Jonathan Noble

Internationally renowned, Peter Rich’s career represents a lifelong attempt to find a contemporary, yet uniquely African mode of design. This book follows the chronology of his work which emerges from a fascination with African indigenous settlements, including his documentation, publication and exhibition of Ndebele art and architecture, and his friendship with sculptor Jackson Hlungwani. It explores what Rich calls “African Space Making” and its forms of complex symmetry; various collaborative community oriented designs of the Apartheid and post-Apartheid period, especially Mandela's Yard in Alexandra township; and finally, his more recent timbrel vaulted structures, constructed from low-tech hand-pressed soil tiles derived from his highly innovative and award winning work at Mapungubwe. The book shows how Rich combines African influences with an environmental awareness aligned to Modernist principles.