Afreetekture
Sechaba Maape.
Director and Founder
(South Africa)
Founded in 2017 by Dr Sechaba Maape and Mrs Sandra Maape, Afreetekture is a research-led architectural and cultural practice grounded in long-term inquiry into the relationship between people and environments. The practice is rooted in Dr Maape’s PhD research, which investigated indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in South Africa, particularly those of First Nations communities, as lenses for understanding land, place, and meaning. This research forms the conceptual foundation of Afreetekture’s architectural work, positioning architecture as a culturally situated response to environmental and social realities.
Since its inception, Afreetekture has focused on integrating African culture into architectural thought and practice through multiple modalities, including research, design practice, design research, creative production, publishing, teaching, and public engagement. These modes operate together as tools for developing a culturally grounded architectural discourse that moves beyond symbolic reference toward deeper epistemic and spatial engagement.
Afreetekture contributed to the South African Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, where the practice co-curated the exhibition, developed its theoretical framework, and presented IKS-inspired works grounded in Setswana and San epistemologies.
