A School with Room for Queerness

Abstract

The thesis is an exploration of what is experienced in the learning sphere from a queer perspective.

Traditional schools in Japan have followed a very regimented plan, with linear corridors leading into highly standardized classrooms – here, “straightness” is literally engineered into the architecture of the school building. This thesis explores a school that leaves room for queerness, fluidity and ambiguity.

The proposed school is on Nakanoshima, Osaka, where commercial mega buildings live as discrete objects on the island in the center of the city – an antithesis to the dense, intimate gay districts in Japan.

Studying queer spaces in Japan is especially relevant today because the social climate on LGBT acceptance is shifting. Queer spaces like the gay district in Shinjuku Ni-chome are becoming more “normalized” and even transforming into tourist destinations. However, because “queerness” is still not legally accepted nor protected, there is still a need for safe queer spaces to exist. Queer spaces have typically occupied residual spaces, many of them hidden. This includes gay and lesbian bars which are considered spaces for adults and are in some cases sexualized. This thesis is not about gay bars and other queer spaces that we may typically think of. Rather, it explores queer architecture for youth who are still in their adolescence and beginning to explore their identities, especially in a country like Japan where an outdated legal system largely ignores the existence of the queer population and where the pressure to conform is high.