This year, Activate Architecture celebrates its twentieth year in business – and it is doing so with an inspiring vision for the company’s future.
Says Michael Magner, founding director, “As young architects who were quite critical about South African architecture at the time, we wanted to do relevant work by creating better buildings in a pragmatic way. We quickly learned how to listen to our clients and respond meaningfully to a project’s context in the pursuit of high-performance architecture.
“Ed and I started discussing sharing a studio space while we were studying at Wits. We scouted Braamfontein and found the top floor of a building that was standing vacant. We negotiated with the owner to occupy the top floor during our thesis year, and in return, we managed the process of repairs to that floor, which was leaking like a sieve. We ended up renting that space for just R10/sqm.”
Edward Brooks, founding director, adds, “While we were there, the Nelson Mandela Bridge was being built. One of the highlights of those early years was being right in the thick of things, starting out this new adventure in this new country, with a small studio of five or six young architects.”
Director Nhlamulo Ngobeni comments, “The way the first group of people put together the firm and guided it to where it is today, is significant. Activate’s history has been important to me because it was started by young graduates who overcame their fear of the unknown and took a leap of faith and have successfully guided and grown the company over two decades. It’s a story worth telling, and this journey inspires me to be part of the company’s new evolution. It has given me the courage to embrace the risk and to challenge myself to go beyond the norm. All our team members work together for the collective benefit, and everyone can see how their contribution makes a difference.”
