Luyanda mpahlwa biography

Mpahlwa holds Masters in Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin.
Luyanda MPAHLWA, born 1958 in Mthatha, South Africa, started his architectural studies in Durban South Africa, at the University of Natal in 1978.
Luyanda Mpahlwa was one of the first black South Africans to study architecture, before spending five years in jail on Robben Island.

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Luyanda Mpahlwa

ACC Adjunct Professor

Bio

Luyanda Mpahlwa is the director of DesignSpaceAfrica, a Cape Town-based architecture and design practice established in 2009.

Mpahlwa holds Masters in Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Technology from the Walter Sisulu University for his contribution and critical thought on innovative technologies and design for social change.

His architectural education in South Africa was interrupted when he was incarcerated on Robben Island Prison in 1981 for his anti-apartheid political activities. After his release from a 5-year prison term in 1986, he went into exile in Germany, where he spent 15 years in Berlin.

He relocated back to South Africa in 2000 and established the Cape Town Studio of MMA Architects where he was Director/Partner for 12 years. He is a member of South African professional bodies: SACAP; SAIA; CiFA; and UDISA. Mpahlwa has received various accolades for his architectural work including the Award of Excellence, for the South African Embassy Building

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SCI-Arc Media Archive

Luyanda Mpahlwa begins by describing how in 1978 he was part of the first group of Black students permitted to study architecture in South Africa. His education was interrupted by five years at Robben Island Maximum Security Prison, after which he completed his education at the Berlin Technical University. He notes how working in Berlin during the reconstruction period immediately following German reunification was a good preparation for post-apartheid South Africa after 1994. Mpahlwa describes his work as project architect for the Felleshus campus of five Nordic embassies in Berlin, and as designer of the new South African embassy in Berlin. He reviews his work in Cape Town since 1994, including an extension to Parliament, and the international airport, a luxury home, and participation in the committee overseeing the construction of ten new stadiums to accommodate South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup.

Mpahlwa describes conditions in the townships, where the Black population struggles without services and facilities much of the world takes for granted.

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November Talks 2016 in Graz: "The Architecture of Change"

With its 20th lecture, the Sto Foundation’s “November Talks” explored a new dimension: In addition to covering contemporary architecture, the talks in 2016 were also geared towards the socio-cultural and socio-political implications of architecture. Luyanda Mpahlwa was first up on 14 November 2016. The architect from Cape Town impressively demonstrated how architecture can change environments – but never forgets people in the process.

A never-ending sea of low-rise shanties – and at the horizon the silhouette of a modern, vibrant city centre. That is the look of many of the world’s megacities such as Mumbai, Bogotá or Cairo. Or that of the South African city of Cape Town. Luyanda Mpahlwa, born in Mthata (South Africa) in 1958, calls the transformational process that is supposed to improve the lives of the people in these ever-increasing peripheral residential areas "slum upgrading". To build them a European-style multi-storey residential block would accomplish nothing, he believes: "That would just cause the people to f