City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
I founded 2802 Professional Architects in 2017 with a simple conviction: that small, highly skilled practices can deliver at the highest level—even on projects where large firms typically operate. For me, it’s not about size. It’s about clarity, agility, and design that gets built. After graduating in 2006, I moved to South Africa to join GLH Architects & Associates, where I spent five formative years working on large-scale developments across the office, retail, and residential sectors. These ranged from tight-budget housing schemes to premium, green-certified buildings for institutional and private clients. That early exposure shaped my understanding of how to balance ambition, constraints, and execution. In 2011, I deliberately stepped away from architecture to join an engineering consultancy involved in city infrastructure expansion around the Alstom power plant. That two-year chapter sharpened my technical coordination skills and gave me a broader, multidisciplinary perspective on project delivery. I returned to GLH Architects in 2013, was made Associate, and later promoted to Director and Shareholder. While the firm offered a strong platform and high-calibre projects, managing a five-partner structure made day-to-day operations increasingly complex. I eventually chose to create a practice that could move faster, think clearer, and build stronger, more direct relationships with clients and collaborators. At 2802, we now lead complex projects throughout Africa and Europe, across hospitality, mixed-use, residential, and retail sectors. We work closely with our partners—clients, engineers, and contractors—to ensure that the design intent stays aligned from sketch to site. My approach is grounded, pragmatic, and collaborative. I believe great design emerges from real dialogue—between site, context, user needs, and ambition. “J’ai toujours su qu’on pouvait jouer dans la cour des grands… sans faire partie des poids lourds.”
Mo2 is a side project to my current position as a member architect at GLH Architects & Ass.