Pride in Design: Building Inclusive Spaces for the LGBTQIA+ Community

Happy June everyone! This is Pride Month which is more than a celebration… it’s a reminder of resilience, resistance, and the right to exist authentically. For architects and designers, Pride is also a call to reflect on how the built environment has historically been excluded, and how it can now actively affirm the LGBTQIA+ community. At Rooted Architecture Studio, we believe architecture is never neutral. Every line drawn and every space created either opens doors or closes them. So, how can we design spaces where everyone, especially those most often marginalized, feels seen, safe, and empowered?

Architecture as a Mirror and a Catalyst

The buildings and public spaces that surround us are reflections of our cultural values. Historically, many environments have been designed to uphold dominant norms that reinforce binaries, privileging heteronormative family structures, and ignoring the diverse ways people express identity and community. For LGBTQIA+ individuals, this has meant navigating spaces that are not only unwelcoming, but sometimes dangerous.

Inclusive design challenges these legacies. It begins with questions like:

• Who was this space originally built for?
  
• Who feels safe here?
  
• Whose presence is acknowledged and whose is erased?
  

From accessible and affirming healthcare environments for trans individuals, to gender-neutral restrooms that provide dignity for non-binary and gender-diverse people, to LGBTQIA+ youth shelters and cultural centers that offer refuge and belonging—architecture plays a powerful role in shaping human experience.

The LGBTQIA+ Community’s Imprint on Design

The LGBTQIA+ community has been both the subject and the shaper of architectural space. Even when formal recognition was denied, queer individuals and communities carved out places of safety and expression hidden bars, underground ballrooms, community houses, and collective living arrangements. These were not just physical spaces, but acts of resistance.

The legacy of LGBTQIA+ influence in design is rich:

• Modernist icons like Eileen Gray and Philip Johnson brought forward new ideas about minimalism, domesticity, and spatial flow—while navigating or challenging social norms around gender and sexuality.
  
• ACT UP and queer activism in the 1980s and 1990s redefined public space as a platform for protest and advocacy, from die-ins in government buildings to design interventions that drew attention to the AIDS crisis.
  
• Contemporary queer architects and collectives are expanding the narrative, plus designing spaces that reflect fluidity, hybridity, and radical inclusivity. Their work questions who architecture serves, who gets to design it, and how space can be a tool for healing and justice. (Check out: Out In Architecture to learn about LGBTQIA+ Architects!)
  

Designing with Empathy, Not Assumptions

True inclusive design requires listening deeply to the communities we serve. It asks us to recognize trauma, displacement, and histories of exclusion—and to respond with spaces that foster agency, privacy, joy, and connection.

This might mean:

• Designing flexible, adaptable environments that honor non-traditional family structures and chosen families.
  
• Creating public spaces where LGBTQIA+ youth can gather safely without surveillance or judgment.
  
• Ensuring urban planning decisions do not push out queer communities due to gentrification or zoning bias.
  
• Integrating queer history into public landmarks and memorials, preserving stories that have long been overlooked.
  

Rooted in Inclusion: Our Commitment

At Rooted Architecture Studio, we see design as a form of advocacy. We are committed to creating spaces that heal and connect, where everyone, regardless of identity, feels rooted and welcomed. As a woman- and Latina-led practice, we understand what it means to navigate spaces that weren’t built for us and we’re driven to change that!

Our work is guided by questions of equity, wellness, and connection. We believe that LGBTQIA+ individuals deserve more than just tolerance, they deserve architecture that honors their full humanity. We partner with socially conscious clients to design homes, businesses, and community centers that reflect diverse narratives, prioritize mental and physical health, and center joy.

Looking Ahead: Pride in Practice, Not Just in Words

As we celebrate Pride Month, we hold space for both celebration and accountability. Pride reminds us of the past, but it also challenges us to build differently. Inclusion is not a trend! It’s a responsibility. And as designers of the built world, we have a powerful opportunity to create change that is tangible, visible, and lasting.

Design has always been political. So let’s use it to amplify the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community, to reclaim public and private space, and to shape a world where everyone belongs.

Because pride isn’t just about who you love, it’s about loving who you are, and having a space where that is possible.

Keep growing,

Katherine A. Serrano Sosa, AIA | NCARB

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Please note that this blog should be read for informational purposes only. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact our office.