A South African architectural firm whose
ingenious, yet simple design re-envisions low-income housing for a Cape Town
shantytown, was named the winner of the inaugural Curry Stone Design Prize at the
IdeaFestival in Louisville, Ky. on Sept. 25, 2008.
MMA Architects' principals, Luyanda Mpahlwa and Mphethi Morojele received the
$100,000 prize, administered by the University of Kentucky College of Design. The prize
is given annually to breakthrough design solutions with the power and potential to
improve our lives and the world we live in.
Jurors singled out MMA's design for a single-family home, which leveraged a modest
budget - equivalent to $6,900 - by borrowing elements from indigenous mud-and-wattle
building techniques. Their two-story frame, made from timber and sandbag infill
construction, is both energy efficient and requires little to no electricity or skilled labor to
construct. MMA will complete 10 such houses by the end of the year.
Jurors commended MMA for creating an easily scalable prototype that can be built with
unskilled labor from the local community: "The designers understand that the process
facilitates people making these projects."
The South African based design organization Design Indaba developed the housing project to build 10 pilot homes within a squatter area on the outskirts of Capetown. Once built the plans will subsequently be compiled into a manual to be donated to African governments, who will be able to use them royalty-free under the Creative Commons Developing Nations License.
Profile by Fenton Communications, New York
LINKS:
http://designindaba10x10.blogspot.com/2009/02/luyanda-mpahlwa-on-mmas-de...
http://www.designindaba.com/10x10/
http://currystonedesignprize.com/recipients/2008/urban_indigenous_archit...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c9b04a80-cf1a-11de-8a4b-00144feabdc0.html
