Not only single-sex buildings:
June 28, 2002
"Hostel" - in South Africa, the word conjures up images of an ugly, menacing building, masculine aggression and tribal hostility. Train-like rows of grey, drab structures, hostels were built to accommodate male migrant workers who came to the city to provide manual labour for the burgeoning mining and manufacturing industries in the last century. (...)
The City of Johannesburg has now embarked on a massive project to change the character of hostels as we know them. Called the Public Sector Hostels Redevelopment Programme, the initiative aims to convert hostels into
family units and to integrate their occupants into local communities.
Historically, hostels were located on the outskirts of townships across the country to accommodate
mainly male migrant workers who...
The newly erected hostels are more spacious and homely [in the picture]
http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=v...
The translation workplace 
