[2][3][4][5][6][7] Matrix pursued these objectives through built projects, theoretical analysis, commissioned research and publications, including the book Making Space: Women and the Man-made Environment published in 1984.
[8]: 171 [9] The book explores relationships between gender and architecture, building on the then emerging work from feminist geographers and historians in the UK and USA, including Doreen Massey, Linda McDowell, Susana Torre and Dolores Hayden.
[15] Key initial members include Frances Bradshaw, Susan Francis,[16] Barbara McFarlane, Anne Thorne, Julia Dwyer, and Jos Boys.
[18][19] The practice specialised in co-design, collaborative ways of working with people, groups and organisations that were traditionally excluded from architectural design processes.
[1][5][20] The type of projects undertaken by the practice also extended beyond the range of standard architectural services, to include design guidance and training support.
[3] A course on technical drawing that started as a consultative tool for Dalston Children's Centre (now the Bathhouse Children’s Community Centre) was developed further for use on women builders' training schemes, particularly at Women's Education in Building (WEB), a group delivering projects on behalf of Learning and Skills Councils in West and Central London.
[5][40][6][41] Recognition is increasing, the editors of Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870-1950 describe Making Space as “highly important but underrated.”[42] Some ex-Matrix members have developed feminist spatial practices such as through Taking Place[43][44][45][46] formed by Jos Boys, Julia Dwyer, (who were Matrix members) together with Sue Ridge, Jane Rendell, Doina Petrescu, Katie Lloyd Thomas, Brigid McLeer, Helen Stratford, Miche Fabre Lewin, Angie Pascoe and Teresa Hoskyns.
[47] The impact of the collective was reinforced in 2019 and 2020 when Matrix was nominated for the RIBA Gold Medal Award by Harriet Harriss following a campaign by the group Part W.[48][49] In 2020, the Matrix Open Feminist Architecture Archive (MOfaa) project received seed funding from the University College London Bartlett Innovation Fund to develop an online resource.