Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk
Curriculum vitae
Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk (she/her) is an architectural researcher, designer and performer from Johannesburg. At the centre of her practice is an interest in spatial storytelling and commitment to spatial education. She is a doctoral fellow at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) ETH Zürich since 2023. Her independent research and practice focuses on safe space, questioning how architecture has been spatially implicated in our understandings of Gender-based violence (GBV).
Khensani is the founder of Matri-Archi(tecture), an association based between Switzerland and South Africa that hosts a network of spatial practitioners dedicated to the development of African spatial education, offering a site for artistic collaboration through design, art and architectural research projects. She is also the host and producer of the podcast KONTEXT.
She received a Bachelors in Architecture and a Bachelors of City Planning (Hons) from the University of Cape Town (SA) as well as a MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (RIBA II) from the University of Cambridge (UK), through which she developed the platform ‘public aGender’ for racialised survivors of GBV to share their experiences of violence and safety in relation to space in Cape Town, South Africa.
Since then, she has continued to research and deepen her knowledge in understanding typologies of safe space. She previously taught at the Chair of Affective Architectures at the ETH Zürich, where she co-coordinated the Department of the Ongoing platform. She has also taught in Johannesburg and practiced in London, and continues to engage in educational contexts through giving lectures and talks as well as publishing at various institutions across the world. She has exhibited work in various contexts including the Chicago Architecture Biennial (SA), Vitra Design Museum (DE) and Keyes Art Mile (SA), to name a few.
Through her multidisciplinary approach, Khensani finds educational value in spatial, written and auditory explorations; and in doing so, seeks to untrace histories and deepen theoretical understandings of safe space in relation to architecture.
Khensani is the founder of Matri-Archi(tecture), an association based between Switzerland and South Africa that hosts a network of spatial practitioners dedicated to the development of African spatial education, offering a site for artistic collaboration through design, art and architectural research projects. She is also the host and producer of the podcast KONTEXT.
She received a Bachelors in Architecture and a Bachelors of City Planning (Hons) from the University of Cape Town (SA) as well as a MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (RIBA II) from the University of Cambridge (UK), through which she developed the platform ‘public aGender’ for racialised survivors of GBV to share their experiences of violence and safety in relation to space in Cape Town, South Africa.
Since then, she has continued to research and deepen her knowledge in understanding typologies of safe space. She previously taught at the Chair of Affective Architectures at the ETH Zürich, where she co-coordinated the Department of the Ongoing platform. She has also taught in Johannesburg and practiced in London, and continues to engage in educational contexts through giving lectures and talks as well as publishing at various institutions across the world. She has exhibited work in various contexts including the Chicago Architecture Biennial (SA), Vitra Design Museum (DE) and Keyes Art Mile (SA), to name a few.
Through her multidisciplinary approach, Khensani finds educational value in spatial, written and auditory explorations; and in doing so, seeks to untrace histories and deepen theoretical understandings of safe space in relation to architecture.
