XYX Lab - Monash University
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13 Glass Street Kew 3102, 31 Tyne Street Box Hill North
XYX Lab is a team of experienced design researchers exploring gender-sensitive design practices and
06/10/2026
Researchers have long recognised that LGBTQIA+ and gender-diverse people use space in particular ways. Knowing a space is used queerly isn't the same as knowing how to design one.
So we asked: what would practical guidance look like?
Fourteen architects, designers, planners and researchers spent a day together at UCL in London last week in a Q***r Patterns in Architecture workshop led by XYX Lab. We left with the start of a shared case study library, a draft of design principles, and plenty of ideas for where this goes next.
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture The Bartlett
05/10/2026
XYX Lab Q***r Stories has been recognised in the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, Australia’s longest-running international design awards, for excellence in design, innovation and impact.
This year’s Awards are presented under the theme Design that Leads - celebrating the critical role of design in navigating complexity, driving innovation and creating positive change.
At a time of unprecedented social, environmental and technological change, this year’s theme recognises that good design is more than an outcome, it is a powerful way of thinking, imagining and acting. It challenges us to question what is, envision what could be and design better products, services, places and systems for people and planet.
Among this year’s Award Winners is Q***r Stories, which received a prestigious 2026 Australian Good Design Award Winner in the Built Environment Installation Design category.
Jury's comments:
“The Jury recognises Q***r Stories as a joyful and beautifully designed community project that surfaces and celebrates LGBTIQA+ narratives of pride, joy and visibility in public space. Through carefully curated co-design workshops, the project empowers participants to creatively tell their stories through writing and model-making, transforming these outputs into accessible and beautiful artefacts that wider audiences can connect to. The Jury commends the innovative use of craft to make wider impact, weaving together story and place in a way that could adapt for other marginalised communities. This genuinely warm initiative demonstrates excellent use of design to build individual creative confidence while encouraging broader community connection and celebrating diversity.”
See link for more: https://good-design.org/projects/queer-stories/
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture Good Design Australia
New episode of Feminist Acts podcast is out now -
Who Gets to P*e? features Sean Mulcahy and Nicole Kalms interviewed by Kate Seear and Becky Batagol.
Toilets are ground zero in a global culture war.
In this episode, we're using toilets as a lens to explore feminism, trans and gender diverse inclusion. In parts of Australia, local councils have introduced trans bathroom bans. Australia's National Construction Code only specifies male and female facilities.
Gender diverse and trans people are forced to share toilets meant for people with a disability or compelled to use the wrong toilets. They face gender inequality that is made worse by other forms of discrimination. Meanwhile, women are still queuing, still doing caring work in bathrooms, still going without menstrual products and still using toilets as a sanctuary from male violence.
So how do we navigate this highly sensitive issue? We rewrote the regulations so nobody loses access and everyone gains.
Produced by James Pattison at Miniature.
Listen to the full episode at - https://feministacts.transistor.fm/episodes/4-who-gets-to-pee
22/09/2026
What happens to women when hotter cities means life happens after dark?
As Melbourne adapts to a warming climate, more work, recreation and everyday life may move into the evening. But women can only participate in the night-time economy if our cities are designed to be safe, comfortable and inclusive.
That's the challenge at the heart of YourWalk, a project led by Nicole Kalms and XYX Lab, in collaboration with CrowdLab. Using local data on lighting, shade, footpaths and public amenities, the app helps identify walking routes that prioritise safety and comfort.
We're proud to see this research featured as part of the Melbourne Assembly conversation about the future of our cities.
Thank you to the City of Casey for supporting the pilot.
Monash Art, Design and Architecture
City of Casey
Read the full article here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/climate-change-could-push-many-melbourne-women-out-of-work-this-app-aims-to-keep-them-in-it-20260922-p60x6p.html
07/09/2026
IN THE NEWS / How Brisbane toilet problem is failing city’s disabled
Kyle Rode reports that Brisbane City Council data revealed 105 of 580 public bathrooms were not accessible for disabled people, mostly consisting of train stations and petrol stations.
“Former Paralympian and high-profile disability advocate Karni Liddell said she was not surprised when she saw the statistics… ‘It's just about how we identify disability to begin with and make sure that you don't solely rely on an architect. They can do the job, but we could come along with you and talk about accessibility.’”
“Ms Liddell said the number of inaccessible bathrooms is alarming given the upcoming 2032 Paralympic Games.
"If they can't get work and if they can't go to the bathroom then we should at least be able to go to the toilet in public. Those are the basics," she said.’”
Read the full article at -
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/data-reveals-one-in-five-brisbane-public-toilets-are-inaccessible-for-disabled-people/news-story/333fff55f4686806901522719f5622f9
DESIGNING DIGNITY positions community members as experts in their environments, engaging with diverse participants to understand the needs of Australian cities and people.
