Ernest Mfor Mpecassah
︎ Podcast Link
Power
Heteronormative Catholic Educational Spaces:
A Study of Wimbledon College, it’s Architecture and the Formation of Identity.
A Study of Wimbledon College, it’s Architecture and the Formation of Identity.
Wimbledon College is an all-boys Jesuit school in
Wimbledon, south London which opened in 1892. Since 2011, under the leadership
of the current headmaster, Adrien Laing, it has emphasised the importance of
making its pupils who attend the school, “men for others”[1]. It has a lengthy history of
being primarily a military school with ties to the royal Military academy[2], something which is
manifested through its architecture. A lot of time has passed since its
creation – around 125 years. Through the building’s architecture, othering and
marginalisation are manifested. Indeed, there is a complex relationship between
architecture, identity, and masculine tradition. The effects of the school’s marginalisation
are felt by pupils who identify as LGBTQ+; these pupils do not fit into the
heteronormative expectations of the school.
This image is created before stepping to the school. Through the imposing steep climb up Edge Hill, the metal fence with the statue of Jesus, at the entrance of Wimbledon College. But also the pathway that connects the school to Sacred Heart Church. This is important as in, “Catholic school design patterns emerged: the school adjacent to the chapel was a much sought-after Catholic ideal.”[3] These elements exert a certain image for the pupils, not only of idealised masculinity but also of religious exhalation.
The essay is deeply personal and subjective. I attended the school and personally felt and saw how the school’s architecture isolated people who were different and how its architecture aided name calling and bullying. Experiencing this aroused my curiosity of how much the architecture played a role in creating a social hierarchy in the school. Not only this but the emphasis of masculine values. The school in many ways emphasised the heteronormativity of masculinity, and though its intentions might have been to produce ‘men for others,’ the reality is that a lot of pupils left with scars from the hierarchical structure.
In addition to my own experience, my methodological approach to this piece focused on interviews as a large part of information gathering. I interviewed five peers who went to school with me. Due to ethical considerations, and with the benefit of the passing of time, all interviewees are now adults. I explored the archives which the school had deposited information into, including Merton Civic Centre and the British Jesuit Archive in Mayfair. This allowed me the opportunity to look at old plans of the school, gathering information on its development as-well as diary entries, photographs, and pamphlets which the archive had kept. Antony Walpole’s book, A History of Wimbledon College, became a great source of information as it gathered a chronological story of how the school had developed from its creation, till the 1970s.
The chapters are divided into two sections, which are imperative in the conversation around the effects the school’s architecture might have on the formation of identities. The first is focused on containment and how the architecture imposed this on the pupils. This theme will be focused on spatial elements in the school such as the playground, the sixth form building as well as the practice of heteronormative spatial design. The second chapter looks at reimagining the queer “closet” as a safe space; how queer pupils in the school utilise the architecture to create safe spaces but also how these spaces are involuntarily homoerotic, for-example the changing rooms or a room within the art block. From these chapters, with spatial theory woven into the argument. I will be arguing that the architecture and spatiality of Wimbledon college, has determinative effects on the formation of identities within the important developmental stages of its pupils.
[1] College, Wimbledon. 2023. “Catholic Life.” Wimbledon College. 2023. https://www.wimbledoncollege.org.uk/page/?title=Catholic+Life&pid=238.
[2] Wimbledon College, “The Beginnings of the College, Expansion, and the Great War,” Wimbledon College, 2023, https://www.wimbledoncollege.org.uk/page/?title=The+Beginnings+of+the+College%2C+Expansion%2C+and+The+Great+War&pid=51.
[3] Teri Williams, “Was There a Catholic School Architecture? - EUP Blog,” Edinburgh University Press Blog, May 20, 2020, https://euppublishingblog.com/2020/05/20/catholic-school-architecture/.
This image is created before stepping to the school. Through the imposing steep climb up Edge Hill, the metal fence with the statue of Jesus, at the entrance of Wimbledon College. But also the pathway that connects the school to Sacred Heart Church. This is important as in, “Catholic school design patterns emerged: the school adjacent to the chapel was a much sought-after Catholic ideal.”[3] These elements exert a certain image for the pupils, not only of idealised masculinity but also of religious exhalation.
The essay is deeply personal and subjective. I attended the school and personally felt and saw how the school’s architecture isolated people who were different and how its architecture aided name calling and bullying. Experiencing this aroused my curiosity of how much the architecture played a role in creating a social hierarchy in the school. Not only this but the emphasis of masculine values. The school in many ways emphasised the heteronormativity of masculinity, and though its intentions might have been to produce ‘men for others,’ the reality is that a lot of pupils left with scars from the hierarchical structure.
In addition to my own experience, my methodological approach to this piece focused on interviews as a large part of information gathering. I interviewed five peers who went to school with me. Due to ethical considerations, and with the benefit of the passing of time, all interviewees are now adults. I explored the archives which the school had deposited information into, including Merton Civic Centre and the British Jesuit Archive in Mayfair. This allowed me the opportunity to look at old plans of the school, gathering information on its development as-well as diary entries, photographs, and pamphlets which the archive had kept. Antony Walpole’s book, A History of Wimbledon College, became a great source of information as it gathered a chronological story of how the school had developed from its creation, till the 1970s.
The chapters are divided into two sections, which are imperative in the conversation around the effects the school’s architecture might have on the formation of identities. The first is focused on containment and how the architecture imposed this on the pupils. This theme will be focused on spatial elements in the school such as the playground, the sixth form building as well as the practice of heteronormative spatial design. The second chapter looks at reimagining the queer “closet” as a safe space; how queer pupils in the school utilise the architecture to create safe spaces but also how these spaces are involuntarily homoerotic, for-example the changing rooms or a room within the art block. From these chapters, with spatial theory woven into the argument. I will be arguing that the architecture and spatiality of Wimbledon college, has determinative effects on the formation of identities within the important developmental stages of its pupils.
[1] College, Wimbledon. 2023. “Catholic Life.” Wimbledon College. 2023. https://www.wimbledoncollege.org.uk/page/?title=Catholic+Life&pid=238.
[2] Wimbledon College, “The Beginnings of the College, Expansion, and the Great War,” Wimbledon College, 2023, https://www.wimbledoncollege.org.uk/page/?title=The+Beginnings+of+the+College%2C+Expansion%2C+and+The+Great+War&pid=51.
[3] Teri Williams, “Was There a Catholic School Architecture? - EUP Blog,” Edinburgh University Press Blog, May 20, 2020, https://euppublishingblog.com/2020/05/20/catholic-school-architecture/.