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Architecture and Sexuality: Details of Constructions

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Architecture and Sexuality: Details of Constructions ARCHITECTURE AND SEXUALITY 543 Architecture and Sexuality: Details of Constructions NICHOLAS PETTIT Miami University If we perceive the built environment through a par- see how people dress and how they act: their re- ticular cultural and societal lens then does it stand actions, body language, eye contact, and tone of to reason that we behave according to those per- voice. Society influences our behavior pattern; so- ceptions? If so, do construction details regarding ciety influences the masks we assume to appear the material assembly of physical space contribute natural or acceptable in any given situation. to our perceptions and, accordingly, behavior? Human sexuality and identity is a conditioned re- I am not certain that there is a concrete answer to sponse to a specific environment that is fashioned these questions, but I am asking these questions by religion, political climate, socio-economic class, to investigate the possible interrelationships of the and region. In the United States, our cultural norm built environment and the influences of sexual- is to classify human sexuality into a dichotomous ity and behavior. In my opinion, the factors that system. For example, heterosexuality is the domi- influence queer identity include assumptions and nant/normative identity, and homosexuality is the perceptions of both sexuality and architecturally group that does not fit into the classification of the constructed space. Using perceptions and assump- dominant lifestyle. I will refer to the dominant het- tions we make of sexuality, I draw on case stud- erosexual lifestyle and the social constructs that ies by Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, and Mies Van determine normal behavior and identity as hetero- Der Rohe to create a similar set of conditions that normativity. However, Queer theory, as presented describe the actual construction details of physical by the social critic and author, Steven Siedman, space and form, and discuss how the perception of considers that sexual identity lies on a spectrum space and form influences behavior in space. Also, between identifying as heterosexual and homosex- I will briefly discuss an ethnography of Brazilian ual, with the majority of people lying somewhere transgendered prostitutes through a lens of queer in the middle.1 Many examples of polyamorous theory to reference how the process of physically relationships occur throughout history, however creating a mask and persona is similar to creating through time, the heterosexual lifestyle has been an identity of a building. preferenced. NORMATIVE IDENTITY AND BEHAVIOR IN QUEER THEORY AND IDENTITY: SPACE: Heterosexuality is an identity that performs as the How do we determine which clothing and behav- dominant response to human sexuality. Of course ioral characterizations we assume in order to as- it is more natural in regards to procreation, but similate into a given social situation? Certain so- heteronormativity is a sexual identity that encom- cial situations have different expected behaviors, passes only a specific behavior of sexual identities, but how do we understand those expectations? We yet it has gained the most social and political power 544 WHERE DO YOU STAND because a majority of people identify as heterosex- shouldn’t be talking about or expressing or letting 3 ual. My concern is not the history of sexuality but someone find out.” the actual behavior of people in everyday situations The closet, or place of complete privacy, is a con- that negotiate normative behaviors based on social struction that allows queers to experiment and cre- and architectural stimuli in a given situation. ate their personal identity. I am interested in the closet as a metaphor that allows a queer to put on People who have homosexual desires and/or ten- masks and act out a routine that does not ques- dencies can learn to appear, act, and assimilate tion his/her heteronormativity. Could the metaphor into heteronormative society by assuming certain of the ‘closet’ be analogous to a building’s facade, behavioral characteristics. These characteristics an image projected upon and within a site? Do the are specific to a cultural and regional context. Usu- details of the façade construction reveal or mask a ally, a queer person assumes a set of behaviors building’s contextual relationship to site, or a build- that do not cause people to question their sexual ing’s function within site? Much like people of queer identity. Then, once someone embraces their queer identity assuming a certain guise, architecture can identity, they begin the experience of “coming out become a signifier or enable a certain identity in a of the closet” to people about their sexual identity. particular context. It is something that queer people go through to truly embrace their identity. The closet is a meta- Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building: phor that represents the suppression of one’s true identity by creating a façade. Critic and author, Taking up a block on Madison Ave between 55th Aaron Betsky describes this as follows: and 56th Streets in New York City, the AT&T head- “What is the closet? … It contains the building blocks quarters became the stamp of the post-modern for your social constructions, such as your clothes. movement in the United States. Johnson’s design The closet also contains disused pieces of your past. became the image that signifies the AT&T Corpora- It is a place to hide, to create worlds for yourself out tion and now has become the façade of the Sony of the past and for the future in a secure environ- ment … the closet contains both the secret recesses Ericsson Company. The AT&T building adapts to the of the soul and the masks you wear. Being in the zoning requirements of midtown in an interesting closet means that you surround yourself with the way, and continues to address the public very dif- emblems of your past and with the clothes you can ferently after the change in ownership. wear, while covering yourself in darkness.” 2 The practice of putting on a façade to assimilate AT&T was in a process of reimagining its image as into heteronormative culture is Betsky’s reference the largest company in the world but also retain- of a queer’s performance. In Western cultures, ing its ability to identify with the everyday man. people who are gay do not have a fully accepted Many within the company subscribed to the image lifestyle, nor are their political rights fully intact. of “Midwestern humility, Gray suit anonymity” for Because gay people suffer discrimination, queers the communications giant. However, the CEO at the have learned to slip into dominant culture by learn- time, John DeButts, chose Johnson based on a pre- ing to dress, behave, and work in an environment sentation of two images of the Seagram Building that does not socially accept or politically legitimize and Pennzoil Place, as well as his vision to create 4 their homosexuality. The behavioral actions that an iconic image. As designed, Johnson’s vision for allow a gay person to assimilate into society is a the company created an icon on a grand and heavy queer’s performance. An example of this is the ex- scale. The broken pediment perched atop the build- periences and identity of Susan Stanton. Ms. Stan- ing became the single most identifiable signifier of ton is a city manager in Florida, and used to be a the AT&T building and the new image it was putting heteronormative (married with a child) male. In an out to the world. The façade consists of granite pan- interview on CNN, she describes her experience in els, which in places are up to ten inches thick, add- a journal, which is essentially her closet: ing up to about three times as much material than was standard at the time it was built.5 The bulking “The thing that the journal gave me was a place up of granite panels weight and thickness required where I could share those thoughts (questioning of six thousand tons of steel than what would normal- her gender) in a very secure private and a protected ly be required for typical construction. The granite area because at that very early age… you just kind of know that those thoughts are things that you cladding creates a monolithic façade, but the thick ARCHITECTURE AND SEXUALITY 545 Figure 2: “The Genius of Electricity” by Beatrice Longman Ave. On either side of the narrow lobby, was an open space for the public. It was a space to be inhabited by pedestrians, but was not designed to the degree that the interior lobby was. Now that space has been closed off for retail space for the new owners, the Sony Corporation. The feel of the Figure 1 Detail Drawings AT&T headquarters does not offer the amenities or accessibility that other surrounding buildings pro- vide further isolating it solidity. veneer creates a heavy building, punctured by lines Johnson gave the whole project an unmistakable of glass that are supported by mullions of slivers of symbol of a solidly conservative corporation. How- granite. The fenestration details negotiate the scale ever, the anonymity and humility that the company and visual weight of the building. subscribed to was not to be seen or felt by the public. The materiality and scale of the building creates a The base of the building was originally designed to disconnect to those on the street level. The building be like and Egyptian Hypostyle hall. Zoning laws seems excessive and closed off, but once you enter however required a plaza and commercial shops on the lobby the grandeur becomes highly polished and ground level. To maintain the iconic imageand ne- light. Johnson pushed to have “The Genius of Elec- gotiate zoning restrictions, Johnson raised the first tricity”, a golden statue of the winged Mercury, to floor off the ground and created a glazed commer- fill the lobby.
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