The project considers building morphology as a bar code that traces the changes in spatial planning legislation, demographic settlement patterns and building typologies, where in suburbs of Johannesburg, dominant bungalow typologies are transformed into courtyard housing compounds through post-apartheid urban transformations.

The design strategy uses the process of inversion, by using the burnt down, derelict and neglected bungalows of Rosettenville as sites to explore a new model of social housing. These configurations consider the complex dynamics of shared and unshared space, and its resulting thresholds, as well as live-work opportunities on the street and service alley edges. The focus is shifted to the courtyard, an extension of the room which serves purposes of natural daylighting and ventilation, outlook, services and programme.

Principles of inversion and memory are also explored to capture an ephemeral quality of living space in a constantly changing built environment. The ruin of the bungalow can be read from its finishes as a palimpsest of the past, just as the future development can be read in the foundation lines in the new courtyard spaces. The project responds to demands of a new type of housing that advocates for the disappearance of the bungalow and appearance of the yard.