research & working methodology

In the case of “Operation Soap,” a series of brutal police raids in the Toronto bath houses of 1981, a moment of crisis reveals how spatial dynamics are often inseparable from social dynamics. This juncture of conditions and identities best describes how I began thinking about the proposal physically.

Though I knew that “queer space” would be an elusive subject, the potentials of its architectural and social implications kept the explorations alive. This is where I began connecting the physical struggles within city spaces to more metaphysical struggles of politics and ideology; a clearer definition of site, user, and specificity evolved. In a review of Stud: Architectures of Masculinity by Joel Sanders, Ira Tattelman argues for a realization of the city’s larger straightness that rings unfortunately true still today:

“The queer use of space offers fluctuating positions; queer people assert their flexible identities rather than take on the identities imposed by others. They live on the margins, critical of, or at least distant from, the norms that most people take for granted. Imagine a culture where the institutions of heterosexuality do not determine human relationships and order society. The presence of same-sex or transgendered partners on the streets, kissing or holding hands, and the discomfort and social anxiety it can cause help one understand how straight the city is.”