Awards
2025 SCAPE: Awards of Excellence - Industry Figure of the Year
2012 SAIA: Award of Merit - Nike Football Training Centre
2010 Walter Sisulu University: Luyanda Mpahlwa receives honorary doctorate
2008 Curry Stone: Design Prize - 10 x 10 sandbag housing
2006 SAIA: Award of Excellence - South African Embassy
2003 SABT & Allied Careers Organisation: Excellence in the Built Environment - South African Embassy
EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
2026 GUEST SPEAKER: Western Cape Property Development Forum - ‘Streets as social infrastructure’ , Cape Town, South Africa
2026 GUEST SPEAKER: SAIA KZN Practise Breakfast (KZNIA) - Online
2024 GUEST SPEAKER: Future Cape Town - ‘What if Cape Town?…’ , Cape Town, South Africa
2024 PANELIST: Inaugural National Urban Forum (NUF) - Johannesburg, South Africa
2024 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: 17th Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy - ‘Perspectives on Transformative Spatial Planning’, Heidelberg, Germany
2024 PERFORMANCE LECTURE: Music of the Struggle Against Apartheid, Berlin, Germany
2024 GUEST SPEAKER: African Union of Architects Congress, Rabat, Morocco
2024 PANELIST: Scape Trade Show ‘In Tension’ - ‘Modernity & Tradition in (South) African Architecture’, Cape Town, South Africa
2024 GUEST SPEAKER: DAS - ‘Bridging the Divide: Creative Solutions for Today’s Architectural Issues’ - ‘Identity, Authenticity, and Social Responsibility in Architecture’, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 INTERVIEW: CNN Voices, ‘How two African architects prioritize culture, sustainability and social change through design’ - ‘Using design to solve housing inequity in South Africa’, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 GUEST SPEAKER: ‘Dialogue for Urban Change – Peer to Peer learning and exchange’, ACC, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2022 MODERATOR: Module 1, 2022 Panel Discussion - MuseumsLab, Berlin DAAD/Museum of Natural History, Germany
2021 GUEST LECTURE: Module 1, 2021 - MuseumsLab, Berlin DAAD/Museum of Natural History, Germany
2021 MODERATOR: Panel Discussion, ‘In Full Sight Lecture Series’ – Tswane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
2019 GUEST SPEAKER: FutureScape Africa, Cape Town Conference – ‘Inclusive Cities of the Future’, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 GUEST SPEAKER: OASIS FORUM – ‘The Architect as Nexus of Heritage & Vision’, Osun state, Nigeria
2019 GUEST SPEAKER: ASAQS Conference – ‘Shift towards Opportunity’, CAPE TOWN, South Africa
2019 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: CBE TRANSFORMATION INDABA, CSIR - ‘Inclusive development’
2018 INAUGURATION: President of the South African Institute of Architects, SAIA, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 GUEST SPEAKER: GBCSA Convention, ‘Who owns the city' - ‘A Discussion on Socially Inclusive Cities’, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 GUEST SPEAKER: Affordable housing Symposium - Uganda Society of Architects, Uganda
2018 GUEST SPEAKER & WORKSHOP HOST: Social Housing Models - #Cocreate Design Festival, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 PARTICIPANT: Eco Districts Incubator Workshops - Eco Districts, Portland & Seattle, USA
2017 GUEST SPEAKER: DAS conference - DAS, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 DESIGN LECTURE: November Talks, Technical University - ‘Design for social change’ ,Stuttgart, Germany
2017 EXHBITION: Open Design Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Housing Seminar - ‘Connective Cities Forum’, Durban, South Africa
2016 EXHIBITION: Venice Biennale: 15th International Architecture Exhibition curated by Alejandro Aravena
2016 PARTICIPANT: German Habitat Forum - Habitat III, Berlin, Germany
2016 GUEST SPEAKER: CPUT Graduation Geomatics and Design, CPUT, Bellville, Cape Town
2016 LECTURE: November talks , Graz University of Technology - ‘Think Tank Architecture’, Graz, Austria
2016 WORKSHOP: Connective Cities Practitioners' Workshop - ‘an urban NEXUS approach to urban upgrading’, Durban, South Africa
2016 SYMPOSIUM: UCT Architecture Lecture Series, in collaboration with utt and ethz - ‘Masiphumelele Housing Symposium’, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 LECTURE: ‘Co-creating the future of housing in South Africa’ - Future Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 LECTURE: ‘Housing and Educating the Future’ - Future Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 LECTURE: Presidential Library Presentation - Thabo Mbeki Foundation & UNISA, Pretoria, South Africa
2014 GUEST SPEAKER: ‘Africa Out Loud’, De Nieuwe Kerk in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund - ‘Reflecting on African Heritage’, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014 SYMPOSIUM: The Design Africa Symposium, hosted by Luyanda Mpahlwa in association with World Design Capital - ‘Design Visions for African cities of the future’ , Cape Town, South Africa
2013 GUEST SPEAKER & EXHIBITION: Afritecture Munich symposium, Architekturmuseum TUM - ‘Building social change’, Munich, Germany
2013 LECTURE: Milde Macmillian Memorial lecture and exhibition , Port Elizabeth, South Africa
2013 LECTURE: 361* Design Conference, Mumbai, India
2013 CONFERENCE: The Bold City Conference, Future Cape Town - ‘Future of transport’, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 OPEN STUDIO: DesignSpaceAfrica Offices Open - Open Design, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 EXHBITION: WDC Annual Wood Conference - City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 CONFERENCE: AZA conference, AZA - ‘Design Indaba 10×10 Housing’, Cape Town, South Africa
2012 GUEST SPEAKER: Curry Stone Design Prize Awards 2012 - Google Headquarters, Los Angeles, USA
2011 GUEST SPEAKER: Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesen School of Architecture, Wisconsin, USA
2011 EXHIBITOR: ‘Design with the other 90%’, Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum UN headquarters, New York, USA
2011 GUEST SPEAKER: Sci-Arc, Los Angeles, USA
2011 GUEST SPEAKER: Presentation to national treasury and DBSA - DBSA, Pretoria, South Africa
2011 GUEST SPEAKER: SABTACO, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
2011 GUEST SPEAKER: BMW Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
2011 CONVERSATION: Luyanda Mpahlwa and Mokena Makeka conversation
2010 CONFERENCE: Rural development conference - Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa
2010 CONFERENCE: Design Indaba conference speech - Design Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 GUEST SPEAKER: Heinrich Boell Foundation, Berlin, Germany
2009 NOMINATION: Index Award Denmark for the 10×10 House, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 GUEST SPEAKER: 10x10 housing project - Design Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa
2008 SYMPOSIUM: FIB symposium - FIB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2008 CONFERENCE: Mthatha rural conference - Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa