Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative facts for kids

The Matrix Feminist Design Co-Operative was a special group of women architects. They started in London in 1981. Matrix was one of the first groups globally to use a feminist approach in architecture. This meant they wanted to design buildings and spaces that worked well for everyone, especially women. They challenged old ways of thinking about how buildings should be made.

Matrix worked on many projects. They also did research and wrote books. One important book was Making Space: Women and the Man-made Environment. It came out in 1984. This book looked at how gender and building design are connected. It used ideas from experts like Doreen Massey and Dolores Hayden.

How Matrix Started

Matrix began from another group called the New Architecture Movement (NAM) in London. In the late 1970s, some women in NAM started meeting separately. They talked about how design affected women. They also discussed problems women faced in the building world.

This led to the Feminist Design Collective (1978–1980). This group then split into two: Matrix and Mitra. Mitra focused on helping more women become architects. Matrix wanted to change how buildings were designed and built.

Other groups were also active around this time. These included Women in Manual Trades (WAMT). This group helped women work in construction. The Women's Design Service started in 1985.

Many people were part of Matrix from 1978 to 1994. They worked on different projects and with other groups. Key early members included Frances Bradshaw, Susan Francis, Barbara McFarlane, Anne Thorne, Julia Dwyer, and Jos Boys. Some founding members lived in shared housing. This helped them focus their energy on the group's work.

Designing Buildings Together

The Matrix Feminist Design Cooperative was an architectural group led by women. It was also multi-racial. They set up as a workers’ cooperative. This meant everyone worked together and was paid the same. There was no boss in charge.

The group was special because they used "co-design." This means they worked closely with the people who would use the buildings. They included groups often left out of design choices. Matrix offered more than just standard architectural services. They also gave design advice and training.

Like other groups in the UK, Matrix offered "technical aid." This was free or funded help for community and women's groups. Community Technical Aid Centres (CTAC) helped with building projects. They also showed groups how to get funding and campaign for changes.

Matrix believed in involving women in every step of building design. They used models and visits to other buildings. This helped their clients make design decisions.

The Cooperative also taught courses. They taught technical drawing to women training in trades. They taught about the building process to workers and client groups. They also taught about building law and construction.

One technical drawing course started for the Dalston Children's Centre. It was later used for women builders' training schemes. This included Women's Education in Building (WEB). Some of this work helped create a course at the Polytechnic of North London. This course helped women get into architecture and building. Many women from Matrix taught there. Susan Francis, a Matrix co-founder, was a course leader for years.

Buildings They Designed

Matrix worked on many building projects. Here are some of them:

• 1993: Pier Training Workshop, Woolwich
• 1992: Essex Women’s Refuge
• 1991: Al-Hasaniya, The Moroccan Women’s Centre, Trellick Tower, West London
• 1990s: Little Crackle Nursey for Holy Trinity Church Institute, Hackney
• 1988–1990: Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, Tower Hamlets: They changed Poplar Town Hall into a theatre.
• 1988–1991: Grosvenor Terrace Housing, Southwark: New homes with 18 flats for single people.
• 1987–1988: Pluto Lesbian and Gay Housing Co-operative, Islington: They converted existing homes.
• 1986–1988: Jumoke Training Nursery, Southwark London
• 1984–1987: Jagonari Educational Resource Centre, Tower Hamlets: A new building for an Asian women’s group. It had a crèche and a large kitchen.
• 1984–1985: Hackney Women’s Centre: They changed a shop into a centre.
• 1984–1985: Dalston Children’s Centre, Hackney: They changed old baths into a centre.

Matrix is perhaps most famous for the Jagonari Educational Resource Centre. This project was for women from the Bangladeshi community in Whitechapel, London.

Matrix was part of the Association of Community Technical Aid Centres (ACTAC). They received money from the Greater London Council. This money helped them give technical advice. The Greater London Council helped over 40 women's groups develop their buildings. Matrix also did studies for other groups. These included Brixton Black Women’s Centre and Lambeth African Women’s Centre.

Their Influence

Matrix was part of a big feminist movement in the 1980s and 1990s. This movement wanted more women to become architects. It also challenged old design ideas. The goal was to help women have a say in how spaces were designed.

Matrix contributed to the film Paradise Circus: Women and the City in 1988. They also helped with Ordinary People: Why Women Become Feminists in 1990. Matrix led and joined many events. These included "Women and Space" in 1979. They also took part in "Alterities," a big international conference in Paris in 1999.

Their work has been shown in several exhibitions:

• Diaspora: Black Architects and International Architecture 1970 – 1990 Exhibition, Chicago 1993
• Desiring Practices: Architecture, Gender and the Interdisciplinary RIBA exhibition 1995
• Drawing on Diversity: women, architecture and practice at RIBA Heinz Gallery, 1997
• AA XX 100 Women in Architecture 1917–2017, in 2017
• Still I Rise: feminisms, gender, resistance at Nottingham Contemporary, Arnolfini Gallery Bristol, and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, in 2019
• Making Space: Housing Feminism and Urban Change at Guest Projects London, 2019
• How We Live Now, an exhibition at the Barbican Centre, London, 2021.

Lasting Impact

Matrix continues to influence how people think about design. Their ideas about feminist design and participatory design are still important. They paved the way for later feminist groups. Experts now recognize their work more and more. The book Making Space is described as "highly important but underrated."

Some former Matrix members have continued their work. Jos Boys and Julia Dwyer, who were Matrix members, formed a group called Taking Place. They continued to explore feminist ideas in design.

Matrix's impact was highlighted in 2019 and 2020. They were nominated for the RIBA Gold Medal Award. This happened after a campaign by the group Part W. In 2020, the Matrix Open Feminist Architecture Archive (MOfaa) project received funding. This money from the University College London Bartlett Innovation Fund helps create an online resource about Matrix.