SPATIAL COMPOSITION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES

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

Figure 2: Robie House floor plans (top -bottom; ground floor, first floor, second floor)

Image credits: Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright Trust (area zoning)

A maze like composition or compartmentalizing a space, as seen in figure 2 displaying the floor plans, limits access between the public and private spaces. However, the social and public spaces, associated with the male subject, such as the entry hall, billiard room, living room, and dining room, placed in a neighbouring manner allows direct access within the spaces. If viewed through Irigaray, the Robie house would be a gendered space as access between the public spaces, masculine, is better managed than access between public and private spaces, feminine. In addition, the spatial arrangement restricts views consequently stimulating curiosity amongst users, although, “for women… spaces where mystery figures lurk, or could easily hide, feel dangerous” (Boys, 1984). Yet again a morphological and functional demonstration of Irigaray’s aggressive bias of the feminine absence.

Figure 3: The Naked House by Shigeru Ban (2001)

Photo credits: Hiroyuki Hirai

Contrastingly, The Naked House (figure 3) in Kawagoe, Japan designed by Shigeru Ban in 2001, even though less than a century apart from the Robie house, holds an entirely different approach to spatial composition. The contemporary suburban house “provides the least privacy, so that the family members are not secluded from one another – a house that gives everyone the freedom to have individual activities in a shared atmosphere, in the middle of a unified family” (Ban, 2001 cited Stang et al. 2005). Figure 4 shows the level of privacy and publicity available within the interior of the house, in a fluid manner which Lacan would view to be strategizing the gendered spaces. Instead of a spatially segregated kitchen space, Ban opts for an open kitchen where users control the public or private moment in the house, through the temporary solution of a curtain. Yet another manoeuvre of strategizing the gendered space where users are in control of their experience, which is seen as expressive where individualistic experiences can be tailored from a non-preconceived user expectation. Moreover, figure 3 shows the soft, warm glowing façade of the naked house, constructed with the use of corrugated fibre-reinforced plastic cladding while the interior walls fitted with nylon fabric and foamed polyethylene used for insulation purposes which allows the lights to filter through the translucent use of materials. Regardless, Ban still retains the publicity within the household through the fluidity and open atmosphere of the interior space (figure 5). Hence the stereotypical association of women with private spaces is merely a psychological stigma as the space appropriates for various sexed subjects.

Figure 4: Flexible and fluid interior of the Naked House Figure 5: Floor plan of the Naked House

Photo credits: Hiroyuki Hirai Credits: Shigeru Ban