Featured Image Courtesy from left, top to bottom: 65.4 (c) Ruhul Abdin and Maruf Arefin Mim; 11.1. (c) Archivo de la Memoria Trans; (c) Kaoru Yamada. From right, top to bottom; (c) Vicente Vila; (c) Category Is Books

Book Club: Queer Spaces

Queer people have always found ways to exist, gather and celebrate. Celebrated designer, Adam Nathaniel Furman and architectural historian Joshua Mardell have reverently brought together a community of contributors to share stories of spaces (ranging from the educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated) in their upcoming book "Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories," from RIBA Publishing. Pre-Order the book here from Book Depository.com or via Amazon

This special, one-hour book club event with Adam Nathaniel and Joshua will dive into the content of the book while discussing the ways in which we, as preservationists, historians, and advocates for LGBTQIA+ history, can engage with these spaces and promote their continued use and appreciation.

Queer Spaces is an 'atlas' of queer spaces illustrated with over 400 full-color images and 90 historic, contemporary, and speculative examples from around the world. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives. 

Spaces explored include...

  • The Black Lesbian and Gay Centre in London
  • Famous book shop Category Is Books in Glasgow
  • The infamous Christopher Street in New York
  • Coppelia ice cream shop in Havana
  • Legendary bar New Sazae in Tokyo
  • ONE Institute for Homophile Studies in Los Angeles
  • The enigmatic Santiago Apostol Cathedral in Nicaragua
  • The Trans Memory Archive in Buenos Aires
  • Victorian Pride Centre in Melbourne, amongst many others

About the Speakers

Adam Nathaniel Furman is a British artist and designer of Argentine and Japanese heritage based in London. Trained in architecture, Adam's atelier works in spatial design and art of all scales from video and prints to large public artworks, architecturally integrated ornament, as well as products, furniture, interiors, publishing and academia. Check out Adam Nathaniel's work on his website. 

 

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Joshua Mardell is an architectural historian, and currently lectures at the University of York. He is enjoying a Fellowship at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art studying the preservationist historian Gavin Stamp. He's co-ordinating a new digital gazetteer charting the forgotten, unloved twentieth century architecture of old York