Dollhouse Drawing - "Step into my QueerHouse" by Michelle Hook.

Michelle Hook is an M.Arch graduate from the University of Washington College of Built Environment. Archinect was able to chat with Hook and dive into her thesis project, "Step into my Queerhouse: Queering the Now/Future." Hook explores architecture's role in representation and how speculative fiction can help change the built environment's perspectives.

Hook shares, "...to construct a new architecture, one that may be inherently queer, speculative fiction becomes the tactic of world-building, free from the constraints and the framework of the normative. The final action of imagining, and therefore queering, creates the new world." She also discusses her take on finding a job during a pandemic and her plans for staying sharp as opportunities present themselves.

Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects: 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a new virtual format, end-of-year celebrations were canceled or changed dramatically, and now these students are graduating into an extremely challenging employment market. To support the 2020 class we're launching a summer series of features highlighting the work of thesis students during this unique time of remote learning amid COVID-19. Be sure to follow our 2020 thesis tag to stay up to date as we release new project highlights.

I began questioning architecture's role in the representation of society. Who is architecture made for? Who is it made by? How does it shape those who inhabit it?

This thesis uses speculative fiction as a queer tactic to disorient and deconstruct the norm in architecture and therefore (re)construct queer architecture.

Please briefly describe your thesis/final project and your inspiration.

The investigation started when I had to confront a shift in my own identity, one that no longer followed a seemingly set life path. I began questioning architecture's role in the representation of society. Who is architecture made for? Who is it made by? How does it shape those who inhabit it? Who is included and who gets left behind? What would the world look like if everyone had the agency, the space, and the empowerment to imagine and create their own architecture?

This thesis uses speculative fiction as a queer tactic to disorient and deconstruct the norm in architecture and therefore (re)construct queer architecture. The investigation closely examines the home as the most intimate space of architecture, a second skin. Through a methodology of deconstruction of the norm, to include a series of actions such as planned assaults, reorientations, splits and cuts, exaggerations and inversions of the norm, a new architecture and world can emerge. But to construct a new architecture, one that may be inherently queer, speculative fiction becomes the tactic of world building, free from the constraints and the framework of the normative. The final action of imagining, and therefore queering, creates the new world. 

As an avid reader of science fiction, particularly by authors N.K. Jemisin, Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, and Nnedi Okorafor, I drew inspiration from the stories written by these women as forms of alternative realities that questioned our own. Therefore, a series of short stories accompany this thesis as forms of this new world building. One in particular took a traditional dollhouse as the setting, where the protagonist used the above actions to deconstruct the house in order to create a new one. Here enters architecture as a form of world building and production of future narratives to include new social norms and intersectional identities, inclusive and fantastical desires, and re-examined and reclaimed past narratives. 

I am seeing the use of video and storytelling through video used much more with online reviews than before and I am excited to see how new forms of presentation might encourage how people tell their story. 

How did your project change as studios transitioned to remote learning?

Although I presented my final thesis before the start of the pandemic and transition to remote learning, I have been participating in online reviews for the next round of thesis finals as they happen. I have been encouraged to see the push and acceptance for different forms of media beyond traditional slides and graphics. When I was meeting weekly with my thesis advisors and peers, we would call our third thesis committee member, who at the time was living in Berlin while we were all in Seattle. Even then, she was able to tune in to our reviews and participate through online video platforms. Now, many of us are able to participate in reviews from all over the world. I am seeing the use of video and storytelling through video used much more with online reviews than before and I am excited to see how new forms of presentation might encourage how people tell their story. 

As a recent grad, how do you feel about the architecture industry right now and job prospects? 

To be honest, I don't know. I am ending a six month internship next month and have no future job currently lined up. As I have started looking at new listings for job openings, I have noticed more are getting posted as the days pass. I plan to use the extra time that I'm sure I'll have to apply for residencies, potential grants for conceptual practice, and maybe even start to study and test for the ARE's.