The
Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) this year hosted the first entirely face-to-face Sophia Gray lecture since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Talking about Changing Landscapes, Practice and Pedagogy,
Mpeti Morojele presented the Sophia Gray lecture – the biggest and most prestigious architectural lecture of its kind in South Africa – as the 33rd Sophia Gray laureate.
Hailing from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, Morojele established his design practice, the award-winning MMA Design Studio in Johannesburg, in 1995.
Local and international recognition
He is recognised for his work locally and internationally. Some of his projects include the South African Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the South African Embassy in Berlin, Germany, the Maropeng Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, as well as various Freedom Park projects, including Isivivane (the symbolic final resting place for South Africa’s fallen heroes), //hapo (telling the South African story of liberation and the triumph of the human spirit over three billion years), and Isikhumbuto (a place of remembrance, a gathering space at the top of a hill surrounded by the wall of names, sanctuary, gallery of leaders, and the Moshate).
His work engages the African landscape, incorporating indigenous knowledge and ritual to respond to and enhance the emerging African condition.
Becoming conscious
In his presentation, Morojele explained his journey as an architect. As a student at UCT, he said he felt invisible because of the kind of architecture they were talking about; mostly architecture of the Western world. He elaborated on this point in his lecture, explaining about becoming conscious.
“It took me back to the origins of humankind. I found it interesting to consider what the architecture at our origins was, and what the environment was in which we first became conscious of ourselves. It has been said that becoming conscious was the beginning of spirituality and art. The idea of origins interested me, and also how we as humans became conscious of ourselves and the space around us, until we achieve the state where we actually create these spaces for our own use,” he said.
As we evolved and became more conscious, we not only found objects, but placed objects in ways that commemorate our unity and spirituality, signifying society coming together to build something collectively.
Symbiotic relationship with the environment
For Morojele, animism – the belief that inanimate objects have internal and distinct spiritual essences – also played a role in his designs. “It allows us to have a symbiotic relationship with our environment, as opposed to one where we exercise dominion over all things. Animism locates us in the environment as part of it rather than as outside observers of the environment.”
The Kigutu International Academy, located on the Village Health Works Campus 100 km south of Bujumbura in Burundi and nestled in lush mountains overlooking the beautiful Lake Tanganyika, is an example of where he places humans close to the environment. Here he essentialises the architecture. This project, with its open spaces, also brought about the question of walls. Do they unite or do they divide?
Morojele remarked that architecture takes lessons from landscapes by giving shelter, security, and prospects of freedom.
Re-establishing what it means to be human
His goal was to plant an idea in the minds of the architects who attended the lecture. Given where we are headed in the world, we need to re-establish what it means to be human; it is only when we recognised the humanity in all of us that we can begin to use architecture to unite societies.
In order to do this, our focus needs to be less intellectual and more about how we as biological beings behave in environments; for example, do people feel alienated or do they belong in our spaces?
“These are the important things, I think, our architects need to talk about in the future,” he concluded his lecture.
• Examples of Morojele’s work, including drawings and designs, can be viewed at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.