Architecture CAMP: The Future of Gender in Spatial DesignArchitecture CAMP: The Future of Gender in Spatial Design

What do changing gender roles, practices and identities mean for the design workplace and for the construction of the built environment? The Center for the Advancement of Masculine Practices (CAMP) is an initiative by environmental psychologist Adeola Enigbokan and spatial strategist Gavan Blau to discuss decentering masculinity in architectural practice. Masculine practices are not limited to men. Rather, these have, historically, come to epitomize notions of leadership, assertiveness, strength, within the discipline and practice of architecture--stereotypes that, in turn, have manifested in androcentric, non-inclusive architectures.

CAMP connects communities, cultural producers, researchers, policymakers and industry leaders, across genders, to find alternative ways to lead. The evening will be hosted by Enigbokan and Blau with contributions from Arna Mackic, Gabriel A. Maher, and Pamela Prickett, Marianthi Tatari amongst others.

Architecture CAMP brings together educators, practitioners, and thought leaders to consider the future of gender in the built environment. The evening will consist of a panel discussion with leading gender theorists and architects followed by group discussions where to further examine questions raised in the panel, and flag issues for further research, and action. The objective of the evening will be to identify industry trends, and find out what skills, attitudes and practices are needed to develop inclusive, non-binary spatial designs.

This session is part of a larger initiative at Het Nieuwe Instituut to address the body, sexuality and the construction of gender for the development of inclusive approaches in the practice of architecture and urban planning. Architecture, as a discursive system, in its capacity in the production of space (social, public and domestic), and as a profession, is inherently linked to constructions of gender and sexuality, and to biopolitical control mechanisms. In addition, the structures of inequality in relation, among others, to the LGBTQIA collective, have been and continue to be embedded in the practice of architecture. An example of this are the recent debates about the legality of people belonging to the transgender community being able to use, in public buildings, bathrooms different from those of the gender registered in their birth certificates. In these battles, the role of architecture and spatial practices in the definition of binary essentialist oppositions is revealed. Therefore, projects such as Through Queer Eyes archive explorations, the Queering Architecture seminar, and Architecture CAMP provide methods to make visible the subjects and collectives whose sexuality differs from the heteronormative current, as well as the cases that were suppressed or simply ignored in order to privilege androcentrism. The aim of these initiatives is also to celebrate examples of architectures that embrace fluid identities and accommodate processes of becoming, as an act of resistance in the search for possibilities and spaces that allow different forms of coexistence.

Adeola Enigbokan is an environmental psychologist. She is excited to explore how the spaces in which we live and work can better express our values and commitments, as individuals and organisations. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the City University of New York and a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University. She currently lectures in Urban Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and Architecture at Gerrit Rietveld Academy.

Gavan Blau is an organisational strategist and human geographer. He works together with decision makers and communities to bring a holistic, research-driven approach to complex problems. He holds an LLB and BCom (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and an MSc in Economic Geography from the University of Amsterdam. He currently lectures in Landscape Architecture at RMIT University.

Arna Mačkić is an architect and co-founder of Studio L A. The studio has won several awards, including the Dutch Design Award 2014 and the Maaskant Prize for young Architects 2017, for their quest for an 'inclusive architecture' and new forms of public domain. She is also head of the Architectural Design department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.

Gabriel A. Maher is a designer currently living and working in the Netherlands. With a practice established in Interior Architecture and Social Design, their work centers on critical and analytical approaches to design and research. Within this sphere, they consider the effects of design and designing on bodies and the shaping of identity. They investigate relationships between bodies and spaces, objects and systems and media narratives. They deconstruct objects, spaces, sites, material artefacts or technologies to reveal how we--as individuals and communities--are positioned, organised and directed through design and media systems. These deconstructions are articulated in a visually analytic way and materialised as critical tools for dialogue. Their position and approach questions design and media practices through queer and intersectional feminist frameworks. To articulate, physicalise and activate this position they seek to create situations where research and design come together in performance.

Pamela Prickett is an award-winning urban ethnographer and sociologist. Her first book, Believing in South Central: Everyday Islam in an Inner City, draws on more than six years of fieldwork in a mosque in L.A. to understand how Muslim women and men draw on Islam as a blueprint for social life. At the University of Amsterdam, she leads the BA programme in urban sociology, teaching students how to find patterns of inequality in the city with special attention to spatial differences along gender, race, and class lines. She holds degrees from UCLA, LSE, USC, and Boston University. Before academia, Pamela worked as a broadcast journalist and television host.

Marianthi is an Associate Director and Senior Architect at UNStudio. Alongside her role in the Board of Directors, Marianthi is leading several projects with a focus on brand, design and system thinking. Her current projects include the Booking.com Campus in Amsterdam and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Residences in Istanbul. She has gained extensive experience worldwide with projects of varying scales in architecture, urbanism and interior design. Previously she has played a key role in the design of the Collector's Loft in New York, the Galleria Centercity in South Korea and the Doha Metro Network in Qatar.

Marianthi is a registered architect and graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where she studied Architectural Engineering. She received her Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

Before the Thursday Night you can grab a bite to eat with the speakers and staff of Het Nieuwe Instituut. At 18:00 Het Nieuwe Café will a light vegetarian meal. Dinner vouchers are available for ¬ 7.70 up to a day before the particular Thursday Night event via the Tickets link.

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