Noncompliant Bodies, Accommodating Space

The design of bathrooms — “men’s rooms” and “ladies’ rooms” as they are still commonly known —  seems to be, first and foremost, all about gender. But appearances can be deceiving. In over twenty years of academic and professional practice, Joel Sanders has thought carefully about the ways that gender and sexual identity interact with architectural design, and over the last several years this focus has honed in on the bathroom. In this interview with representatives from the organizations QSPACE and QSAPP, together with Intersections guest editor Jacob Moore, he explains the ways that an updated approach to bathroom design, while critiquing and expanding society’s rigid definitions of gender, can and should additionally address issues of inclusivity, ability, and access that reach well beyond bathroom walls (or corridors, as the case may be).