Salma Jawoodeen

This thesis investigates how architecture might support informal domestic production in a post-apartheid city where spatial justice remains unevenly distributed, and where the home is often stretched beyond its intended capacity. The central research question asks: How can collective architectural spaces of production, learning, care, and commerce extend the capacities of the home to sustain domestic economies while addressing historical injustices and contemporary urban challenges? 

The project responds to the legacy of Fietas as a once-thriving commercial hub, where home-based tailoring and craft industries were central to the local economy before the forced removals of the 1970s. By providing shared kitchens, workshops, markets, and courtyards  resources that the home alone cannot hold - the design fosters economic self-sufficiency, community resilience, and spatial justice. It further seeks to provide safe, accessible, and dignified workspaces, particularly for women, elderly, and youth, who are often at the centre of home industry work. 

The primary themes explored include the intersection of domestic architecture and economic resilience, the role of spatial justice in post apartheid urbanism, and domestic production as an archive for cultural continuity. These themes are grounded in feminist and decolonial spatial theories, drawing from texts such as Leslie Kern’s Feminist City (2020), which interrogates spatial inequalities and alternative urban economies. Further literature on informality, housing policy, and community-led development, such as AbdouMaliq Simone’s work on urban improvisation and Jane Jacobs’ theories on economic networks, support the argument for rethinking zoning and land-use frameworks to accommodate shared infrastructures that blur the boundary between domestic life and public economy.

By situating the project in Pageview, the research critically engages with historical, social, and ecological narratives. The site’s contested past and its potential for urban regeneration underscore the need for an architectural response that acknowledges displacement while proposing new models of collective production, shared survival, and care. Through contextually responsive design, the thesis envisions an integrated urban framework that challenges rigid zoning laws, advances economic sustainability, andreclaims Fietas’ lost vibrancy.