10 Years of
Local Studio

Local Studio began in 2012 as a series of weekend interventions by the firm’s founders in Westbury: a low-income township built by the Apartheid regime for colored residents of Johannesburg. From high-school drawing workshops to activations in open spaces rubbed-raw by poverty and neglect, our experiences in Westbury set the tone for an architectural practice which officially turns 10 this year. Beyond a shaping of the practice’s ethics, this early work in underprivileged communities tuned our entrepreneurial radar, compelling us to seek work opportunities in places where other architects would not. This often meant stepping outside of the traditional architectural role, to undertake brief development and fund-raising on community projects like the Outreach Foundation in Hillbrow. This resourceful spirit has remained with us to this day, and continues to attract diverse clients and collaborators with challenging and unconventional project briefs.