The Witch’s House

The witch stands outside the gates of society. She is old, hairy, self-sufficient, and radical. My thesis explores, through the creation of the witch’s house, how architecture can serve as a tool to humanize the ‘other’. As the witch is the prime example of an abject woman, designing her house is an exercise in normalizing the abject, providing a space for women (of all genders) to exercise their full powers. These spatial explorations, translated into a feminist architecture manifesto, serve to disrupt current oppressive social structures. My thesis explores four sites - cave, field, tower, and forest - each corresponding to different aspects of women’s abjection. The Forest Pyre House presented here unpacks the taboo of women’s sexuality drawing on historical depictions of the witch figure, feminist art which celebrates women’s power, and the erased pagan history of witch as seeress and wise woman. Designed through a process of making and presented in the anarchist zine format, my work hopes to upset the standards of architectural design and education.