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Matri-Archi(tecture)

Contributors
Location
Basel, Switzerland & Cape Town, South Africa, Republic Of
Website
www.matri-archi.ch
Matri-Archi(tecture) is an intersectional collective that empowers African women as a network dedicated to African-built development and spatial education. They action their ethos through their research unit and forthcoming spatial education program, focusing on transformation in partnership with spatial practitioners. Through their projects, they contribute to a pool of knowledge that aims at catalyzing and fostering dialogue and a consciousness in spatiality across Global Southern geographies. Their work emphasizes more inclusive paths for ongoing processes of alteration, transformation, and diversity. This has manifested through different mediums and scales as well as across different channels. Notable projects include exhibiting at the Africa Summit in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland (2018); a collaborative photography documentary project with Nairobi Design Week in Nairobi, Kenya (2019); an ongoing research project on urban nomads in Johannesburg, South Africa (2019 -); and one of many guest lectures including a recent talk in the series arquiteturas do sul global at Escola da Cidade in São Paulo, Brazil (2020). Matri-Archi(tecture) is co-directed by Khensani de Klerk and Solange Mbanefo.
Solange Mbanefo is a practicing architect with a BIM post-master’s specialization. As a multicultural scholar-explorer, she is passionate about developing self-sufficient spatial solutions. She is fluent in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, while currently perfecting her German.
Khensani de Klerk is an architectural designer and planner from Johannesburg. She centers practicing intersectionality through research and practice. She is finalizing an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Cambridge focusing on safe space.
Tapiwa Manase is an ar(tist)chitect who believes in multidisciplinary collaboration, community-based design, and holistic approaches that adapt to climate, socio-cultural heritage, and local identity toward informing positive perceptions.
Tshego Mako is an interior and architectural designer who is currently enrolled in a Master of Science degree at Politecnico di Milano. At the core of her approach is expressive, creative, and social design.

Past Works

MA Pavilion Africa Summit Sankt Gallen Switzerland, 2018

MA Pavilion Africa Summit Sankt Gallen Switzerland, 2018