Mathews & Associates Architects is an architecture firm based in Pretoria, South Africa, known for contextually relevant and graphic designs.
History The firm was established in 2000 by Pieter J Mathews and it has been involved in a wide variety of buildings ranging from large-scale buildings for tertiary institutions to transport architecture.
Principal: Pieter J Mathews
Life and career Pieter Mathews, (24 February 1967), is an architect living and working in Pretoria, South Africa. He is principal of the firm Mathews & Associates Architects.
Mathews grew up in Lichtenburg"Another successful Art in Architecture event" . Building and Decor. and studied architecture at the University of Pretoria. He finished his BArch-degree in 1991, obtaining the Gold Fields of South Africa Scholarship for Architecture. After his third year of study he travelled abroad to gain international work experience. In 1989, he completed part of his practical training in London (Bruce Gilbreth & Triad Architects) after which he travelled to Europe, USA (New York and California), Thailand, Hong Kong and Turkey. At Bruce Gilbreth he was involved with the Centre at Capability Green in Luton and at Triad Architects, Frimley High Street office building as well as a residential project for the government of Gibraltar.
He completed his practical training in South Africa at Holm Jordaan Holm under the direction of Dieter Holm and Gerrit Jordaan. In 1994, Mathews became partner at Nel Storm Architects in Pretoria followed by a partnership with Jacques Gerber (Mathews and Gerber Architects ) from December 1995 to November 2000.
In 2000, Mathews started the architecture firm, Mathews & Associates Architects, and the firm operated from an old post office building in Waterkloof. The firm received numerous merit awards for their buildings, and has been invited to appear on various television stations. Projects by the office have been exhibited internationally in Venice and São Paulo and published in numerous publications. Mathews has written and contributed to numerous books on architecture, his first being Architexture, a book on the use of textures in buildings. It was followed by Detail Housed, after which he was the publishing manager for Construction Primer, by Hans Wegelin, and the editor for Contemporary Capital. He has since then published numerous other books including #Cool Capital, Cool Capital Guerrilla Design Magazine, Saadjies and The Sample Workshop which were edited or compiled by Mathews. In 2021 Musings, a retrospective of the oeuvre by MAAA over two decades, was published by Protea Boekhuis. He also writes about architecture and design for local South African magazines."DESIGNING YOUR DREAM KITCHEN". Garden and Home.
In 2013, he formed part of a study tour to visit museums and galleries in the US, organised by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. The tour included visits to YALE, NYU, Princeton, Penn, Rutgers, as well as the Metropolitan, MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum. This visit culminated in the design and construction of the Javett Art Gallery at the University of Pretoria, which will open its doors in 2019. Mathews was President of the Pretoria Institute for Architecture (PIA) from 2013 to 2014, and was a board member of SAIA (South African Institute of architects) in 2013.
In 2012 and 2013, Mathews was invited to join Southern Guild, for which he designed benches as part of their annual exhibitions. His design for a concrete bench (together with Santie Gouws, Grietjie Lee and the late Sybrand Wiechers) was included in PPC Cement's REIMAGINE CONCRETE Young Concrete Sculptor Awards Competition exhibition. In 2002, he was invited by House and Leisure magazine to design a drinks tray for Absolut Vodka. Mathews was the convenor for the Cool Capital Biennale."Cool Capital Biennale: A creative space for PTA". Mail & Guardian, 28 Oct 2014 by Lisa Johnston. In 2012, he received the Zero Hour Credential from the University of Pretoria's Department of Architecture for his contribution to the department. Mathews was listed as one of South Africa's star architects by House and Leisure magazine in 2011. In 2008, he was included in VISI magazine's People with Vision list of architects.
Pieter Mathews completed his practiced-based Master’s study in Architecture at the University of the Free State in 2019 and has completed his PhD in Architecture with Specialization in Design at the same institution in 2023.
Notable projects
Educational
North West University | Vanderbijlpark Campus | New administration Building (2021) North West Province Javett-UP Art Centre at the University of Pretoria| New African Art Gallery and Museum Complex (2019), Gauteng Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria | Student centre (2017), Gauteng Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria | Swimming pool (2015), Gauteng Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool | Art Campus (2015) Hoërskool Waterkloof | Multi-purpose hall and student residence (2013), Gauteng Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria | Additions and alterations to the EC Steijn Hall (2012), Gauteng Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria | Sport complex (2012), Gauteng Laerskool Pretoria-Oos | After care facility (2009), Tennis clubhouse (2010), Gauteng Damelin | Tertiary education campus (2005) North West Province
Transport
Baobab Toll Plaza (2004), Limpopo, in association with Karlien Thomashoff N4 Diamond Hill Toll Plaza (2006), Mpumalanga Nellmapius Bridge (2011), Gauteng Tshwane Rapid Bus Station | Memory Box (2013), Gauteng Hector Pieterson Bus Station (2018), Gauteng Musina Bridge (2022), Limpopo
Commercial
Oaktree Studios (2016), Gauteng Numerous garages for NTT Toyota (2008–current), Mpumalanga and North West Brauhaus am Damm (2012), North West Fusion Boutique Hotel (2009), Limpopo KEE Enterprises (Pty) Ltd (2009), Gauteng SARS Regional Head Office, Rustenburg (2006), North West
Architectural Language Mathews & Associates Architects began as a practice specialising mainly in the residential market but redirected its prime focus away from this market segment, towards transport, education and non-standard commercial projects. The firm has received widespread acclaim in South Africa and increasingly internationally for its holistic approach to design, which embraces unconventional use of texture and sculptural form. The firm's design ethos remains bold and innovative simplicity using honest and raw materials that reflect the African context. The firm's architectural language has been described as "a sculptural combination between stereotomic and tectonic architectural languages".
