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Hidden behind a public clothing storefront in Rome is a transgender community centre that provides gender transitional services. The project takes on the idea of the ‘pronoun dressing rooms’, which is an online forum that allows people who are questioning their gender identity to try out new names and pronouns. In this project, the idea is translated into a physical space that allows people to try out transitions to various degrees of permanence, including clothes, prosthetics, hairstyles, hormones and body parts. The access and circulation of the building provide various levels of privacy for the diverse inhabitants, including the staff, the clients and the general public. In the building, spaces are designed to make users notice and appreciate mundane items and moments, embodying the queer experience of noticing what is often taken for granted. The structure transitions from heavy to lightweight through a hybrid system of load-bearing and curtain walls. The materiality transitions from hard and flat to soft, colourful and detailed, while the spaces transition from closed-off and artificial, to open and natural.
The secret transgender clothing store, hidden behind a secret entrance in the storefront.
View of the south façade from Piazza di Sant Eustachio.
The secret entrance leads from the storefront to the private clothing store.