Making Space

Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative was set up in 1980 as an architectural practice and a book group that grew out of the Feminist Design Collective. hey were one of the first architectural groups in Britain to take an overtly feminist stance in their way of working and designing, and in the projects they took on. The practice was run as a workers' co-operative with a non-hierarchical management structure and collaborative working. Matrix worked in two main areas, design projects that were all publicly funded social projects and technical advice. Secondly, developing participatory design methods, acknowledging that architects' ways of working needed to be adapted in order to make the design process more understandable and engaging for clients and users. Although there were as many as twenty members of the collective, initial members include Frances Bradshaw, Susan Francis, Barbara McFarlane, Anne Thorne, Julia Dwyer, Jos Boys and Benedicte Foo.

Matrix defined feminist architectural practice in twentieth century Britain: their influence however, resonated globally. They achieved this through publishing the first clear articulation of feminist design theory in MakingSpace.