Matilde Cassani (Italian, b.1980) of the Architectural Association (United Kingdom, est.1847), Ignacio G. Galán (Spanish, b.1982) of Barnard College, Columbia University (USA, est.1889), Iván L. Munuera (Spanish, b.1980) of Princeton University (USA, est.1746), and Joel Sanders (American, b.1956) of JSA / MIXdesign and Yale University (USA, est.1701) in collaboration with Leonardo Gatti (Italian, b.1991), Maria Chiara Pastore (Italian, b.1980), Pablo Saiz del Rio (Spanish, b.1993), Paula Vilaplana de Miguel (Spanish, b.1985), Seb Choe (American, b.1994), Vanessa Gonzalez (American, b.1997) and Marco Li (Hongkonger, b.1984) of JSA/MIXdesign (USA, 1992)
Matilde Cassani; Ignacio G. Galan; Ivan L. Munuera; Joel Sanders
Your Restroom is a Battleground
Album
Description
Restrooms are often described as neutral facilities or mere utilitarian infrastructures catering to the universal needs of individuals, when in fact they are contested spaces that are shaped by and in turn shape the ways bodies and communities come together. Restrooms are architectures where gender, religion, race, ability, hygiene, health, environmental concerns, and the economy are defined culturally and articulated materially. In the last few years, the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and growing tensions derived from population displacements have made these entanglements more evident. Restrooms are not an isolated design problem but rather symptoms of larger disputes that can be mediated through architectural tools. Restrooms are political architectures; they are battlegrounds. Your Restroom is a Battleground presents a selection of seven case studies as an installation at the Arsenale. The case studies are presented through dioramas that represent a variety of restroom battles around the world and illustrate how these debates take shape and reflect local and global social concerns and agendas.
WITH THE ADDITIONAL SUPPORT OF
Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown
Barnard College (Columbia University)
Princeton University School of Architecture
Yale University School of Architecture
Spanish Government – Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E)
Production credits
Research and design: Matilde Cassani, Ignacio G. Galán, Iván L. Munuera, Joel Sanders
Research and Design Collaboration: Seb Choe, Leonardo Gatti, Vanessa Gonzalez, Marco Li, and Maria Chiara Pastore
Graphic design and Multimedia Production: Paula Vilaplana de Miguel
Model design and Production: Pablo Saiz del Rio
