This was Local Studio first built project and coincided with the establishment of The Awethu Project’s (a significant South African business incubator) move into Constitution Hill. This was essentially an interior fit-out of a series of offices at Johannesburg’s Constitutional Court, which had been vacant for some time. The incredibly low construction budget explains the bootstrap aesthetic of the project. The design of this project is made up largely of the creative reappropriation of wooden pallet technology to create a range of office furniture. Before the establishment of Local Studio, one of Thomas Chapman’s first built projects (in collaboration with Marco Corazza) was the design of a mobile bread shop for The Awethu Project’s first entrepreneur in the Alexandra Township in 2009. Since then, Local Studio have shared growth with Awethu and have acted as their architects on several projects such as The Hill Café.

Client: Awethu Project