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Meghna Mudaliar: My minimal dwelling responds to this idea of the reduction of space with the presence of three non-binary bodies belonging to three different generations. The young, the middle aged and the old – with the middle-aged person occupying neutral space as they tend to support the other bodies. If we were to imagine the house as a solid, with spaces being carved around the peripheries of our bodies, then we could easily imagine that a child’s path would be formally different than an elder’s path. This difference implies a degree of exclusivity where each space – designed for each specific age group- becomes territorial. With every space, we must redefine and re-imagine what it means to be present in said space. If specificity and familiarity are preordained in the creation of binary spaces for binary bodies, then the non-binary body demands ambiguity. This ambiguity is translated into space-making that inherently disorients the body’s experience of space. If the body to some extent defines the space, then in order for ambiguity to be achieved the space must react to the presence of the body in an unprecedented manner. The dwelling must disrupt the body’s experience of the space, just enough so that the body is constantly evaluating the spaces through which they can and cannot navigate. To create space for the non-binary body, it must be indeterminate space rooted in the discomfort of living in the unfamiliar.
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