This essay was written by Kerri R Simpson (Me), please refrain from copying the body of this essay,references are given at the end.

Architectural Sexology:

Alpha, Omega and their space secretes

Alpha – The first letter of the Greek ‘alpha’-bet, a word used to describe a male of dominance, a prefix for many a words such as alphabetisation, alphanumerical, alpha-meric; words that are used to assemble order. Symbolically represented as an angle creating a peak, the universal ‘Α’ when caps are locked, adapting his self to a ‘α’ in his lowercase.

Omega – The last letter of the Greek alphabet, a word used to describe the female, the end, the death. However once her surface has been unrolled, her literal meaning is the ‘Great O’. Then symbolically represented by an ‘O’, with feet in her capital and a curvaceous petite ‘ω’ in her lowercase form.

Sex and sexuality a once taboo subject matter that today is discussed freely among 21^st century dwellers of all hierarchy’s, becoming a common ice breaker between juveniles before performing near public acts at their own discretions; with readily available contraceptive methods provided by the economy schemes , creates a freedom for the multitude. Thirteen year old Alpha takes his C-Card to his local clinic where he can obtain a selection of condoms at no charge, he can only do this Three times a year but he does get Twelve condoms each time meaning he could potentially have sex safely Thirty Six times a year, this is not so bad considering it said that the average working couple have sex Two to Five times a month.

However the key difference between lowercase alpha and a working couple is that little alpha, although obtaining his free rubber, he probably does not have a space that allows him to perform his sexual acts as freely. Whereas our fully grown Alpha and Omega have a large dwelling of which they have a form of ownership, allowing them to participate in activities how and when they please.

This exploration poises the statement “Architectural Sexology”, the above statement simply explores our ability to participate in activities on a sexual or non-sexual level within a form of architecture. Architecture is a dictator of sexual lifestyles as it can either provide a sexy boudoir or what is known to many youngsters of the north today a ‘Halfway house’, being a multipurpose house that is used by many at different times to engage in sexual activities, determined by key holders.

The presence of these private or semi-private spaces allow for sexual life’s to exists, thus showing the importance of sexual lifestyles to define such spaces as private, semi-private and public.

There have been many discussions as to why and how sexuality relates to architecture considering man and woman as an emotional response to dwelling as well as the influence of the human aesthetic formation, furthermore the architectural representation by a force trying to project its power to society, a variation of theories relating to anthropomorphism.

Alpha body and Omega body

A key important factor in our sexual lifestyles is the body, whether you love a person more for their personality than their body; an instinctive reaction to an attractive figure enhances the bond between the two persons.

The body is frequently used as a resource throughout design disciplines, particularly and interestingly used in building design as it creates a connection between the human and the building beyond just interaction. Taking the way in which we describe an architectural piece and the analogies we have assigned to the layers of the structure as skeleton, skin and footing bares close reference to the human body, this consideration is derivative from a theory by Ayn Rand in ‘the fountain head’ novel where he portrays a male figure as the ideal man, embracing the common perception people have on the role that male architects hold and their persistence in creating what is deemed as masculinity.

The character in the novel agrees with the principals of modernity that buildings are generally masculine with the assertion of integrity supposedly just like men, hence the anthropomorphism.

In addition to this anthropomorphism, the construction of high rise buildings and the prominent civic architecture are regarded as an emblem of power in a city scape. The ideology stands that –

“without symmetry and proportions there can be no design principles in any design of the temple; that is, if there is no precise relation between its members as in the case of a well-shaped man” (Iain Borden, 2003)

The male body is deemed a perfect earthly creation, a body of immaculate proportion of which should be used as a template for construction. The beauty of the male is admired by females and males, a powerful form that again is regarded as strength however having the ability to nurture its user, like a muscular Alpha cradling his new born child. Creating a sense of protection, care, sensitivity and homage; a place where the child can retreat to feel secure, the space in terms of the distance between two objects or more, in this case the biceps and the chest create a temple of retreat. Later in the young infant’s life, the same ratio also becomes a temple of appreciation, with a prayer pattern of embrace. Once the Omega sees such things she senses dominance and results in fatal attraction of which she would have for no other alpha, another alpha may see this as a threat or become envious due to the fathers well-shaped symmetry and proportions, wanting to become like him. This sets a template for the perfect man.

Renzo Piano’s Shard, being the tallest building in the UK at 24 storeys high; is a reflection of male dominance. The shape of the shard is a pyramid which unlike other vertical towers, diminishes in floor space as you circulate to the peak of the tower, a shape which is also deemed as a hierarchal shape that once you reach the top you are the most powerful. This brings me back to the ironic shape of the Alpha symbol the ‘A’ which coincidentally holds the same formation. Furthermore the Shard is constructed with concrete, glass reflecting the weather, at most times appearing to be a transparent centre point and a steal frame having the confidence to be different along the London skyline. The Shard has masculine virtue of ratio, size and quality, but it could also be taken as a homosexual due to its un-conformed nature.

