The University of Pretoria’s CoDesign Studio, housed in the Department of Architecture’s Unit for Urban Citizenship, has earned an Honourable Mention (Maveric Prize Award) in the 2025 Timber Design Competition for its collaborative work with the Melusi Youth Development Organisation (MYDO).
The University of Pretoria’s CoDesign Studio, housed in the Department of Architecture’s Unit for Urban Citizenship, has earned an Honourable Mention (Maveric Prize Award) in the 2025 Timber Design Competition for its collaborative work with the Melusi Youth Development Organisation (MYDO).
The winning project extended MYDO 2, an important youth hub in the Melusi informal settlement, with a 35-square-metre timber-frame addition designed and built by students and community members alike. The new space allows MYDO to expand their programmes for the youth and has already become, in the words of lecturer and project-lead Jason Oberholster, “a visible symbol of investment in the community’s future”.
Oberholster explained that the co-design process was central to the achievement. “The project was not only about delivering a structure, but also about embedding community voices into the design and construction process,” he said. Students worked alongside MYDO leaders and local youth to “shape the brief, test design options, and take part in construction”, creating what he described as a sense of shared ownership.
For the student team, the experience went far beyond technical training. Architecture honours student Dintle Mahlatsi called it “transformative”, adding that “every conversation, every sketch, every timber joint carried the imprint of collective intelligence”. She said, “It reminded me that architecture is not just spatial. All of it is relational.” Mahlatsi said that the most rewarding moment came when MYDO youth began using the space in unexpected ways, noting that the building quickly became a “catalyst for relational wellbeing and community-led urbanism”.
Timber was chosen deliberately, both for its sustainability and its resonance with local building methods. Oberholster highlighted that the project “provides a building manual for community members to use to further develop their own structures”, with timber materials supplied through the York Timber Research Chair at the university.
The new facility has already reduced overcrowding and enabled simultaneous activities, from after-school support to youth workshops. For Oberholster, the recognition from the national competition “validates CoDesign Studio’s commitment to socially responsive and environmentally sustainable architecture” and reinforces the value of “projects rooted in collaboration and care rather than conventional top-down processes”.
Looking ahead, the Unit for Urban Citizenship plans to continue partnerships in Melusi and similar environments, ensuring that student learning remains tied to meaningful community engagement. As Mahlatsi reflected, the project proves that architecture “can be both rigorous and radically human”, a lesson that will guide the next generation of UP architects well beyond the classroom.
