts, who are less likely to face familial rejections. Parental rejection of a child coming out about their gender identity is an often-mentioned reason causing LGBTQ+ youth homelessness. The adverse effects of "coming out" can include hostility, abuse, rejection, and even expulsion from the family home. LGBTQ+ adolescents run the risk of losing not only their physical home but also the mental security and support it offers. A home is more than just a place to dwell; according to one author, "it is a location that offers roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging, and emotional well-being."
Furthermore, Due to the lack of social acceptance within families and localities, as well as the variety of people who are subjected to exclusion and violence, queer spaces, as seen in the form of community housing, continue to be in high demand. After conducting peer research and reviewing prior studies by the Albert Kennedy Trust, the LGBTQ+ Youth Commission (2016) discovered that: up to 24% of young people identify as LGBTQ+; 69% of homeless LGBTQ+ youth have experienced violence, abuse, or rejection from the family home; and 77% claim that their queer identity was a contributing factor in their homelessness. In light of this research, it is still vital for queer people to have access to suitable housing.
Many drag artists in Manila experienced homelessness in their lifetime due to their line of work not being accepted by their families. Transgender people frequently experienced more severe forms of discrimination and trauma. LGBTQ+ people who are experiencing poor mental health are at a high risk of suicide if they do not have access to treatment resources. Looking at the link between homelessness and poor mental health in LGBTQ+, "is complicated by the fact that LGBTQ+ youth often experience homelessness because of parental rejection or other home-based issues related to their sexual orientation or gender identity." The loss of a stable home, emotional support system, and lack of access to help can impact the mental health of LGBTQ+ people so negatively that they seek to escape any way they can.
The term “queer space” is not about static architecture when we drift into queer studies, it is an ideality, or even it might not yet exist. (Muñoz 2009) Conversely, the perception of queer space is not who and what the space is designed for but of its performances and practices. Referencing the phrase that Jose Esteban Muñoz wrote in the book, “Cruising Utopia”, “the warm illumination” implies that the space can be drawn as the activeness of the space activities and people’s everyday practices, and all these are contextually encouraged. This can be simplified as a performance or an installation art that engages with the space from one or more people present in the audience.
Moreover, in a bigger lens to peer through, architecture space has undergone processes of queering, and a large social landscape is transformed and occurred in terms of the relationship between queer identity and society. For instance, when people think about queer space, they might be drawn to the outdated architectural metaphors intertwined with non-heterosexual identity: the closet and the bathrooms. Throughout the culture, “coming out of the closet” has been used extensively to describe a queer individual explicitly making their identity and preferences known. Nightclubs, bars, and dance floors are examples of LGBTQ+ venues for enjoyment and celebration outside of the private-public spaces of the washroom. Members of the LGBTQ+ have also discovered a sense of belonging and community in these places. Nightlife venues for queer people have aided in the beginning of fledgling romantic connections, the coming together of activists, and the "round table" for political conversations. A few of these areas have historically served to strongly represent freedom and safety.
The proponent’s goal is to utterly fulfill the principles of queer space design and gender-sensitive architecture to the development to address the needs of queer people in the urban setting and it will be achieved through the translation of ideas and concepts to livable spaces. Moreover, the proponent believes that the proposed project has a high possibility that might be considered in the future as a standard for the incoming housing developments in the Philippines with regard to gender sensitivity and inclusivity. The proponent’s integration of queer space through a gender-sensitive approach has questioned the problematic division of architecture that can take away the power of space from the users.
In closing, what we will be seeing in this discourse on queer spaces is well beyond how it could be conceived outside the academe. The inevitability of queer spaces and the increasing need for housing access for queer people in order to survive have been profoundly augmented by the issues of access, representation, inclusivity, and gender sensitivity. With the generalizations, gathered data, and data analysis, the proposal was strengthened to pursue context. The proponent found out that queer people have been actively pushing for LGBTQ+ rights to be heard by people in the city. Queer people have been screaming and demanding equality, inclusivity, and acceptance. This is what makes queer narratives so unique. This is only the beginning, and there are many exciting directions in which this research can move so that we can possess a deeper and broader picture of the spatial experiences of queer people and build a positive construction of queer in the built environment in which we live.
It is so important that moving forward in this thesis and in life socially and professionally to promote diversity and inclusion among people. A project like this has the potential to spread to a neighborhood and create a sub-culture within a larger urban fabric. It is the hope of this project that the process by which queer space is created can be accepted, replicated, and even created out of whole cloth in new and unknown spaces. Although this project represents only one small step in the direction of bridging the work of giants in the fields of architecture and queer scholarships, the need for similar study also cannot be understated. As Sylvia Rivera said, “We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are.”
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