How the Meridian course helped a participant forge a connection
that supports the link between creativity and leadership in a
practical way
Mokena Makeka was awarded the 2010 Johnnie Walker Celebrating
Strides Award for Design. He has decided to use the prize money
from this award to establish an Academy for Creative Excellence.
The academy will focus on two key areas: creative excellence and
leadership development.
To support him on this quest, he has joined forces with fellow
graduates Juanique Pretorius (Meridian 2009), Rolfe Eberhard
(Meridian 2009), Carolin Gomulia (Meridian 2009) and Beverley
Basson (Meridian 2010).
Mokena has been in the professional arena as the owner of his
own design practice for a short while but has already established
himself as one of the heavyweights of design and architecture in
the country. Mokena holds an honors degree in Architecture with
Distinction from the University of Cape Town. He was acknowledged
for his architectural talent by receiving the CIA award of
Excellence for his first building. He was also selected as one of
two architects in Africa to design along with 99 architects from
around the world in a prestigious project known as the Ordos 100.
Mokena was asked to be an examiner in early 2009 at the school of
Architecture in Columbia University NY, USA and is a part time
lecturer at UCT. Mokena is a renowned orator who is often requested
to expound on transport and public space in various different
forums. His practice was nominated as Impumelelo's Top 300 emerging
empowerment companies and notably obtained the contract to be
design lead for the Cape Town Station Revitalization for 2010.
Often called the people's architect, Mokena designs public
buildings that stereotypically fulfilled the mandate of the client,
but now serve to restore the dignity and pride of the users by
proclaiming good design as a basic human right. He is the founder
of a nonprofit urban development forum that seeks to address urban
development issues and promote the arts through professional
discourse called SPACE: The Final Frontier.
www.makekadesigns.com
