With this said, the intent of this essay is to focus on suburban residencies [away from a ‘man’s world’ – urban spaces] to investigate the extent to which spatial composition, in regards to public vs. private and internal vs. external spaces, undermine a woman’s existence and character due to phallic power/ patriarchal society and how spaces have evolved, from modern to contemporary architecture, to naturalize the co-existence between opposite subjects. The effect of spatial compositions will be assessed through Irigaray’s visions of feministic ideologies and gendered spaces and Lacan’s views of women and female existence to ultimately prove that spatial segregation towards gender is only a psychological stigma supported by metaphorical views of space.
SPATIAL COMPOSITION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES Irigaray, as a biased extremist, states that while external spaces are associated with masculinity, female subjects are associated with both external and internal spaces “because no single discrete boundary defines a woman’s sexual experience or biological organs” (Rawes, 2007, p.20). In other words, the external and internal or public and private spaces in architecture must be unconsciously expressive of their function and allow the coexistence of subjects hence, dismissing gendered spaces. Contrastingly, Lacan’s phallocentric comprehension of space, suggests that the absent, non-existing nature of the female subject is prevalent through form and acutely agrees with Irigaray’s biased adamance of the ‘absolute patriarchy’. Meanwhile, he advocates that a form may potentially be indicative of masculine or feminine qualities, through user occupancy, that arguably creates a bias among space. Therefore, in Lacan’s eyes, the feminine absences is physically represented through private spaces as they are not as inclusive or have a larger user capacity inhabiting the space in comparison to public spaces that are significantly more powerful in terms of user experience and flow. As public spaces are created for a more social experience, “Lacanian theory eliminated women … from meaningful participation in society” (Willette, 2013). Lacan’s influence or the subconscious outcomes of patriarchy is fluent in modernist architecture as seen in the Frederick C. Robie House (figure 1) built in 1906, Chicago, USA. As per client’s request, Frank Lloyd Wright’s design initiated a new domestic residential style in the suburbs of Chicago: the Prairie style following the American horizontal landscapes. Even though not intended, Wright’s spatial compositions that attempt to portray an open space within the interior, debatably, supports the Lacanian theory of gendered spaces in which the female subject ceases to exist.
Figure 1: Frederick C. Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright (1910) Photo credits: Columbia university Page | 4
