VERNON BENELE Mwamuka, the first black architect, still stands out as one of the foremost and most prominent architects Zimbabwe ever produced. In his architectural portfolio, he has to his name the imposing Southampton Life Centre (now ZB Life Towers), Construction House, Kopje Plaza, Old Mutual Centre, the Four Ways Mall in Johannesburg and the Joina City (Harare) which became the largest city development in years. Other significant projects that brought him praise and respect include Africa University (Mutare),the National University of Science and Technology (Bulawayo), Harare Domestic Airport, Bulawayo International Airport, FOURWAYS
MALL in Johannesburg (South Africa) the School of Hotel and Catering (Bulawayo) and a chain of post offices strewn across the country. All these completed commissions attest to Mwamuka’s creative identity. His works have left a very unique aesthetic impact on the immediate environment of the structures revitalising the surrounding urban expanse as in the case of the Kopje Plaza (West of Harare’s skyline). The Kopje Plaza changed the sky of the Kopje area where a number of neglected buildings had become an eyesore and a sign of urban decay. Source: 100 Greatest Zimbabweans
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