An Architect from the Mountain Kingdom: Mphethi M. Morojele

"I was born in Lesotho prior to independence to parents from Lesotho and South Africa. Due to my father's work for the UN, I grew up in several other countries in Southern and Eastern Africa and even had a short stint in Europe. This influenced me in terms of having a global or international perspective but rooted in my deep-felt connection to the Mountain Kingdom." says Mphethi Morojele.

Mphethi M. Morojele is the owner and founder of MMA Design Studio (established as MMA Architects in 1995), a mid-sized award-winning architecture and design studio based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

His practice, MMA Design Studio, has since produced a diverse body of work, won national and international awards, and delivered many projects that set out to define and celebrate the new South Africa and its people.

Among the practice's completed projects is the 52-hectare national memorial place in Freedom Park in Pretoria, envisioned as a "leading national and international icon of humanity and freedom", South African embassies in Berlin and Addis Ababa, and the African Leadership Academy Learning Commons in Johannesburg.

Mphethi studied architecture at the University of Cape Town at the Barlett, the University College of London before becoming a studio lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He has also served on numerous advisory boards, competition juries, and consultancies dealing with the built environment in Africa and beyond.

Some of these include the "Urban Age" global conferences (London School of Economics) in 2006, Holcim Sustainability Awards (Africa and the Middle East) in 2011, the scientific committee for the 2014 Union of International Architects (UIA) congress in Durban, South Africa, and the Symposium of Indigenous Design (Melbourne Design School) in 2018.

Mphethi Morojele's built and critical work has been recognized locally and abroad for engaging the African landscape through a contemporary interpretation of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Design, M., n.d. Mphethi M. Morojele. [online] Melbourne School of Design. Available at: <https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/indigenous-design-symposium/speakers/mphethi-m.-morojele> [Accessed 14 October 2021].

Harris, J., 2018. Re-building a country: Mphethi M. Morojele on indigeneity, animist architecture and sending off Nelson Mandela. [online] ArchitectureAU. Available at: <https://architectureau.com/articles/re-building-a-country-mphethi-m-morojele-on-indigeneity-animist-architecture-and-sending-off-nelson-mandela/#:~:text=Among%20the%20practice's%20completed%20projects,Academy%20Learning%20Commons%20in%20Johannesburg.> [Accessed 14 October 2021].

World Economic Forum, n.d. Mphethi Morojele. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: <https://www.weforum.org/people/mphethi-morojele> [Accessed 14 October 2021].