Rainbow designs: When architecture

furthers LGBT rights

IANS | Kolkata Last Updated at July 21, 2017 13:43 IST

It's shaped like a pizza slice and seeks to make the point that the environment can "remedy
the shortcomings" of India's LGBT community. Taking gender tropes head-on, 23-year-old
Abhyam Shukla's design of a sensitisation centre for the community, his undergraduate
architectural thesis, makes it a dissertation with a difference.

Kolkata-based Shukla's interest in designing the sensitisation centre was triggered when a
friend from the community committed suicide last year.

"The idea came to me when a friend from Lucknow committed suicide and that's when I
realised how I could use architecture to benefit the community," Shukla, who identifies
himself as a bisexual, told IANS.

The Lady Ga Ga fan says the hub traverses the gray areas and eschews the binary perspective
in architectural realms in the sense that it brings about a balance between masculine and
feminine elements.

"In the last five years that I have studied architecture, I have been involved in theatre and
making short films. So when I had to submit my thesis, I wanted to do something that had not
been done by universities in India before," Shukla explained.

Shukla, who has just concluded his B.Arch from Jadavpur University, says cities like Paris,
Madrid and New York have hubs for the LGBT community and there is no reason why
Indian cities should also not have umbrella centres.

Set in the satellite township of Rajarhat in northeastern fringes of Kolkata, the blueprint of
the pizza-slice shaped, slightly dented triangular hub includes queer museum spaces,
healthcare and housing plans amid a landscape replete with a "healthy mix of sharp angular
edges as well as soft undulating curves".

To shape his vision and to be fair to the community's needs, Shukla conducted a survey of as
many as 250 respondents from the LGBT community (15-25 year olds) spanning 24 states.

"I asked them if they would like such a centre in their city and I also asked them what
functions they would like. Based on their feedback, I started my design," said Shukla, for
whom Danish architect Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels and India's Charles Correa are inspirations.

A majority of respondents -- when queried on how effective queer museums can be in

educating society -- backed the idea of queer libraries and museums in helping society draw
inspiration from the past. Similarly, there was a thumping "yes" on the presence of judicial
services and trauma cells for assisting the community in rehabilitative measures.
"What I wanted to do was to use the stereotypical notions of masculine and feminine and
show the world the concept of a third gender. Nothing in the world is binary; there is a
spectrum of gray. I tried to use the male form, the female form and then create a hybrid form.
So my design has all the three mixed together to show that society is supposed to live like
this," he elaborated.

Some of the built spaces that were analysed by Shukla as case studies are the National Centre
for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the Welfare Centre for Children and Teenagers in
Paris, the Proyecto Hombre in Madrid and the BE Friendly Space in Hanoi.

Three main aspects -- awareness, housing and healthcare -- underpin the design elements of
Shukla's version. "In the awareness aspect, which encompasses queer museums and libraries,
people can go and learn about the community. This gives will inform people that India has
had a long tryst with homosexuality and debunk myths that it is a Western concept," he said.

The housing facility provides shelter to the homeless and estranged members of the
community," added Shukla.

Gender activist Pawan Dhall felt a sensitisation hub was a great idea.

"I can just say that the idea is excellent. But I would be sceptical about housing plans. I'm not
much in favour of people living in exclusive domains, unless it's for people with special
needs. Or because of old age and there is a need for institutionalised caregiving. Otherwise, a
sensitisation hub idea is great. It would be even better if there are some elements of
intersections with other social issues at the hub," Dhall told IANS.

According to Gita Balakrishnan, Chairperson of the Indian Institute of Architects, West

Bengal Chapter, the design indicates "sensitive handling of spaces that respects privacy while
allowing freedom".

However, activist Meenakshi Sanyal, questioned how a physical hub would function given
the dichotomy in the legal perception (Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code) about the
community in India.

"In 2009, the Delhi High Court had decriminalised homosexuality. That time a lot of closet
LGBT members had come out. When the Supreme Court had set aside that verdict in 2013,
many became invisible again. I am not saying the hub is not a good idea but there is a need to
focus on the accessibility of a physical hub.

"In that sense, digital fora are more accessible. Also, with the Supreme Court recognising the
rights of transgender people, there is a gap in the community... the 'T' from LGBT is
removed... so we have to factor in all these aspects," Sanyal, who runs LGBT community
support group Sappho for Equality, told IANS.

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in)

--IANS

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