Developments

We help create residential and mixed-use developments that achieve a high return on investment by focussing on human well-being. Our flexible and compact designs: cost less to build than standard designs. They are attractive and functional and result in faster sales, higher rentals, less tenant churn, and lower maintenance costs.

The Challenge

Developers face complicated legal processes and pressure to create products that people will want to buy or rent at the right price in a competitive market. 

The Solution

We use our Mindful Design Approach to create spaces in which people feel great. By paying attention to what makes people happy, we can create compact designs that cost less to build, as well as flexible layouts that set developers apart from their competitors.

Case Study

Find out how our client saved 30% on extending an existing student residence whilst offering higher quality spaces that students love.

This extension to an existing student residence did away with dark corridors, which made students feel unsafe, and created positive outdoor spaces. By analysing the existing building, we made use of existing circulation cores and improved shared spaces. 

After the architect designed an expensive addition, our client commissioned us to do a building efficiency review (diagnosis), which helped us identify 29 new rooms within the existing building without adding anything. This in turn made a larger extension of 150 rooms feasible.

Our client also wanted a low-maintenance face brick building. After researching what was available, we managed to purchase high-quality, leftover bricks for less than the cheapest new bricks on the market.

“This new res is different, I think it allows you to socialize more with the communal spaces, unlike the passages in the old Barnato.”  Anza (student)

“I was looking for a red carpet experience built with off-the-shelf products. The new residence unlocks the extraordinary from the ordinary… it creates art from brick and mortar.”

Emannuel Prinsloo,
Director for Campus Planning and Development,
University of the Witwatersrand

Client: University of the Witwatersrand
Program: Student Housing
Location: Braamfontein, Johannesburg

Selected Projects