the suites in harvard’s dorms publicize private experiences. an entrance leads into kaitlin and kathryn’s room; another door leads into juani’s room; juani’s room opens into wendy’s room; a door in wendy’s room leads outside while another leads to the bathroom; and the bathroom leads into the next suite. the doors without locks include the one between juani’s room and wendy’s room; wendy’s room and the bathroom; and the bathroom and the next suite. routines must coordinate the experiences of public dorm life and intimate activities.
the walls are also incredibly thin. noise easily passes from one room to another. in the absence of stronger inhibitions to the traveling of sound, sonorous publics emerge across the material partitions demarcating ‘private’ spaces. life becomes intimate even as it is separated.
that sounds amazing. is it? i always wanted a walk in closet that walked into a bathroom and then into a living room and so on. doors everywhere! a maze of doors, that would be fun. thin walls make policing the dorms more efficient i bet. communal policing of anyone being too loud or having too much fun. just put your head to the wall. and no one will ever feel bad for getting you in trouble because you can’t tell which wall is the thinnest.