“Against all odds, Johannesburg has a very special energy,” says Sumayya Vally, the founder of the architecture firm Counterspace. “The city’s legacies of segregation and exclusion mean that at every turn there’s work to do, but it’s also a vibrant world of inspiration.” Vally has shown her work at the Venice Biennale and directed the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Her company’s projects include a community and wellness center at Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp; a national memorial in Oslo; and the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion in London. Here, Vally shares her favorite places in Joburg, like hot spots for South African fashion and where to get what she believes are the planet’s finest dosas.
Bring your appetite
Good meals are guaranteed at Yeoville Dinner Club, in the inner suburb of Yeoville. Chef and host Sanza Sandile serves seasonal dishes at a communal table. “The food is sensational and tells a story of our history, of Yeoville’s cosmopolitan past—and extremely cosmopolitan present,” Vally says. For grab-and-go fare, she loves the sidewalk markets downtown, where vendors sell fresh vetkoek, or fried dough bread. Dosa Hut in Fordsburg, she says, “makes some of the best dosas I’ve had in the world.”
Fashion forward
In residential Randburg, Vally loves Magugu House, the store run by the fashion designer Thebe Magugu: “Every new collection reflects the South Africa he grew up in and South Africa now.” She also recommends the conceptual work of Lezanne Viviers, whose Viviers Studio in tony Parktown welcomes guests by appointment. “If you have something made to measure, you’ll get to meet the collective of women she works with,” Vally says. “It’s a really special experience.”