Killing the Angel in the Mind, Home & Street A Thesis by Vaishnavi Ramesh
1
2
Killing the Angel, in the Mind, Body and Home A Thesis Presented in partial fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Architecture in the Department of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Vaishnavi Ramesh
Rhode Island School of Design May 29, 2017
Approved by
3
4
Special Thanks to Avais Sait This would not have been possible without you. Professor Hansy Better, Thesis Advisor You believed in me and my passion for challenging the patriarchy and oppression that women face in India. You helped me find my voice and push myself in ways I haven’t before. I feel I have come a long way, and you are partly responsible for my growth, both as a person and a designer. Thank you for listening to my ideas and visions and helping me navigate through them. Professor Joon lee, Thingamaji girls For helping me to see beyond gender discrimination and equality, and find beauty in femininity, feminine rage and materiality. Katheeja Talha You challenged me every step of the way, so that I don’t drift away into nonsensical theories, ideas and assumptions of the world. Thank you for our long conversations on what architecture means (and doesn’t mean) for marginalized people.
5
Preface
09
THESIS POSITION| What does a Thesis mean to me? 10 THESIS STATEMENT | Killing the Angel 11
Artifacts
09
01 | LANGUAGE
14
Same Language Different Words 02 | ATTIRE
16
Where are your Pockets? 03 | HOME
18
A Space that Belongs to the Both of Us 04 | STREET
20
Imagine This 05 | OBJECT
22
The Burden of Water 06 | OBJECTIFY
24
From Sevus as a Slave to Serve as my Duty
Writing
23
PROGRAM| Meaning in the Mundane 28
SITE| Narrow Minds and Sly Gazes 29
Process
27
PROBE| Movement of the genders 32 MAPPING| Movement of the genders 34 EXISTING CONDITION| Women’s spaces 38 EXISTING CONDITION| Men’s spaces 44 ANALYSIS| Visual and physical connections 48 STRATEGIES| Spatial qualities 50
6
Home | Rethinking the domestic EXISTING CONDITION
55
56
A Space that Belongs to the Both of Us DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS
60
Home of Pockets and Coners SITE PLAN
68
Gendered spatial analysis of a middle-class neighborhood DRAWINGS
72
Resultant Spatial conditions produced
Street| Experience of the flâneuse INTRODUCTION
93
94
flâneur/ flâneuse binary DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS
96
The street as a dangerous place for women CONCEPT
102
Addressing Gendered street corners by Appropriation TEMPLE CORNER TEA CORNER
106
116
PLAZA 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY
140
7
8
9
A man at least is free; he may travel over passions and over countries,overcome obstacles, taste of the most far-away pleasures. But a woman is always hampered. At once inert and flexible, she has against her the weakness of the flesh and legal dependence. Her will, like the veil of her bonnet, held by a string, flutters in every wind; there is always some desire that draws her, some conventionality that restrains. Gustave Flaubert on women’s position in 1850’s France as written in Madame Bovary.
THESIS POSITION| What does a Thesis mean to me? Thesis for me is a time for reflections, On past experiences, On dreaming about wanting to be, On meeting expectations of what is socially acceptable for a woman in societies, On humiliations, insecurities and shattered confidences, On incessantly being told what to wear and how to behave, so that I may feel safesafe in a public space or when I am traveling alone. Thesis for me is about power, To challenge and change perceptions, To be unshackled from societal acceptability, To empower women by negating differences and delineations, To create a platform to facilitate conversations that can deconstruct gender biases, Thesis for me is about slowing down, To investigate, To be inquisitive, To test my ideas, and finally To breathe. There are some important things to do and even more important things to ponder about.
10
THESIS STATEMENT
Killing the Angel in the Mind, Home & Street
There is something reassuring about belonging to a space. In patriarchal societies, there is a perceptible manifestation of gender that is constructed into spaces. The street and a public life contain within it the notions of movement that is unrestrained and free. These are attributes of a space that men identify with and an unintended consequence has resulted in public spaces being demarcated as male domains. This notion is embedded in how women experience life everyday, as they are accustomed to the idea that public spaces and streets are only spaces they pass through to reach destinations and not enjoy as a flâneuse . To me, a site must establish human relationships and human contact. Without it, it is meaningless. The site is a condition that exists both in the conscious and in the unconscious. The program addresses the relationship between the genders and attempts to dismantle the biases. It challenges the construction of gender in 3 scales
BODY HOME STREET How can boundries of social construct be pushed to liberate women through
their bodies, their homes and their streets?
