During LGBTQIA+ History Month, Marc explains why we still need to celebrate and protest in architecture and what we can all learn from a less understanding, not-too-distant past. This was first published in Architect’s Journal and you can find more opinion pieces there.
In perhaps the same way that Black History Month in October comes under scrutiny each year, the usual suspects ask similar questions about LGBTQIA+ History Month in February: ‘Why do LGBTQIA+ people need a whole month? What about Pride month in June? Aren’t you just othering yourselves?’ But the reason we need it is clear and simple: for as long as queer people’s history has been hidden, it has been erased.
Today LGBTQIA+ people find empowerment in revisiting their collective past. This includes architects and those in the built environment profession.
Whether it’s revisiting the dome of Florence Cathedral to reveal the queer stories at the symbolic heart of the Western architectural tradition, or examining ‘queer architectural rebellion’ in the queer aesthetics of Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham, February provides a focused moment to ponder important questions about the connection between architectural innovation, LGBTQIA+ history and queer identity.
This month, organisations including ArchitectureLGBT+, Open Plan Scotland, RIBA’s LGBTQ+ Community and the Queer Educators in Architecture Network have sparked conversations about the intersectionality of the queer experience with events from roundtable discussions to life drawing classes. Much of this is driven by a younger generation of LGBTQIA+ people in the profession, passionate about creating safe spaces and motivating real action on behalf of queer voices within the industry.
Open Plan Scotland’s recent online survey sought to understand the needs and expectations of Scotland’s LGBTQIA+ community who are studying or working in architecture. Responses discussed at a roundtable event highlighted how many aspects of working life for architects can feel ‘othering’, often in subtle ways. For example, the standard policies we all work under assume traditional nuclear families. However, most people in the LGBTQIA+ community have very important relationships with chosen families that aren’t treated the same way.
Building community with other professionals at events like this is an important way to highlight the diversity of experiences, both positive and negative, that queer people come across in their day-to-day personal and professional lives. It is also an opportunity for younger generations of LGBTQIA+ people to discuss intergenerational queer lived experiences with ‘community elders’.
For LGBTQIA+ History Month 2024, ourselves [New Practice] and Pollard Thomas Edwards are hosting an evening on Thursday 29 February to celebrate and platform inspiring activists, individuals, organisations and practices across the UK who are working to create a more open, diverse and inclusive built environment for everyone.
Chairing the event will be freelance writer and author of Queer London, Alim Kheraj (he/him), who will discuss with speakers how their lived experience informs approaches, ideas and projects to promote visibility and encourage collaboration, community and custodianship.
One of the guest speakers, Martyn Evans (he/him), creative director at LandsecU+I describes his ‘coming out’ in the industry more than 30 years ago: ‘When I was 21 in the late 1980s I went to a recruiter to look for a job. I waited until the end of our meeting to pluck up enough courage to tell her I was gay. “In case that’s a problem”, I remember saying to her. How times have changed. Recently, I had a meeting with our head of diversity and inclusion on a project to update our inclusive design principles.’
Feelings prominent in the gay community in the 1980s are mirrored today in the trans community. Speaker on the panel Bek Ziola (they/he), senior designer and architect at New Practice and lead architect on delivery of the new National Transgender Monument in Manchester, has been vocal at Open Plan Scotland in sharing their journey into the profession as a trans* non-binary architect.
They say: ‘The struggle doesn’t end after 9-5pm for the trans community, it is a 24-hour experience that does impact every aspect of my life. How leadership understands the trans experience in a practice is [vital to] create an inclusive work environment. Inclusive employment policies are important, but [unless they are] truly understood or valued by practice leadership then you’re not going to actually feel included.’
Ziola adds: ‘In 2024, there remains an aggressive anti-trans rhetoric in the media, and it’s hard to exist when even the Prime Minister seeks to invalidate our community. At New Practice we first and foremost describe ourselves as a women and LGBTQIA+ led practice. This statement feels very political in an industry which suffers from power being greatly balanced towards cis-gendered, heteronormative and middle-class white men.’
Marc Cairns (he/him), director of New Practice, explains why ‘queerness’ is a cornerstone of the practice: ‘There is a common perception that because LGBTQIA+ people have achieved some legal equalities, they face no issues at work. But many in architecture still feel that they have to pretend to be somebody they are not or hide parts of their lives to succeed.
'When Becca Thomas (she/her) and I first began working together back in 2011, we weren’t particularly explicit about our practice being women and queer-led, [and] we both weren’t openly out professionally as gay and bisexual, thanks to internalised homophobia and growing up under Section 28 [a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities].
‘As our understanding of those challenges grew and we saw their ongoing impacts on the profession we realised that it was important to be louder about it.’
Our industry needs an active commitment to making more inclusive intergenerational places, through collaboration, finding lesser-heard voices when commissioning work, building advocacy networks, and supporting educators to help young LGBTQIA+ people not only survive but thrive.
Partner for later living at Pollard Thomas Edwards, Stephen Morris (he/him), aims to bring people together in purposeful, mutually beneficial ways to promote greater understanding and respect between generations. He says: ‘I’d often wondered what options there would be for me as a gay man when I got to the age when I needed more support.
Nobody wants to go ‘back in the closet’ in their later life
'Nobody wants to have to go ‘back in the closet’ in their later life, and unfortunately this was the reality for many older LGBT+ people as genuinely inclusive provision was non-existent.
Source:© Rejash Bhela / Tonic workshop at Pollard Thomas Edwards
He adds: ‘Our work with Tonic Housing explored what a queer retirement space might look like through a series of workshops with older queer people – the key takeaway being a place which is LGBT+ affirming but not exclusive, open and connected, supportive and sociable.
‘Many older queer people, including the women of LOLC (London Older Lesbians Cohousing), are starting to look towards more intentional communities such as cohousing as an option.’
Together we can build a better professional community - building strong values of kindness and collaboration into our own practices, building up our people through better understanding their identities, and building the networks that advocate for better places and by being openly, proudly a diverse bunch of folk.