The clinic: paradigm shifts in urban design and stigma free healthcare

Abstract

This thesis examines the link between architecture and queer spaces, exploring how standardized clinical facilities can be transgressed and queered to suit the needs of a comunity largely left out of normative healthcare. 2SLGTBQ co, mmunities2SLGBTQ people cannot be defined by their physical attributes; therefore the community is often left to be defined by the spaces they frequent. Queer people have appropriated spaces, and negotiated social structures to fulfil their needs as individuals as well as members of a wider queer community. The thesis examines the history of queer people and the village in Toronto, Ontario through a lense focusing on healthcare and wellbeing. The Toronto Church and Wellesley Village has been the site of raids, protests, rallies, stigmatization, and prejudice. Murals are celebrated and cover old and new structures in the village depicting the controversial past and mark the importance of these events to the development of queer Toronto. Expanding on these murals, and drawing on their history, intentions and design this thesis proposal proposes a queer architecture and urban complex