Bio

Zimbabwean born Maxwell Mutanda makes up one half of the design firm Studio [D] Tale, based out of London, Harare and Cape Town. He studied at The Bartlett School of Architecture in London. An interest in how design and architecture can be used to tackle social and environmental design solutions guides his approach. The firm experiments across disciplines with a portfolio that includes architecture, urban exploration, production innovation to critical design and communications.

Studio [D] Tale have showcased work at the Young Architects in Africa exhibition, a collateral event at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, Africa: Architecture and Identity at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen in 2015, the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, as well as at Arc en Rêve in Bordeaux and the London Design Festival. He is also a visiting lecturer at The University of Cape Town.

Project

The project for the residency will catalogue community building at different points in history starting with the vernacular buildings of Southern Africa. By referencing global examples, including but are not limited to kibbutz communities in the Middle East or extended family units in South Asia, I will be also draw from present-day examples like the Victoria Mxenge community in Cape Town – a suburb built by a group of women who taught themselves how to build and formed a local savings club. The information gathered will be translated graphically so as to compare the impact on each solution to the size of urban development.