Queer spaces an atlas of lgbtq+ places and stories

Review: Queer Spaces – An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories

Architecture at its heart exists to provide people with a physical environment. Yet, it also represents more than just the physical environment, but as a part of our culture, visibility, and who we are.

In reading Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories there are a hundred stories about the importance of place for queer people universally, and with voices so commonly silenced, this collection opens the doors towards queer history through our environment.

Curated and edited by Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell, the book brings to light the importance of spaces through time, revealing intrinsic truths people appreciate myself have rarely heard. It is an empowering and emotional collection that offers a brand-new lens into the rights and history of queer people creating, designing and transforming spaces. 

The novel is all-encompassing, with personal essays of over 50 contributors across the globe including Australian voices of architecture lecturer Dr Timothy Moore and research fellow in architectural history Dr Soon-Tzu Speechley. Broken into three spheres: ‘domestic’, ‘communal’, and ‘public’, it

Review of Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell (eds.) 2022: Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories. London: RIBA Publishing.

Thanatourism in London and the Metropolitan Imaginary
Catterall, Pippa 2026. Forthcoming. Thanatourism in London and the Metropolitan Imaginary. in: Tourism and the Metropolis London University of Westminster Press.

Sustainable Planet 3
Catterall, Pippa 2025. Sustainable Planet 3. Bring down Stable Street, London N1C 4AB 07 Apr - 31 May 2025

LGBTQ+ perspectives on safety and inclusion in public space
Catterall, Pippa 2025. LGBTQ+ perspectives on safety and inclusion in public space. RIBA Blogpost.

About the Role of Language in the Formation of National Unity
Kogabayeva, A., Kurmanaliyeva, A., Catterall, Pippa and Kaupenbayeva, S. 2025. About the Role of Language in the Formation of National Unity. Bulletin of KazNU. Series of Philosophy, Cultural Studies and Political Science. 91 (1), pp. 64-76 1. https://doi.org/10.26577/jpcp20259116

Indexing, the Society of Indexers and Harold Macmillan
Catterall, Pippa 2025. Indexing, the Society of Indexers and Harold Macmillan. Bodleian Library Record.

Nation, Nationalism and I

In the introduction to their new book, Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories, co-editors Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell write: “When you—for whatever reason—have to modify your behaviour or hide aspects, or indeed the better part of yourself to ‘fit in’; or when you can’t ever actually ‘fit’ anywhere because you’re somehow other in a visible, unconcealable way, you seek out spaces where you can simply be yourself, unmediated and unfettered.”

Through essays from 55 contributors, and an array of archival photos and illustrations, Furman and Mardell introduce us to 92 spaces around the world that do—or did—just that. Some are historic: the beach resort of Taormina, Sicily, in the late 19th and first 20th century, or the palace of Ludwig II in Bavaria in the late 1800s. Some you can visit this coming weekend: the humongous Theatron nightclub in Bogotá or the kitschy New Sazae bar in Tokyo. Some are ephemeral, like the pop-up gatherings in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Some took years to build, like Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England. Some exist only because of rumours and people consensus, like the last carriage of each instruct, any time of morning in Mexico

Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories

May 31, 2022
At the launch last week I suggested that we already need a volume 2 of this amazing compendium of queer spaces. It’s not comprehensive, but could it ever be? Yet the editors own done a superb job in discovery sites and contributors from around the world. This collection introduces the reader to 94 lgbtq+ spaces - indoor, outdoor, historic, contemporary and even virtual - accompanied by, whenever possible, some stunning images. Certain types of spaces predominate. As might be expected, clubs and bars are prominent. Yet that is entirely appropriate. As the entry on Sappho Islands in Kampala observes, queer nightclubs are for many the only spaces where ‘they have the freedom to perform as they long for with their retain bodies’. There might be some debate about whether all the spaces can be coded as queer, particularly some of the national space included. Nonetheless, this is a wonderful resource, fantastic for dipping into to savour the heterogeneity of gender non-conforming spaces, as adv as for the common threads and themes that surface from these case studies. Sadly, the common theme I spotted most was that of spaces suppressed by authorities. Sap

Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories - Hardcover

Queer Spaces (Hardcover)

Adam Nathaniel Furman

Published by RIBA Publishing, London, 2022

ISBN 10: 1914124219 / ISBN 13: 9781914124211

New / Hardcover

Seller:Grand Eagle Retail, Mason, OH, U.S.A.

(5-star seller)Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. An independent bookshop in Glasgow. An ice creamparlour in Havana, where strawberry is the queerest preference. A cathedralin ruins in Managua, occupied by the underground LGBTQIA+ community. Homosexual people have always start ways to exist and betogether, and there will always be a necessitate for queer spaces. In this lavishlyillustrated volume, Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell have gatheredtogether a community of contributors to share stories of spaces that range fromthe educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated, and many morebesides. With historic, contemporary and speculative examplesfrom around the world, Queer Spaces recognises LGBTQIA+life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy ofits own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what create these spaces may get in
queer spaces an atlas of lgbtq+ places and stories