How can women claim spaces and legitimate their right to belong in society as
equals?
How can space be reconstructed to allow for changed perceptions to take over? flâneuse is the female version of modernity’s urban stroller, derived from the French word Flâneur.
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Narrow Minds and Sly Gazes Dismantling the Unconscious
A site establishes human relationships and human contact. Without it, it is meaningless. A site belongs to a place in time. It recognizes and remembers the past. The site is bounded by narrow minds and sly gazes. The site is a place where what women wear and how they behave within it is everybody’s business. The site has not taken into account women and their needs and is waiting for a change. The site is a condition that exists both in the conscious and in the unconscious.
28
Meaning in the Mundane Program is a way to begin, and to go beyond where it can challenge the boundaries of social construct. A program activates the space by supplying a trigger that engenders all users alike. The program addresses the relationship between the genders and attempts to dismantle the biases. It challenges the construction of gender in 3 scales
The program springs from a need for multiple voices and shared experiences. The program is established by women who want to belong but are denied the right.
29
30
31
32
My probe was exploring an idea to degender spaces in male-dominated societies, by addressing the gaze as an important subject that is discussed in feminist literature, by extracting notions from the traditional Indian attire of the sari, worn by women. The quality of the veil, like the sari, selectively reveals and conceals. It conceals details of facial features giving a sense of anonymity. It reveals hazy definitions of bodies as silhouettes that can be viewed from the street, using the gaze as an advantage, that can be appropriated to degender spaces.
Can the porosity of the veil enable women to frequent places that are traditionally male dominated? Can the veil, as a mediator between the gaze and bodies effect how women experience gendered spaces?
33
34
Mapping the movement of the genders in the city of Chennai in South India and adding to them characters that are made up but exist in real life. Kavya is a nurse who takes the bus to work. She loves to read and attends cultural festivals in the weekends. Poorni is a maid. She walks to houses within a distance of 2 kms and sometimes takes her kids. In the evenings she likes to spend time with her friends in the temple. Sana is a 12- year old studying at the corporation school. She is seen studying in the evenings or helping her mother with household chores. She likes to take part in singing in cultural events organized by the temple during the holidays. Murali is an isthriwala. He wakes up in the morning to drink tea at the tea shop in the corner. He cycles to work, he covers a distance of 5 kms or more. In the evenings, he likes to have a few drinks at the local liquor store. Prakash is a software Engineer. The company bus takes him to his work place and covers a distance of about 25 kms. As he is waiting for his bus, he would have a smoke and read the papers. In the weekends he likes to play gully cricket on the street, with his friends from the neighborhood. Munna is a school boy and he loves to play. After school he is seen with his friends in the public playgrounds, playing cricket on the street or exploring new areas in his neighborhood. From the lives of these people, it becomes clear that men exhibit a dominant behavior when it comes to taking over the street, and women criss cross through the maze of these spaces and strategically avoid most of the male dominated zones.They make up for these lost lost public spaces by accessing other areas such as temples that are more intimate, and bounded by elements they are familiar with.
35
36
The city was not planned formally and its growth is radial from the city center out of need. The city center is where most of the commerce takes place, incredibly dense, where all the forces collide. Most of the people residing there are traders who live and work in the same locality. I am more interested in what is immediately skirting this, in a zone of medium density. This zone contains my story, where I lived, studied, worked and hung out and where I have experienced inequality in both the access and the experience of spaces that were supposedly meant for all but only actively used by specific people thereby excluding everyone else. This medium density zone is not formally divided into residential/commercial, but there are some streets within the neighborhoods that are commercial and mixed-use. My proposals consist of two ideas that I am interesting in exploring- as Spaces for leisure, or the experience of a flaneuse, as a woman who goes on a stroll in the city on a nice day, and a space to live, as a way of rethinking the domestic.
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
rethinking the domestic
55
56
a space that belongs to the both of us What makes home a home? A space that we can call ours, To be anyone we want to be, Away from prying eyes, All until, there is an intrusion of other bodies, Suddenly, there is a flux of movement, As atoms align to adapt to a different state, The genders move in and out of spaces, And huddle together in their rightful place, By practice and tradition, They move unconsciously, As women gather in kitchens and dining rooms, To discuss about their children and husbands, And as men gather around in living rooms, Discussing sports and politics, They feel a sense of reassurance that things are as they should be. My questions however, remain. How can the hierarchy of spaces within a home be tested? Can the spaces exist in multiple states? Can they in some way respond to both the genders, Instead of choosing sides?
