A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg 2015 / Transformation in South Africa encompasses sociopolitical change towards racial equity and national unity, supported by sustainable growth. True social justice would require that the physical access to higher education of previously disadvantaged students also be undergirded by epistemological access. Regrettably, performance‐driven and outcomes‐based pedagogies often support students inadequately, resulting in attrition and slow transformation in the architectural profession. Architectural design involves complex problem‐solving skills, learned through individual mentoring in studio contexts, and demands intensive, critical engagement. Motivated students with good spatial aptitude from either previously marginalised communities or authoritarian backgrounds often possess lower dominant language skills. Students arriving with lower social capital are underprepared for the personal, cultural and academic demands of the course. This combination creates a larger zone of proximal development (Vygotskiĭ et al., 1994), resulting in underperformance and higher failure rates. In South Africa poor results are increasingly exacerbated by disparities between school and university education (Scott et al., 2013) and potentially affected by unrecognised internalised oppression. As a lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, I confronted the challenge of opening up opportunities for successful outcomes to all students by embedding additional teaching and support into the first year design course. Instructional core theory (City et al., 2009) postulates that learning is centred in the instructional task and is effectively improved only by simultaneous attention to teacher knowledge and skills, responsive course content and improving student engagement. iii Transformational teaching requires applying this triumvirate on social, academic and professional planes. In this study architectural instructional tasks were designed to simultaneously teach academic skills, broaden the cultural discourse and facilitate social cohesion. This promoted support and peer learning to facilitate academic success in a diverse studio, while promoting fundamental transformation. These dynamics are inseparable. This thesis describes the strategies employed in my first year design studio from 2009 to 2011, using various interventions. Over three action research cycles, design studio engagement, social cohesion and student learning outcomes improved. These theorised strategies are summarised as a model for similarly situated professional learning classes in diverse settings.