The concept of queer space has always fascinated me – it’s not an established spatial typology that can be concretely defined by physical qualities or specific uses. Queer space instead offers a lens that celebrates the idiosyncratic, qualitative and evolving nature of the spaces we inhabit, which are particularly significant to non-conventional communities. This way of understanding space dovetails with my research on social value where there are fundamental commonalities - promoting inclusion and access, celebrating minority communities, and ultimately showing a sense of care.

At the last Orms’ Friday Forum, we invited Daniel Ovalle Costal, an architect and lecturer at the Bartlett. We both presented a distinct area of research within the field of queer space. Daniel’s doctoral research at the Bartlett explores domestic queer spaces by using the practice of doll-house making to reconsider how homes are designed as part of a co-design process. Daniel presented an incredibly textured and finely detailed doll-house they made as part of their research, with each space referencing queer domestic spaces found historically and in pop culture. The presentation prompted us to think about how a fundamental aspect of design should be how spaces can be made accessible to all modes of living.

My research considers the theme of ‘ephemerality’, a term that is often used in the study of queer nightlife spaces because of their liminal and transient nature. The research looks at how ephemerality plays out in queer nightlife spaces at the scale of the city (in communities that are in a continuous cycle of displacement to evade gentrification), the scale of the night club (exemplified in a case study of Diller, Scofidio and Renfro’s Blur Building pavilion), and the scale of the body (explored through my casting work). In the latter, I presented some of my casts that explore how a specific moment in time between two particular people can be made permanent through a jewellery-like object. Aluminium pebbles with skin casts of the knee and thigh of two participants were made through the process of sand casting. This process captures the specific conditions of that moment in time, as the compaction and moisture of the sand determines the quality of the cast. When placed between the two wearers, the pebbles become a piece of jewellery that captures this liminal interaction.

When not worn, the pebble becomes an inanimate object.

The research asks us to consider the intimate qualities of the spaces we design and question how we might design buildings that connect people to each other and that cater for groups not usually accounted for. These are key themes that need to be considered in how we define, implement and measure social value in our projects with a view to produce buildings that show a sense of generosity.