Physical spaces are deeply politicized spaces that actively participate in the production of gendered subjectivities1. Particular conceptions of gender and gender identity, which inform the signification, determination and regulation of gender practice and gender performativity, are embedded in the design, structure, methods of construction and the organization of physical spaces. For example, in their analysis of the structural design, architecture and furnishings of the Cadet Quarters of the US Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado, Lindell and Sanders (1996) identified principles of spatial organization and layout and furnishing practices that supports and reinforce the specific militaristic masculine identities promoted through the Academy's institutional social and discursive practices, disciplinary modes of authority and control, instruments of surveillance and the range of gendered and sexual social interactions. Commenting on the interior, Lindell and Saunders (1996: 76) note "Vandenberg Hall (1958) also employs surfaces that both reveal and conceal. Dark stained wood paneling lines the dormitory corridors, evoking the ambiance of a corporate men's club". Within each room, shared by two cadets, the same wall treatment forms the discrete doors of built in drawers, cabinets and closets. They demonstrate how the militaristic spaces were tacitly organized "for the performance and display of masculine power" even though both sexes are recruited as Cadets. Similarly, the public men's restroom Edelman (1996) argues is more than "a technological response to the hygienic concerns associated with bodily necessities". It is a space designed and structured in a way that preserves and promotes heterosexual masculinities. There are several other such studies that explore the relationship between spaces and the construction of gender subjectivities. Space too is appropriated, used and invested with meaning by its users for the purposes of displaying, exercising, regulating and policing particular masculine identities as studies such as Chaunceys' (1996), Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World demonstrate. While schools are considered as one of the chief sites of masculinity formation (Connell, 2000; Heward, 1998; Morrell; Mac an Ghaill 1994), the actual school spaces within which masculine subjectivities are presented, negotiated, renegotiated and reinforced and have rarely been considered in any inquiry of the social construction of masculinities in schools. There is a tendency to view school buildings including interior spaces and furnishings and to a lesser extent exterior spaces as neutral spaces, unencumbered by gender politics and ideology. Educational research on school spaces since the 1970s has tended to focus on the relationship between school spaces and motivation, achievement, attainment (Jones, 1974; Goldberg, 1991; Rouk, 1997), teacher behavior and stress and student cognitive and emotional experiences (Baker, 1997; Conners 1981; Gordon and Lahelma, 1996). Other such work has focused on the implementation and identification of appropriate spaces for particular cohorts of students such as those in early childhood programs and students with special educational needs (Shrader-Harvey and Droge, 2002; Bunnett and Kroll, 2000; Miller and Hochman, 1991). Following this line of inquiry, and using an Arts Based Educational Research approach this proposed paper examines how school spaces together with the schools social and discursive practices are active agents in communicating, constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing male subjectivities and identities. The paper presents a visual and textual analysis of the constructed spaces - be they public or private, open or closed, classrooms, locker rooms, staff rooms, corridors, cafeteria, or restrooms - in four single sex boys primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. The paper focuses in particular on the interplay between these constructed and organized spaces and the masculine identities promoted through the school's material, social and discursive practices. The inquiry sets out to establish if, and to what extent such spaces support, uphold, police and reinforce the masculine identities embedded in the organizational structures and practices of this school. Student's and teacher's interpretation of these spaces form an important part of this paper and are presented in narrative and visual form.1 Significant feminist studies that consider architecture's impact on women includes Leslie Kanes Weisman, Discrimination by Design, A Feminist Critique of the Manmade Environment (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994); Beatriz Colomina, ed., Sexuality and Space (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1992); Dolores Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revolution: A History of Feminists Designs for American Homes, Neighbourhoods and Cities (Cambridge MIT Press 1981); Gwendolyn Wright, Moralism and the Domestic Home: Domestic Architecture and Cultural Conflict in Chicago 1873-1913 (Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1980); Susanna Torre, Women in Architecture: An Historic and Contemporary Perspective (New York, Whitney Library of Design, 1977). Other such work includes John Lindell and Joel Sanders, "Cadet Quarters, U.S. Air Forces Academy, Colorado Springs Colorado 1958" in Joel Sanders ed., Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996); Diana Fuss and Joel Sanders, 'Berggasse 19: Inside Freud's Office" in Joel Sanders ed., Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996); Lee Edelman, 'Men's Rooms' in Joel Sanders ed., Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996); George Chauncey, 'Privacy Could Only Be Had In Public: Gay Uses of the Streets' in Joel Sanders ed., Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996).