Abstract:
During 2015 South Africa, a single country with far fewer resources than
the EU, had to provide refuge for approximately 72,000 asylum seekers.
This global infl ux of people has been classifi ed as a crisis, placing extreme
pressure on the economical, social and urban systems of many cities.
Threatened by xenophobia and a bureaucratic legal process, many of these
international visitors are treated to a reluctant welcome upon entering
South Africa.
In a context such as Marabastad, characterised by urban sprawl, singleuse
territories and reduced density, exceedingly migratory populations
are forced to contend for informal opportunities and sources of survival,
often to the detriment of the existing urban fabric. In spite of this, mobile
individuals have found a way to situate themselves and organise their
surroundings without fi gurative representation within an urban context
scattered with 'ruins' of past utopian ideologies.
Through a recombination of the contradictory facets of architecture, namely
fetish and fossil, utopia and ruin, the Vulnerable Asylum investigates the
ability of heritage architecture to accommodate new migrant citizens.
The resultant architecture off ers possibilities in providing an architectural
platform for the economies, communities and potentials brought into South
Africa by international visitors, incorporating rather than excluding them.
