Everyday Negotiations of Space :
Gender and Spatial Practices in a 1BHK Apartment


Domestic space is not only a physical arrangement of rooms but a lived environment shaped by daily routines, cultural beliefs, social relationships, and changing circumstances. Architecture within the home does not remain static; instead, it constantly evolves through the ways people inhabit and reinterpret spaces. This essay explores a 1BHK apartment in my hometown as a case study to understand how gender, family structure, and everyday life influence the use of domestic space, revealing how spatial meanings shift over time rather than remaining fixed. The apartment houses a family of four, with the father being the only male member and both parents engaged in corporate jobs. Despite the compact size of the house, all spaces are used equally by every family member in everyday life, without any rigid gender-based hierarchy. This spatial equality is closely linked to cultural context. Belonging to a Buddhist family, the household does not follow notions of purity, impurity, or sacred spatial segregation. There is no designated holy space, and women have unrestricted access to all areas of the house, including during menstruation. As a result, the movement patterns of male and female members remain largely similar in daily life, challenging conventional assumptions that domestic architecture inherently reinforces gendered divisions.

However, subtle shifts in spatial usage emerge when everyday routines change. On holidays, the kitchen becomes more intensively occupied by the mother, who spends longer hours cooking, while the father predominantly occupies the living room for leisure and rest. Through these patterns, certain spaces begin to acquire gendered associations: the kitchen becomes linked with female labour and care, while the living room becomes associated with male leisure and visibility. Yet these associations are not absolute, as the bedroom continues to function as a shared private space accessible to all. This indicates that gendered spatial patterns arise not from architectural constraints but from social practices and temporal conditions.

The spatial dynamics of the apartment transform more significantly when guests, particularly grandparents, visit the house. During such periods, the living room and bedroom begin to function as two distinct private zones. The grandparents primarily occupy the living room, using it both as a social and resting space, while the bedroom becomes a semi-private territory for the sisters, serving as a space for study and retreat. At night, during sleepovers, the spatial configuration shifts again: the bedroom becomes a collective female space, while the living room is occupied by male members. In this temporary arrangement, male access to the bedroom becomes limited and functional, restricted to tasks such as retrieving belongings. Here, gendered boundaries emerge not through physical walls but through social negotiation and situational needs.

From an architectural perspective, this 1BHK apartment demonstrates that domestic space operates as a flexible and dynamic system rather than a rigidly zoned structure. The same rooms continuously transform in meaning—from social to private, from shared to gendered, and from individual to collective—depending on time and context. The architectural plan remains constant, yet the lived experience of space is constantly reconfigured through everyday practices. This case study reveals that gendered space is not permanently embedded in architecture but is produced through rhythms of life, cultural values, and interpersonal relationships.

Ultimately, the apartment becomes a microcosm of socio-spatial negotiation, where equality, difference, and hierarchy coexist in shifting forms. It shows that even within a small domestic setting, architecture is not merely a backdrop but an active framework through which identities, roles, and power relations are continuously shaped and redefined. The difference in the use of space, therefore, lies not in the design itself but in the lived realities that unfold within it, making the home a dynamic and ever-changing spatial narrative.