I am doing my undergrad thesis on gender integration in architecture and could use a few views from people with different perspectives.
A wide field of study in human geography, in gendering space many researchers work with social constructionist approaches which are based on the assumption that neither gender nor space is a natural, but that they are both socially produced. Examples of gendering space is seen in high street shops whose character (colours, layout, projections, etc.) clearly identifies for which gender the shops mainly cater for.
An easy way to integrate gender into space planning is to examine critically how this conception has been already incorporated in built-up areas. Another method is collaborative planning in which the experts of planning (architects, city planners, etc.) and users (shoppers, residents, customers) by gender collaboratively design a space. There is, however, a danger of a dominant group dictating space requirement and excluding others, for example, males. But, within each gender there are many subgroups. For example, among men, clubbers constitute a separate group whose considerations of space would be different from the needs of male weekend shoppers.
Another method that has been gaining ground is "performative planning". I leave to the experts to expatiate on this discourse. In recent years, gendering space has become more problematic because of the number of genders. Some argue that there are more than two genders and inclusive planning has become problematic, for example, in designing school toilet blocks.
Well it depends on how you approach it.
From a sustainable design perspective - catering to or addressing specific gender issues (related to access, privacy or even types of service provided) could be one way to integrate gender issues. This would require programmatic considerations.
From a functional/technical perspective, you would look into the the design standards of specific spaces (as suggested by Hassan Hameed )
From an aesthetic perspective, it might trigger interior design and materiality issues.
I think this article presents an interesting case study:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/14/city-with-a-female-face-how-modern-vienna-was-shaped-by-women?fbclid=IwAR2IjhB5CKZF1GnwZtAVP9yLw5oYRPGRCRQZInfKI83u5hiiwaExafax7aY
In this article (in Norwegian, so you will have to see if Google translate can help) the author discuss how urban spaces for physical activity are often more attractive to and dominated by boys and how girls feel as if they are merely visiting. A study from Copenhagen showed the same tendency, that the girls end up watching the boys instead of participating.
There are references to some research projects in the article that you can look up.
https://arkitektur-n.no/artikler/utemiljo-for-unge-jenter#
I think that we always face a gender approach, beacuse we need to hear about the clients needs, despite the fact that a space could be neutral, in the end we must understand who is going to use it, that goes towards a tendency of a particular solution, i recomend this book: https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/sqm-quantified-home it helps in going further and how to have a detailing vision around a specific program.
Designing is always about comfort and needs. The requirements and needs may be different for each project and may be Gender specific or Gender neutral. You can create the best utilization and comfort of space by catering to the user-specific details to the minutest extent. The psychological and physical environments needed may differ if the usage of the space is gender-specific
& for all other built environments the design should be gender-neutral.
please look at my colleague's work "Work AC" out of NYC, New York. here is a link to an artical for their project at RISD - A Progressive New Student Center https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/risd-student-center-workac/
Hello. I would suggest having a look at Eva Kail’s works (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Kail), and particularly at her Frauen-Werk-Stadt urban design and collective housing development in Wien.
Beside differences of interests between genders, as for the shopping areas and places for entertainments , there is the psychological factor that affect the paths women use among urban spaces , or places which they choose for stopping > I think in designing urban spaces not only gender should be taken in consideration but gender age too.
Overuse of gender, race, or age can lead to spatial segregation in society. With the exception of the identifying properties of a personal place and special institutional forms of residence of different genders (prisons, monasteries, correctional colonies), architectural design tends not to use gender specialization in the need for long and universal accessibility of the societies premises for all groups of the population.
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