The vulnerable assylum : investigating an architecture of difference in a migrant society

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.