Abstract:

Sonwabe Fishing Commons proposes a community-led coastal infrastructure at Sonwabe Beach along Cape Town’s coastline, responding to long-standing spatial inequalities and ecological pressures. The site is defined by sensitive dune ecosystems that coexist with daily fishing practices by small scale fishers from the Cape Flats. Despite this active occupation, Sonwabe lacks infrastructure, reflecting enduring legacies of apartheid-era exclusions.

The proposal understands care as a collective and multispecies practice. Rather than introducing new activities, the design supports practices already embedded in the site while negotiating the presence of non-human actors. Human activity, bird habitats and dune restorations are spatially aligned to reduce conflict and enable shared occupation.

A sequence of spaces exposes the fishing process from shore to market, making labor visible and fostering learning across generations. Integrated launch infrastructure, a fish market, community governance spaces, and dune-restorative strategies are combined within a dune-integrated structure. The roof extends the dune system, re-establishing endangered Strandveld vegetation and hosting seagull roosting, while a flexible façade of reclaimed fishing nets filters wind, light and bird movement.

At Sonwabe, people, dunes and birds have always shared the coastline. This project gives form to those relationships, positioning architecture as an act of care that supports coexistence across difference.