Title

After the Queer Enclave: Masking Vernacular, and the Architecture of Sexual Minority

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Peter Randolph

Document Type

Thesis, Senior

Degree

B. ARCH

Date

Spring 2012

Keywords

queer space, sexuality, parking garage, Pittsburgh

Language

English

Disciplines

Architecture

Description/Abstract

"Queer architecture doesn't exist. That is, there is no such thing as a designated space for sexual minorities and sexually transgressive acts. Queer space is based in opportunistic insertions into dominant frameworks. It does not exist in permanent, formalized space but appears and disappears, subject to relationships of the context. This prompts the question: what is the agency of Architecture in constructing the space of others? How can architecture allow a queer inhabitation of liminal zones, creating private publics and interior exteriors?

"I contend that the discipline of architecture can articulate transient or provisional queer enclaves. If the research is going to be located in the "post-gayborhood" present, then the program of bar/club/transgressively-occupied public space/... can operate as a connector of atomized communities and a place of hyper-culture and hyper-memory, where a (constructed?) past can coexist with, feed, and offer counterpoint to a culture where certain queer elements are mainstreamed and normalized."

Additional Information

Advisors: Brendan Moran / Jean-Francois Bedard

Recommended Citation

Randolph, Peter, "After the Queer Enclave: Masking Vernacular, and the Architecture of Sexual Minority" (2012). Architecture Senior Theses. 60.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_theses/60