Matter Again
Timber-clad buildings at Qurtuba Precinct seen through mature trees

Programme proposal ยท September 2026

Matter Again,
Year One.

A twelve-month programme for the institute's first year, from the name and the website to a working institution, ending with the first Matter Again Conference at Qurtuba in September 2027.

Prepared by Akoma for Muneer and Yusuf

Where we stand

Year Zero gave Matter Again a name, an address and a first audience.

In five months the institute went from an idea to a public presence. Everything below already exists. Year One builds on it rather than starting again.

  • A name and an identity. Matter Again was approved in August 2026, with a mark, colour and type system and a brand reference. Formal name and trade-mark clearance is still to be completed.
  • A website. matteragain.co.za is live, with the institute's purpose, the material system, a library of ten built prototypes at Qurtuba, an info@ address and a contact form.
  • A first public talk. Matter Again presented at the Timber Construction Conference in Pretoria on 15 September 2026. People came to us afterwards: a forestry industry body with a large pallet supply, the architect of a major timber campus building, and requests to visit Qurtuba.
  • A body of evidence. Ten buildings, a book in production by Arifa, photography by Azraa, renders by Zackiye, and academic depth through Yusuf Patel, professional architect and PhD researcher at Newcastle University.
The musallah at Qurtuba Precinct, with its pallet-timber tower and stained-glass arch
Qurtuba Precinct, Linbro Park. The founding address and first prototype library.

Year One

One year to turn a name into an institution.

Matter Again is now bigger than any one project. It can host the conversation about reclaimed materials in South African building, and bring makers, architects, researchers and funders into one room. Year One has three outcomes.

01

A working programme

Four quarterly workshops at Qurtuba and one two-day conference, each one dated, budgeted and delivered. Matter Again becomes a place people come to, not only a site they visit.

02

An evidence base

The pallet system has no formal approval route yet. Year One documents the system properly and maps what it would take to use it beyond Qurtuba, with Yusuf leading the research track.

03

A network

The people who came forward in September become the first partners. Matter Again shows up at the Green Building Convention in October and hosts its own conference a year later.

The programme

Four quarters. Four tracks. One destination.

Each quarter has one hands-on workshop at Qurtuba, one public beat, and steady work on evidence and partnerships underneath. The conference is the destination the whole year points at.

  1. Q4 2026 October to December

    Set up and show up

    • Programme, roles and budget approved
    • Matter Again at the Green Building Convention, Cape Town, 27 to 29 October
    • Workshop 1 at Qurtuba: deconstruction and the block system, hands on
    • LinkedIn page live, first articles published
  2. Q1 2027 January to March

    Document and map

    • Workshop 2: the approval gap. What testing and standards work the system needs, led by Yusuf
    • Research agenda agreed and published
    • First partner collaboration scoped
    • Prototype library expanded with construction detail
  3. Q2 2027 April to June

    Widen the circle

    • Workshop 3: beyond timber. Other reclaimed materials, guest makers
    • International exchange slot: one collaboration with a like-minded programme abroad
    • Conference call for speakers and makers opens
    • Conference budget approved
  4. Q3 2027 July to September

    Build up and gather

    • Workshop 4: a prototype built for the conference
    • The first Matter Again Conference, two days at Qurtuba
    • Year One report to Muneer and partners
    • Year Two programme proposed

The four tracks

Events

Four workshops and one conference. Each has a date, a theme, a budget approved in advance, and a simple record afterwards: who came, what was made, what was learned.

Evidence

Document the material system and the ten prototypes properly. Map the route to formal approval with Yusuf. Publish what we know, and say clearly what we do not yet know.

Partnerships

Turn September's inbound interest into a handful of real collaborations: pallet supply, a shared build, a research link. Small, concrete and finished beats large and vague.

Communications

A LinkedIn page, a monthly article, website updates, and every enquiry through matteragain.co.za answered. Matter Again speaks in its own voice, with Akoma writing and publishing.

Angled pallet-timber panels on a building at Qurtuba

The conference

Two days inside the buildings.

September 2027. The first Matter Again Conference, held at Qurtuba, where every session takes place inside a structure made from reclaimed pallets. Timed for conference season, between the Timber Construction Conference and the Green Building Convention, when the people we want in the room are already travelling.

Day one

Make

Workshops across the precinct. Deconstruct pallets, stack walls, arrange blocks, test ideas. Architects, students, builders and makers get their hands dirty and leave with something they built.

Day two

Talk

Talks and showcases. Timber first, then other reclaimed and reused materials. Invited architects, researchers and makers present built work, not slides about intentions.

  • Where. Qurtuba Precinct, Linbro Park, Johannesburg.
  • When. September 2027, the exact dates fixed once the 2027 conference calendars are published.
  • Who. Architects, engineers, builders, students, researchers, material suppliers, funders and the public.
  • Run-up. The four quarterly workshops feed it. Workshop 4 builds a prototype that opens on day one.

Roles

Matter Again leads. Akoma runs the programme.

A glamping unit at Qurtuba among mature trees

Matter Again is its own entity. Akoma proposes to be its programme office: the team that plans, produces, writes, follows up and reports, so that Muneer, Yusuf and Zubair can lead without carrying the admin.

Muneer
Founder and patron. Sets direction, approves the programme and budget, opens Qurtuba to the work, and represents the institute where it matters most.
Yusuf
Academic lead. Owns the evidence track: research agenda, the approval-gap map, academic partners and the rigour behind every public claim.
Zubair
Lead contributor and Akoma partner. Carries the programme day to day, speaks for Matter Again at events, and leads partner conversations.
Akoma
Programme office. Planning, event production, communications, partnership follow-up, website and brand, quarterly reporting, and the conference as producer.

Governance stays light in Year One: a monthly check-in between Muneer, Yusuf and Akoma, and a written quarterly report. A formal structure, and any legal vehicle, is a Year Two question informed by what Year One shows.

Investment

A monthly retainer, and an open conversation about the best structure.

We suggest a monthly retainer for the programme office, with programme and conference costs budgeted separately and approved in advance. We are open to discussing the structure that works best for Matter Again. Figures follow once the shape of the year is agreed.

01

Programme office retainer

A fixed monthly fee to Akoma for running the programme: planning, production, communications, partnerships and reporting. Predictable for Matter Again, continuous for the work.

02

Programme budget

Workshop costs, materials, documentation, website and content. Set per quarter and approved before spending. Akoma manages it and accounts for it in the quarterly report.

03

Conference budget

A separate budget for the two-day conference, proposed in Q1 2027 and approved by Q2. Sponsorship and ticketing can offset it; Year One plans without relying on either.

Outside this proposal: new building work, new photography, book production, legal fees for name and trade-mark clearance, and any grant or sponsorship income, which Year One treats as upside rather than budget.

Next steps

Agree the shape now. Start in October.

Three things move Year One from proposal to programme.

  1. A working session

    Muneer, Yusuf, Zubair and Mo agree the programme shape, roles and retainer structure. Before Muneer travels in October.

  2. Dates and budget

    Akoma tables the Year One budget and the first two workshop dates within two weeks of that session.

  3. Green Building Convention

    Matter Again goes to Cape Town on 27 to 29 October as an institute with a programme, not only a website. Muneer and Yusuf are invited.

A timber post and pallet-block wall in an open pavilion at Qurtuba

Matter Again, Year One

The buildings are already there. Now the institution.

Zubair and Mo
On behalf of Akoma
September 2026

Akoma