The LGBTQ2S+ community has long been marginalized in their ability to access safe and equitable housing. How might systems of support and care that exist in queer communities - namely ballroom culture which choose families and form “houses” - reimagine and inform the architectural discourse of collective housing? This thesis produces housing based around the needs of unsupported and vulnerable queer and trans youth. Privacy, Kinship, Mentorship, and Performance are identified as spheres of influence through which an individual operates and forms their identity. From this, the housing is programmed to produce moments for each of these spheres to flourish.

By studying the characteristics of ballroom, including the hyper-awareness to the body, the staging of identities through performance, and kinship of chosen families, this housing highlights the immense potential and need to design more specifically for queer folk, not just for the archetypal ballroom character, but everyday users and the broader community.

Program: Master of Architecture

Thesis Advisor: Miles Gertler