MMA, South African Architectural Firm

In 2008, at the IdeaFestival in Louisville, KY, Luyanda Mpahlwa and Mphethi Morojele received the $100,000 Curry Stone Design Prize that is administered by the University of Kentucky College of Design. The men's architecture firm, MMA, created a design for single family, low income housing for a Capetown shantytown. The design is an energy efficient, two-story frame structure made of timber and sandbag infill. With limited or no electricity, it can be built without skilled labor. The cost per home is 50,000 South African rand ($6,900 American).

MMA is one of the few black-owned architecture firms in South Africa. The Curry Stone Design Prize is part of a $5.5 million gift to the University of Kentucky College of Design, given by alumnus Clifford Curry and his wife, H. Delight Stone.

For more information see "African firm winner of Curry Stone Design Prize," UK News, 9/25/2008.