La Biennale di Venezia In 2016, Mathews & Associates was appointed as the curators for the South African Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. The 15th Biennale was directed by Alejandro Aravena. The South African representation was commissioned by the South African Consul-General in Milan, Saul Kgomotso Molobi, who described the exhibition as historic in the sense that the curator did not take a few exclusive works of architects’ or artists’, but the projects of over 1000 South African participants, probably making this one of the most representative pavilions in the history of South Africa's involvement with the Biennale.
The South African Pavilion pavilion concept responded to the theme by exhibiting the work of hundreds of South Africans who participated in a project called Cool Capital. The 2016 was exhibition was the first South African Pavilion to feature in the official catalogue that printed and distributed by the Biennale Foundation in Venice. Cool Capital's intent was unpretentious and simple: dismantle the bureaucratic relationship between citizens and public space in order to free creativity. Citizens were encouraged to rediscover marginalized and forgotten parts of the city, to collaborate and to become active agents in the rethinking of Pretoria as home, place, destination, and capital city. Cool Capital demonstrated what can be gained when citizens are provided with an unofficial opportunity to constructively engage with issues they identify in the realm of architecture, art, and design. The pavilion becomes a call to citizens of any city to become design activists. In accordance with the uncurated, DIY nature of Cool Capital, the South African exhibition was inclusive and democratic; representing the work of hundreds of innovative participants.
Mathews' appointment as curator of the South African Pavilion in 2016 was preceded by another installation by Mathews and Associates that was exhibited in 2012 at the 13th Biennale Architettura. A lightbox installation designed by Mathews was exhibited as part of the "Traces of Centuries & Future Steps" exhibition held at the Palazzo Bembo and organized by the GAA Foundation.
Awards
2005: LIA Merit Award - Baobab Toll Plaza 2005: MPIA Merit Award - House Millar 2005: PIA Merit Award - N4 Diamond Hill Toll Plaza, in association with K. Thomashoff 2005: SAISC - Overall Winner - N4 Diamond Hill Toll Plaza, in association with K. Thomashoff 2005: PIA President's Award - Publication - Architexture 2006: SAIA Merit Award - Baobab Tollgate 2006: SAIA Merit Award - N4 Diamond Hill Toll Plaza, in association with K. Thomashoff 2006: SAIA Merit Award - House Millar 2009: PIA Commendation - KEE Enterprises (Pty) Ltd 2009: PIA Peers Award First place - KEE Enterprises (Pty) Ltd 2011: LIA Commendation - Fusion Boutique Hotel 2011: PIA Commendation - House Oosthuizen 2011: PIA Commendation - House Taylor 2013: PIA Commendation - Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria – New sports facility 2013: PIA Commendation - Nellmapius Bridge 2013: PIA Merit Award - Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria - Hall 2013: PIA Merit Award - House Fouché 2015: PIA Commendation - Transportation - Nana Sita Station 2015: PIA President's Award - Cool Capital Initiative 2017: SAIA Merit Award - Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool Art Campus 2017: PIA Best Education Building - Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool Art Campus 2017: PIA Merit Award - Mixed Use Development - Oaktree Studio 2017: PIA Commendation - Transportation - Tshwane Rapid Bus Station 2018: SAIA Best Education Building - Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool Art Campus 2021: PIA Merit Award - Albe's Barn
Other
2002: Dulux Colour Awards - Finalist – House Nixon 2005: Selected for Exhibition Miami + Beach Biennale in Florida, USA - House Millar, House Mathews and House Clacey 2009: City of Tshwane BRT national competition: winner of one of the station types 2012: Selected to be part of the "Traces of Centuries & Future Steps" exhibition at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale 2013: House & Leisure: May 2013 House of the month: House Fouché 2015: BASA Innovation Award: PPC Public Bench Project 2015: Loeries Finalist - Cool Capital Project 2017: BASA Small Business Award - Saadjies Travelling Sculpture Exhibition 2018: Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns - Medal of honour for visual arts (architecture) Pieter J Mathews
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