57
How can the hierarchy of spa
Can the spaces exist
Can they in some way resp
Instead of cho
58
aces within a home be tested?
t in multiple states?
pond to both the genders,
oosing sides?
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
experience of a flâneuse
93
flâneur The Flaneur describes a modern man in 17th century France who wanders through urban life, sometimes observing and other times lost in the corners of his mind. He has the ability to go unnoticed, the freedom to be invisible, and he treats the street as an extension of his home, where he belongs. The Flaneur operates the same way in India and in most male dominated societies.
flâneuse The female version of the Flaneur. Is she A woman in the street going unnoticed? An invisible woman? Her mind lost in thought as she wanders? The street an extension of her home? A woman is judged for what she wears, who she is seen with, where she is seen and at what time of the day she is seen in public. When she is out in the street, there is no escape from scrutiny, and she cannot let her mind wander for too long, because she needs to be ready to engage. Her flight or fight instinct is just one step away in case she needs it.
94
appropriating a tea shop in the street corner
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
experience of the body increasing intensity of light towards the plaza increasing intimacy towards the temple
existing temple structure idol in a box lacks imagination and complexity movement of the body is restricted
public space as an extension qualities of a temple mandapa free the body to have multiple experiences unrestricted movement
102
existing gendered condition of the tea shop confront the corner and appropriate it by providing an access to the market clear visual connections to the street, market and plaza
kund as a flexible space for the genders, to gather, collaborate, and perform
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
1 | she enters the mandapa from the temple and finds comfort in the blue sky it frames and the park beyond
111
112
2 | she moves through the mandapa, as spaces begin to open up to reveal more of the sky
113
3| she walks on to discover a light filled courtyard where she begins to get glimses of the kund framed by the pillars 114
115
116
117
118
119
120
1 | at this point, she sees the entrance to the market to her left, but decides to take a stroll. she has some time left before her friends arrive.
121
2 | the market feels cozy and intimate despite the scale, and she haggles with the hawkers and engages in friendly conversation 122
123
3| patches of the roof disappear to reveal the sky as two structural grids collide. this also marks the entry into the kund 124
125
126
127
128
129
130
1 | she has a clear view of the inorganic market (tech shop) and observes the traders having a light conversation. she decides to buy a new hard drive
131
2 | she takes the stair from the street market which gradualy opens up to the kund at the upper level 132
133
3 | she looks out through the the jaali opening to see the temple mandapa 134
135
136
137
138
139
The Invisible Flaneuse? Gender, Public space and Visual culture in nineteenth-century Paris edited by Aruna D’Souza & Tom McDonough. The Sex of Architecture editors, Diana Agrest, Patricia Conway, Leslie Kanes Weisman. Negotiating Domesticity: Spatial productions of Gender in Modern Architecture edited by Hilde Heynen and Gülsüm Baydar. Women’s places : Architecture and Design 1860-1960 edited by Brenda Martin and Penny Sparke. Drawing Difference: Connections between Gender and Drawing Marsha Meskimmon and Phil Sawdon. Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction edited by Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner, and Iain Borden. Engendering the City: Women Artists and Urban space Marsha Meskimmon. Gendered Spaces Daphne Spain Building Domestic Liberty : Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Architectural Feminism Polly Wynn Allen Mind in Architecture, Neuroscience, Embodiment, and the Future of Design Juhani Pallasmaa, Sarah Robinson Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture Jeremy Till, Nishat Awan, and Tatjana Schneider Gender and the Built Environment in India Madhavi Desai Deep Veils Erik L’Heureux A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolfe Why Loiter?: Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets Shilpa Phadke 140
other resources Everyday Use Alice Walker What is a Thing? (selections) Martin Heidegger Mythologies Roland Barthes How to Conceive of a Girl Luce Irigaray The Alchemy of Race and Rights Patricia Williams A Cyborg manifesto Donna Harraway Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert Waiting to Exhale Terry Mcmillan Out Natsuo Kirino Tar Baby Toni Morrison Connection Mary Gaitskill Lovliest Grotesque Sandra Lim
141
142