Yesterday the Embassy was blessed with an inspiring visit by LUYANDA MPAHLWA, one of the three awards-winning South African architects (MMA Architects) of the Embassy building! In company of his family, Mr Mpahlwa told Ambassador Sizani about all the little details and stories around the building, its garden and kraal. In 2006, MMA Architects won the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) Award of Excellence for the building in Berlin, which by the way is the first newly built Embassy building of the new South Africa.

Luyanda Mpahlwa’s architectural education in South Africa in the 1980’s was interrupted when he was incarcerated for political activities against apartheid. As an exile in Germany, he later completed his architectural degree at Technische Universität Berlin. In 2000, Mpahlwa moved back to his native South Africa, where he founded the MMA Architects studio in Cape Town. In 2009, he established his own design practice, Luyanda Mpahlwa DesignSpaceAfrica. He is the recipient of the South African Institute of Architecture Award of Excellence for the South African Embassy building in Berlin. Mpahlwa was the first African ever to be awarded the International Curry Stone Design Prize in 2008. Another career highlight was his role in the technical committee team organising the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

More about Luyanda Mpahlwa works: www.DesignSpaceAfrica.com.

Group Interview in uncube magazine on "How to reconnect architecture with Africa":

Details about the Embassy building: www.SuedAfrika.org/en/embassy/embassy-building.html.

A detailed publication about the Embassy building is available in German and English at Stadtwandel Verlag: www.stadtwandel.de/product_info.php?cPath=61&products_id=166.