In contrast to Renzo’s poetic response to masculinity, Le Corbusier ‘Modulor’ explores mathematical proportions of a six foot able bodied white man, then used his findings to improve the appearance as well as function of architecture.

“…Range of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and the mechanical things”

Masculine architecture in all aspects from the geometric to the symbolic is defined by orientation and its association with architectural elements. Vertical elements have an association with the masculine and the astronomical, where horizontal elements are seen as earthly and feminine.

Femininity in architecture is based more on its curvilinear features, like the male it has its own poetic and geometric make up, however its connotations are generally defined by the male.

For example, females are pressured to have a certain appearance, they come in all different shapes and sizes, more variant than that of the male. Yet femininity is defined by curvilinear form, not all females are as curvaceous as another, the percentage of sex appeal of a curvaceous figure is equated by the analysis of breast, buttocks and hips. A proportion is required among many men for a woman to be visually stimulating, encouraging the need for exploration; this is a reflection of its femininity in architecture in its geometric sense.

Le Corbusier’s visit to Rio in 1929 reflects just this theory, after having an affair with a jazz singer Miss Josephine Baker; he becomes engrossed in the beauty of Brazilian women. The architect develops a sketchbook of Mulatas from clothed to naked, being obsessed with these women he brings his new found interest into an architectural piece developing a plan for Rio that consists of sinuosity and overt landscape to sea expressing the beauty the city has to offer. The attempt to explore his sexuality in architecture with his curvaceous mega structure is an opportunity he may not have had in Europe, a freely exotic exploration he obtained in Brazil.

Vitruvius-

“In the invention of two types of columns, they borrowed the manly beauty, naked and unadorned for the one, and for the other the delicacy, adornment and proportions characteristics of women”

Vitruvius associates ornamented surfaces with femininity, describing the common Doric column (template) of strength, solidifying and being beautiful. Discussing how the Doric column can mutate into a female form thus the Corinthian column becoming slimmer and elegant with attributes of nature replicating locks of hair. Similar to how Eve the daughter of the Christian God became a being from the single rib of Adam in Genesis 2:21-23, not to be over shadowed by Adam but to be of equal importance having the same value but a different form.

The idea of feminine ornament in architecture allowed the buildings to become attractive to the eye instead of being a mere vernacular form, diverting ones perception from the internal order by way of decorative natures poising a distraction from reality. In relation to decorative natures representing femininity comes the textures or materials used, for instance a masculine natured building is defined by its rigidity, coldness and crystalline nature like that of a igneous extruded rock whereas a female the Omega is perceived to be soft, timid and subtle baring relative to membranes, floral and internal furnishings.

Habitual Alpha and Omega

Habitual alpha and omega are known as man and woman living in co-existence like that of Adam and Eve , how male and female interact with a space given, how space is defined by sexual interactions in the literal and the figurative, the impact of architectural configurations of public, private and semi-private on relationships between people .

The politics to such situations are defined as ‘Sexpol’ since the 1920’s discussed in books such as ‘The Sexual Revolution’ by Freudian Wilhelm Reich conversing the ability to control and regulate sexual activities in the places we interact with such as a University, a home or the doctors surgery. He explores positioning and separation of rooms, the situ of certain walls to instil a political force upon society relating to the USSR communist conformity.

Freud the psychoanalytic took 2oth century Vienna as his case study working with the bourgeois from whom he himself derived, a small minority that had the same habitual attitude, releasing the repression and assumptions about the prohibition of sexuality in the bourgeois society. In Vienna a city where gender roles are clearly distinguishable as female being the labourer of domestic life and the barer of children, this policy fuelled his exploration as a large fraction of Freud male clients had their first sexual experience with domestic servants, furthermore the exclusive public spaces in the city which allow the development of sexual relationships of the bourgeois society and further the indulgence in sexuality, noting the availability of sex to the extent that it could be purchased ; yet still having a need to keep it hidden away or to be a taboo.

This is a key example of the sexual tension between private and public sexuality demonstrating repression, although being available in the ‘public’ on streets in the form of prostitution as pointed out by like-minded poet Zweig as ‘ at every hour and at every price’. Being so readily available in the current climates of the public streets and the built environment however it is still denied socially. Although Reich discusses spaces, the spaces are rarely named as definitive names but mostly as just space, the in-between.

Referring back to little alpha and his free condoms, through Freud’s theory, the boy should have the ‘freedom from sexual oppression’ which would be ‘meaningless without the freedom from economic, i.e. that sexual freedom is a condition of communism and vice versa.’ Reich wrote a book aimed at eight to twelve year olds, entitled ‘The Sexual Struggle of Youth’ at an attempt to begin the overturn of sexual division becoming socialistic.

