Informal - A Cultural Centre for the Foreign Community, Hillbrow

Abstract

The discourse investigates the relationship between the hierarchical structure of the formal and the network of the informal at both a socio-economic and programmatic level and as the generator of an approach to the design problem. The site is located in the Health Precinct between Braamfontein and Hillbrow, in an area characterised by a thriving informal economy and much illegal activity. During the Apartheid years, Hillbrow came to symbolise the breakdown of racial segregation. Today, the prominence of the foreign population makes Hillbrow a hot-bed of xenophobic sentiment. A study of the social context points towards the emergence in Hillbrow of a new mode of spatial regulation - tending towards the spatial regimes prevalent in African megacities such as Lagos and Accra - which becomes a critical determinant of the entire discourse. The project is a Cultural Centre for the Foreign Community, providing a refuge for the foreign population; a place of meeting and interaction; a platform for an anti-xenophobia campaign, and a wellspring of economic opportunity through the integration of the programmes of the formal and informal economy.