How can public bathrooms be reimagined, reconceptualised and reformed to meet the needs of Australians?
DESIGNING DIGNITY aims to reimagine how this small (and once mighty) building can facilitate social sustainability and inclusivity for all.
Our findings, developed through evidence-based interactions with individuals, communities, design practitioners as well as via policy analysis, will be combined to produce a ‘counter-narrative’ that captures under-researched perspectives across s*x, gender, age, ability, class, cultural differences, religion, age and Indigeneity.
Our methodology centres participants as “experts”. Community workshops, storytelling and mapping will illuminate experiences of place and produce novel insights. The aim of each engagement is to move beyond thinking only of pragmatic functions – such as ergonomics and technical requirements – and toward a deepened understanding of shared aspirations for public bathroom amenity through a place-based research context.
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture Deakin University Deakin University - Arts and Education
03/09/2026
Meet the DESIGNING DIGNITY team:
Led by Professor Nicole Kalms from the XYX Lab at Monash University in collaboration with Professor Emily Potter from Deakin University, Designing Dignity is the first research project of its kind to address the complex intersections of place, dignity and equitable access in the design of public bathroom infrastructure.
Our interdisciplinary team from Monash Faculty of Art Design & Architecture and Deakin School of Communication and Creative Arts are experts in gender-sensitive co-design and participatory placemaking solutions that centre inclusive experience. Our research methods are foundational to the project’s impact.
Professor Nicole Kalms - Chief Investigator
Founding Director, XYX Lab: Gender + Place
Monash University
Professor Emily Potter - Chief Investigator
Professor of Writing, Literature and Culture, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Deakin University
Dr Fatemeh Roohafza
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, XYX Lab
Monash University
Dr Jana Norman
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Deakin University
Sejal Bhikha
Research Officer, XYX Lab
Monash University
Lily Whitehouse
PhD Candidate, XYX Lab
Monash University
Deakin University Deakin University - Arts and Education
02/09/2026
How does the design of public bathrooms impede or progress cultures of inclusion?
DESIGNING DIGNITY is a place-based, co-designed project, meaning we want to hear from individuals and communities about how they use, respond to and engage with public bathroom infrastructure in local areas.
Stay tuned for how to participate!
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture Deakin University Deakin University - Arts and Education
1 in 3 people in Australia over the age of 15 experience incontinence - that’s more than 7.2 million people.
When access to foundational civic assets like public bathrooms are limited or inappropriate, the impact is distressing. Vulnerable populations such as people managing health issues can be disproportionately excluded from public space.
DESIGNING DIGNITY positions public bathrooms as key infrastructure in supporting mobility for diverse and inclusive communities
References:
Continence Health Australia (2024) Economic Cost of Incontinence in Australia
Kalms N, & McVey L, (2024) ‘Commentary on Let Us P*e’, in The Feminist Legislation, Walvisch J, Askola H, Batagol B & Seear K, Routledge
Greed, C (2019) ‘Join the Queue: Including Women’s Toilet Needs in Public Space’, 67(4) The Sociological Review
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture Deakin University Deakin University - Arts and Education
How easy is it to find a public bathroom? One that is properly ‘public’? Is it open now? Does it have the facilities you need?
Safe and inclusive public bathrooms are essential civic assets, fostering health, wellbeing and social cohesion. Yet, over the past three decades, Australia has witnessed a move away from municipal oversight of public bathroom amenity and a shift toward a reliance on the public sector where toilets are sequestered in shopping centres, cafés, and commercial spaces. Rather than truly accessible, these bathrooms ‘come with a fee’ and access depends on economic
status and social class.
This is an antidemocratic shift – compounded by the diminishing stock of existing (and properly ‘public’) bathrooms in public parks, on streets, and in communal open spaces. Many – built during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s – are coming to the end of their usable life and are in poor condition and require local municipalities to engage in costly retrofitting or replacement, even decommissioning.
With public bathrooms in crisis, Australians are actively avoiding what remains of a decentralised, ad-hoc and unhygienic provision that increasingly attracts anti-social behaviour and personal safety concerns.
DESIGNING DIGNITY aims to reposition public bathroom amenities as social assets once more - “infrastructures of care” - that meet the needs of Australian cities and people, capable of positively influencing communities and increasing access and mobility.
Led by Professor Nicole Kalms - Director of the XYX Lab at Monash University - with Professor Emily Potter from Deakin University, this project will explore the complex intersections of place, dignity and equitable access in the design of public bathroom infrastructure - with the objective to reimagine how this small (and once mighty) building can facilitate social sustainability and inclusivity for all.
Image reference: The National Public Toilet Map, Part of the NationalContinence Program, Australia, [2026].
Monash University Monash Art, Design and Architecture Deakin University Deakin University - Arts and Education
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