Reflections
My interview with Mokena has really inspired me. I have wanted to be an architect for quite some time now, but, looking back, all my ideas of houses never actually had a meaning behind them. The main reason I was inspired more was that I have never actually thought about architecture as an inspirational space, I just wanted to design cool buildings.
For example, if I wanted to design a museum (something that kids can find potentially boring) I would make it interactive so kids have something to do and use. I would also try and use situations that kids would understand and possibly relate with as examples. Another plus side to this would be that parents can concentrate without having to explain OVER and OVER again about what something means.
Biography
Mokena Makeka is a South African raised in Maseru, Lesotho and New York, USA and is an accomplished architect, artist, creative, curator, designer, global leader, scholar, speaker and urbanist. He is a Senior Advisor at Dalberg. He holds a BArch (Hons) with distinction from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and has various executive leadership qualifications, from the Harvard Kennedy School, Oxford University and others.
He is currently the Azrieli Visiting Critic of 2020 at Carleton University in Canada, Adjunct Professor at Cooper Union in New York and a board member of the South African Green Building Council.
Mokena has extensive experience of leading, founding and serving on boards and these roles include the South African Heritage Agency, the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa, Cape Town Heritage Trust, the Isandla Institute (ex-chairman of the board), Bush Radio Station (ex-chairman of the board), and Cape Africa Platform ( ex-chairman of the board).
Mokena is a founding member of CCIFSA and served on the World Cup Art and Culture Committee for South Africa. He is a WCS (World Cities Summit) Young Leader and a founding director of Coalsackmedia, a graphic design and publishing company.
He is committed to social transformation, design and cities of spatial and ecological justice.
Source: https://architecture.carleton.ca/archives/people/mokena-makeka
