Frontier02_One Step Beyond

How does one who is “an other” operate and thrive in established systems outside of himself?
The migrant owned “spaza shop” is explored as a prototype of emergent practices tapping into existent systems and norms, foreign to themselves. Through a process of observation, engagement and translation, the phenomenon of migrant owned “spaza shops”, offers clues towards an adaptive and responsive system of methodologies.
Observed principles and factors contributing to the rapid expansion of the entities are unpacked, catalogued and displayed as a directory of “trade secrets”, to be tested throughout the year, leading towards Frontier 9 – Station.

A comparative analysis of Migrant owned and locally owned spaza shops to uncover the systemic patterns that contribute to the success of the Spaza shop.

Frontier02_One Step Beyond - Thoughts...

As an intuitive start to this Frontier, the "other" that I explore is the phenomenon of Foreign owned spaza shops (Informal Micro Convenience stores) found in South-African townships and Residential neighborhoods...

"White House Spaza" shop, up the road from home. 

 What is a "Spaza"?

A Spaza shop is an informal micro-retail store, usually found in South African townships (1). This informal economy arose in townships during the apartheid era with small entrepreneurs selling every day groceries form their homes. The spatial layout of townships did not include immediate retail facilities, and the Spaza became a valuable economic solution to most township 

An interest of mine in exploring Migrant Owned spaza's in particular is due to the fact that though the spaza is historically a South African occurrence (2), the prevalence of foreign owned spaza's in some neighborhoods seems to advance that of locally owned spaza's. I am curious as to why. 

Comparing the ratio of Migrant to Locally owned Spaza shops. (Dawn Park, Boksburg)

The following statemt from the suggested readings was an interesting provocation in terms of one's "everyday" and aparently normal interactions with this "other."

“There are a you and an I, and there is no mine and yours! For without a you and an I, there is no love, and with mine and yours there is no love but "mine" and "yours" are, of course, formed from a "you" and an "I", and, as a consequence, seem obliged to be present wherever there are a you and an I. This is, indeed, the case everywhere, but not in love, which is a revolution from the ground up. The more profound the revolution, the more completely the distinction mine and yours disappears, and the more perfect is the love.” - Kierkegaard, S.!Works of Love (1847)[36].

Different Spaza in same suburb (Dawn Park, Boksburg)

I'd hope to uncover why it is that the network of foreign owned spaza's seems to me more predominant to the locally owned counterparts. What lessons can be learnt from migrant owned spaza shops around entering into "an other" (different from your own) economy (or system), and thriving in that foreign economy/system..

1. R7bn worth of untapped township potential Lessons from Spaza shop owners.

2. Migrant spaza shops: business lessons from Soweto

Frontier02_One Step Beyond - Introduction

Your task through this frontier is to (observe) acknowledge, capture and catalog vital information to (in)form fresh ingredients for y/our practice. - Extract from brief. 

Our task in frontier 2 is to engage in an obsesive study and pursuit of an "other", to uncover, observe and document outcomes/methodologies that will contribute towards developing meaningful seeds towards the design of the last Frontier (Frontier09-Station).  

How do you design for the other? Who are they? What methodologies can be used to strengthen the act of designing for others? – While undoing the constructed mythologies of them. Stranger? Fellow Citizen? 

What is the value of the other in our practice? Who is the other, and how do they relate to other others? The other is both single and many. Within the fundamental responsibility of the architectural practice is the service to the other, in the simplest sense being the creation of space for the other.  

Relationship advice: What is the relationship with space and people? Is it always better to give people space? What if you have no more space? What if peoples need for proximity far outweighs their needs for space or quality? What responsibility does the Architect have to understand their context, outside of the topography and climate, towards deeper understandings of society, economics at play, spatial politics and futures. 

This brief pushes you beyond the previous realm of the self. It is not about experience or personal. It's about other. Other kinds. Types. Things. Influences. People. Places. Uncommon and unfamiliar. A mining of information from the terrains and deposits outside of yourself, a territory one step away from you. It means you will need to go there. To consciously pursue some other in an obsessive manner. 

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Frontier02_One Step Beyond - Preparations

In preparation for this frontier, we were tasked as the final year students (M2's) to summarize the main thoughts behind our work in 2015, and demonstrate the points that resonated with the direction of Unit13 for 2016... Having considered the relationship between these two, we can begin preparing initial statements towards our Major Design Project/Thesis for the year.

The following slides were my initial attempt at a simple summary of these thoughts in the 5 minutes given, bridging the transition from Unit2 (2015) to Unit13...

1. Recognizing complexity in the Built Envitonment

2. Considering the Built Environment as a living system

3. Appreciating the value of people and society in architecture

4. Ambitions towards innovative design responses

I place myself as the bridge between the idea explored in Unit2 and the future pursuits of Unit13