1.1 Introduction to the study There has been an economic, political, and social transformation in South Africa since the dismantling of apartheid. The changes brought about by this transformation led to an economic and social reconstruction (Booysen, 2007). Recently, the world was faced with a pandemic. Expansions of theories occur during historical transformation. The current economic and environmental changes drive social transformation and migration. These changes triggered new actions and behaviours (Egerer et al., 2021). The shifting definitions accompany these changes for terms used to describe fields of knowledge (disciplines). Psychological studies argue that there is an increase in the expansion of psychological terms. An example of this is how the word ‘harm’ has expanded. In the past, the word ‘trauma’ was limited to surviving soldiers who came back from trench warfare who witnessed their friends being executed every day. The limitations of the word trauma were expanded when psychology studies demonstrated that trauma could also result from normal experiences, such as tragic accidents, natural disasters, and domestic violence (Haslam, 2016). The term has expanded to include offensive tweets, controversial books, and mean-spirited comments. This phenomenon indicates an increase of breadth and an overlapping of fields where interdisciplinarity becomes useful in understanding a given discipline’s practices and knowledge landscape. Research papers on concept-creep open dialogues on expanding concepts. These studies prove that broadening concepts opens new opportunities (Haslam, 2016). This study attempts to identify a space between fashion and architecture, creating a new awareness of the possibilities for both fields while claiming that space is part of the discipline of architecture. In parallel with current shifts in psychological terms and developments in technology,
there are changes in the way people live. The nomadic culture is identified with an ancient way of life and is becoming a reality in the twenty-first century – the difference is that nomadic practices are now practiced within urban contexts. There is increased mobility among individuals living in the city, as workspaces are increasingly digital (Hamurcu, 2018). Many citizens migrate to work areas during the week and home for weekends and holidays. They regularly transplant themselves to cities to follow their next career opportunities. This flexible way of living poses challenges and produces opportunities for architects and fashion designers to collaborate to design facilities that accommodate it. The author argues that some of the most progressive and interesting developments occur when disciplinary boundaries are blurred (Louise, 2010, p.3). The professor at the Harvard University and author of Symbolic boundaries, Michele Lamont defines the word ‘boundary’ as “…distinctions of classification systems…”. The study aims to blur existing boundaries within the fashion and architecture discipline by creating new ones that include both disciplines. The exercise of ‘boundary-making’ suggests that the combination of the disciplines offer a possibility to remodel the understanding of bodies, space, and the way we inhabit space, with the aim of creating designs that are socially inclusive. The exercise transforms how one perceives accommodation, space, habitation, and the city, revealing new possibilities and promoting collaboration between both fields.This study invites architects to explore clothing design and fashion designers to explore building design, thus expanding both disciplines by dissolving the line that separates them.
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