Roland van Rosenveld was born on 5 February 1958 in Cape Town. He attended Wynberg Boys' High School, matriculating in 1975 before completing two years of compulsory military service in the South African Navy as a radio operator during 1976 and 1977.
In 1978, he began studying architecture at the University of Cape Town, where he qualified with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1984. Roland became a director at DHK Architects in 1988, a position he held until 2002. In the same year, he founded South Architects, where he remains the majority shareholder. His professional work has focused extensively on the design and development of hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout South Africa.
One of his notable projects includes the Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence at Vincent Pallotti Hospital.
Beyond architecture, Roland has maintained a lifelong engagement with art and the natural world. His interests include scuba diving, underwater videography, surfing, painting, and sculptural models. Inspired by the underwater landscapes surrounding Cape Town, he has produced a series of artworks depicting marine life and ocean environments.
In addition to painting, Roland continues to experiment with organic sculptural forms and handcrafted creations that combine natural materials with industrial techniques - making use dried kelp, wire, and fibreglass
Roland’s spiritual journey began in 2009 following a period of severe depression after separating from his wife, the mother of his two sons. His search for meaning initially led him to the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, which later evolved into what he calls The Way of AnD — a philosophy that seeks to reveal the simplicity, beauty, and underlying unity shared by the great Eastern and Western spiritual traditions once their peripheral differences are set aside.
Central to The Way of AnD is the idea that truth is not found through the accumulation of more conceptual knowledge, but through the dismantling of limiting beliefs and assumptions. As described within the teaching: “There is no ‘teacher’ to be found at the heart of AnD if by teaching is meant the addition of even more conceptual knowledge. If anything, this way is intended to liberate one from the faulty premises and beliefs that have served as the cornerstone of man’s knowledge and which have blinded him to The Truth.”
