Expanding queer architectural theory: Towards a framework of decolonial queer borderlands architecture.

This article focuses on queer architectural theory, critically examining its historical engagement with heteropatriarchal spatial organizations and highlighting its epistemic and geographic limitations, particularly its focus on wealthy, Western, cisgender, and male experiences. It synthesizes key queer architectural themes—such as the obfuscation of public/private boundaries, the role of spectacle, the facilitation of desire through design, and the (trans)formation of architecture—while advocating for an expanded, decolonial queer borderland theory of architecture. This proposed framework centers marginalized queer experiences, especially those of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in borderland and Global South contexts, emphasizing ephemerality, survival, dignity, and subversion within spatial practices. The article calls for queer architectural scholarship to move beyond fixed, privileged sites and incorporate diverse, intersectional, and decolonial perspectives to better understand and transform the built environment.