The practice of "cruising" is changing the way that buildings are designed, according to the curators of a Venice Architecture Biennale exhibition that brings together sex and architecture.
Featuring a flatpack maze containing a glory hole, and artefacts from famously secretive Berlin nightclub Berghain, the Cruising Pavilion explores the subversive architecture of, and architectures subverted by, casual sex.
The Cruising Pavilion explores the subversive architecture of, and architectures subverted by, casual sex
The term cruising refers to the practice of moving through a space to find a casual, sometimes anonymous, sexual partner.
According to exhibition curators Pierre-Alexandre Mateos, Rasmus Myrup, Octave Perrault and Charles Teyssou, cruising has shaped the design of numerous types of buildings and spaces, from public toilets and parks, to bathhouses and nightclubs. "Cruising is a topic that is present in architecture, but is always latent or silenced, or never expressed fully," Perrault told Dezeen.
The space is dark and lit only by atmospheric red lamps
However the group claim that the historical model of cruising is "evolving and perhaps even dying", and that sex is starting to impact other types of architecture. For instance, the use of dating app Grindr is moving sex out of gay bars and into contemporary condos.
They are calling for architects to embrace this culture, rather than trying to sanitise or expunge sex from building d...