Using the Constructivist Architectural Sexpol theory, where people such as Leonard Sabsovich who tried to be implement the idea of the ‘Dom Kommuny’ also known as house-collectives, the methodology of construction was to encourage a change in the form of sexual relations. The intention to diminish marital status exposes its dwellers to become potential bachelors, wives and playmates; leaving the possibility for couples to be parted by the portioning of space via sliding walls. Such walls are a reminder of blinds in the glass communal house that can be lowered for as they say “Sexy time”, with a permission slip one has the ability to engage in sexual relations with another. This opens up space for V mayakovsky like threesomes becoming a masculine revolutionary and liberation in sexuality.

Therefore leaving the structures to structure the inhabited and embodied space, defining sexual identities, “logic derived from common set of conditions of existence to regulate practice of a set of individuals in common response to those conditions” (Outline of a Theory of Practice 81). The habitants of the architecture is conditioned, distinguishing genders via the distribution of bodies in space and being a democracy from the alpha and omega bodies in space; a variation in the flow through the building as a male or a female. The distinct flow is worked by partitioning or variation in floor levels to maintain social hierarchy and distinctions.

An example of this in use, in line with the discussion is the Schindler’s House. Located in a reclusive Hollywood suburb, away from view of the road while it kinkily reveals itself in sections; it is a collection of interlocking L- shapes composed of concrete and wood incorporated with views to the garden. Deemed as a co-operative dwelling, it is an open house design for two couples, Rudolph Schindlers and his wife Pauline and their close friends Marian and Clyde Chace. Such arrangements may lead to adultery in both marriages, although flirtation in this environment is clear, it would be ok to assume that there would be a possibility for a more fluid sexual relation in the design. Instead of being a successful arrangement, it was actually a project fail as the Chase’s moved out in 1925 after three years and the Schindlers went their separate ways in 1926.

The house of Schindler perceives sex as the pinnacle aspect of life, encouraging sexual encounters not as a XXX situation but an opportunity to be open about sexual habits, a methodology that USSR adopted in order to create communal living which instead of becoming more sexually fluid, it became tense and sexless breaking down the relationships between Alpha and Omega resulting in the need for privatisation for such acts through Architecture.

Sex is Sex Conclusion

The Alpha no matter how it is portrayed, whether he be a boy or a man he can do as he please whenever he please, alpha dares to explore his sexuality publicly, semi-publicly or privately. Flaunting his form as a result of his perfectly assembled structure, his vertical nature combined with his rigidity and coolness; he is the political key holder of power architecturally due to his role as a functional building and a dictator of sexual interaction due to his ability to create and divide socialist spaces. Even when he dares to differ from normalcy he still finds his way of creating that emblem of power, control and leadership; he is responsible for defining femininity and provided the template for femininity.

Femininity seem to come second to Alpha, she is the lady and the woman however she hardly gets the opportunity to show it accordingly, knowing she has derived from Alpha she has no choice but to be sexualised due its opposing nature, “ if it isn’t straight it is curved”, she has sinuosity that no man could naturally achieve . Her femininity even as a labourer or a prostitute is powerful force in itself, the way she takes over the Doric column and makes it her own, the way she uses the vertical planes to provide public space to seek victims that she allows in her private domain; this displays her area of control, the ability to entice the alpha to adapt slightly as an encouragement to break down conformity.

The Schindlers house not being a completely successful in its experimentation, shows that more than one man and one woman in the same dwelling with minimal, what we deem as ‘privacy’ cannot be achieved; primarily because it is too open of a situation where the relationship between Alpha and Omega is no longer exclusive. This then becomes a sexpot with no differentiation between mine and yours, right or wrongs, husband and wife. In theory the building is semi-public as relationships diminish between parties and there are no privatised areas, with no single ownership over an entire area. Spaces only defined by removal of walls means that a space cannot be defined hence the reason Reich could never define or name spaces.

Concluding there can only be one Alpha and one Omega, the two works in harmony, the situation sees that the two may co-exist in private but may not co-exist in constant publicity.

Anything else in my opinion is crude sexuality that holds no bounds for existence, with no real powerful influence on infrastructure or structure. Love conquers all.

Bibliography

Corbusier, L. (2004). Le Corbusier. Princeton Architectural Press.

Farrar, S. a. (1969). The sexual Revolution. New York.

Hatherly, O. (2008). Militant Modernism. John Hunt publishing.

Iain Borden, B. P. (2003). Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction. Taylor & Francis e-library.

Lico, G. R. (n.d.). Architecture and sexuality. The politics of Gendered Space, pp. 30-44.

Sanders, J. (1996). Stud Architctures of Masculinity. Princton Architectural press.

Schindler, R. (1932). A Co-operative Dwelling. T-Square.

Williams, D. R. (n.d.). Sexuality,Space And the Architectural Project. : A Privisonal History, pp. 1-14.

Works Cited