Joel Sanders, “From Stud to Stalled!: Inclusive Design through a Queer Lens”

Diverse bodies against a blue backdrop.

Image by JSA/MIXdesign

Event Description

In his talk, Joel Sanders will trace the evolution of his thinking about gender, human identity and space over the past twenty-five years from the publication of STUD: Architectures of Masculinity (1996), which examined the role that architecture plays in the construction of masculinity through a gay male lens, to recent projects like Stalled! Public Restrooms, created by JSA/MIXdesign, an inclusive design studio dedicated to considering the intersecting needs of a broad segment of the population that the discipline of architecture has traditionally overlooked: people of different ages, genders, races and abilities that fall out of the cultural mainstream.

Speaker

Headshot of Joel Sanders.

Joel Sanders is an architect and founder of JSA/MIXdesign, an architectural studio design think tank dedicated to making restrooms, art museums, and university campuses welcoming to people of different ages, genders, abilities, cultural identities, and religions. His projects include Stalled!, an AIA award-winning project that responds to national controversies surrounding transgender access to public restrooms. Sanders founded MIXdesign in 2018 as a branch of his New York-based studio JSA. Sanders is Director of Post-Professional Studies and Professor at Yale School of Architecture. Editor of STUD: Architectures of Masculinity and Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture, Sanders’s writings and practice have explored the complex relationship between culture and social space, looking at the impact that evolving cultural forces (such as gender identity and the body, technology and new media, and the nature/culture dualism) have on the designed environment. JSA projects have been featured in international exhibitions and the permanent collections of MoMA, SF MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. The firm has received numerous awards, including six New York Chapter AIA Design Awards, three New York State AIA Design Awards, three Interior Design Best of Year Awards, and two ALA / IIDA Library Interior Design Awards.

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

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