Michael Webb
Intermescence
Bath House, Cruising, De-Domestication of Intimacy
Queer assimilation into mainstream culture has meant a decline in the traditional and perceivably ‘obscene’ queer spaces of bathhouses, dark rooms, and cruising grounds. Queerness has moved away from such spaces as a result of normalization and acceptance in the social context of Los Angeles.
Acceptance and normalization have come from a certain level of assimilation and portrayal in the media – social or otherwise.
However, the guise of acceptance can be deceptive and detrimental as it does not extend to every individual identifying as queer. Wealthier and more “palatable” homosexuals, trans, and queer individuals have been granted varying amounts of acceptance in broader society, but the presumably ‘obscene’ individuals have not been extended the same embrace. The ‘palatable’ queer individual accommodates the heterosexual social mores of domesticated sex, while the ‘obscene’ individual frequents the spaces of cruising grounds, bath houses, dark rooms, and other broadened sexual spaces that have been a refuge for queer individuals throughout history.
Cruising, the act of seeking out companionship in a covert manner – hidden from the gaze of broader, heterosexual society – has been pulled out of quasi-public spaces by apps such as Grindr and semi re-instated by sites such as Sniffies.
Cruising occurs in a variety of typologies and environments, but the commonalities revolve around being partially hidden, obscured, or out of site. My thesis explores the typologies of dark rooms, bath houses, and bungalows to envision space for the de-domestication of sexual intimacy and queer space.
My thesis questions whether a domestic typology can be corrupted through architectural intervention to facilitate de-domesticated sex.