The first black architectural practice in South Africa
Aziz Tayob Architects was established in 1970 by Aziz Tayob, who graduated from Wits in 1969 as the country's first non-White architect. Today the award-winning practice has completed more than 600 major projects across the private, corporate and public sectors, and has trained some of the country's leading architects.
A family practice, two generations deep
Haneef Tayob
Principal architect · Pr Arch, B.Arch (Wits, 1995)
Joined in 1996 and led the move from hand drawing to CAD. Leads the practice's architecture today, across industrial, institutional, heritage, commercial and residential work, from design through project management, 3D modelling and land surveying. Author of Going According to Plan and an external examiner at Tshwane University of Technology.
Tahera Tayob
Practice manager
Joined in 1985 and manages the administration and day-to-day running of the practice. Her knowledge of five decades of projects keeps long client relationships running smoothly.
Aziz Tayob
Founder · Pr Arch, B.Arch (Wits, 1969)
Born in 1941 in Pietersburg and raised in Brits. Member of SAIA, the Pretoria and Gauteng Institutes of Architects, the SA Council for the Architectural Profession and RIBA. Inaugural Norman Eaton Award (2012) and SAIA Life Membership (2019). He remains active in the practice daily, contributing his experience wherever it helps a project.
"1st Indian graduates as architect in S.A."
In December 1969 the Rand Daily Mail reported that Aziz Tayob, then 28, had become South Africa's first Indian graduate in architecture, capped at a University of the Witwatersrand ceremony the week before. He was the country's first non-White architect.
The son of a Brits businessman, born in Pietersburg, he had first set out to become a doctor and spent a year studying medicine in Pakistan before illness brought him home. Architecture, his second choice, became his life's work. A year later he opened his own practice.
Decade by decade
Adapted from the chapters of Going According to Plan.
- 1970A year after graduating from Wits as South Africa's first non-White architect, and facing hostility in White firms, Aziz Tayob opens his own practice in Fietas (Pageview/Vrededorp), Johannesburg: the country's first black architectural practice.
- 1971Roshnee Mosque, the first built version of his thesis. Registers with RIBA; registered by the SA Council of Architects in 1972.
- 1972The Group Areas Act forces the practice out of Fietas. After a brief spell in Pretoria's CBD, where he had to use the goods lift, it moves to Laudium.
- 1974House & Studio Tayob, the practice's first Award of Merit and its home to this day. Motani Industries follows.
- 1977Laudium Plaza, and Lenasia Clinic: the first project by an Indian architect for the Transvaal Provincial Administration.
- 1980Shopping centres in Thaba 'Nchu and Lehurutse, started on site from a column grid the same day as the briefing.
- 1982House ES Dockrat wins an Institute of SA Architects Award of Merit. The Rustenburg Mosque Plaza is funded through a community debenture issue the office designed.
- 1985Marabastad urban design begins. Tahera Tayob joins the practice; she still manages it today.
- 1986Affordable homes and a community centre in Primindia, Brits.
- 1987Laudium Stadium, followed by the Laudium Community Hall (Civic Centre) and three community-funded schools.
- 1990sCo-founds the Association of Black Architects with Linda Mvusi and Muhammad Mayet.
- 1996Haneef Tayob joins as a newly qualified architect, and the office moves from hand drawing to CAD.
- 1997As part of a consortium of architects, wins the competition for the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, completed in 2000.
- 1998Marabastad urban design revisited for all its communities. Darus Salaam Islamic Centre begins, opening in 2001.
- 2004Conversion of a 1950s hospital into the SAPS Arcadia Forensic Science Laboratory.
- 2005Serves on the expert panel for the New 7 Wonders of the World, alongside university accreditation and award juries.
- 2006SANRAL Regional Head Office, Menlyn, a project running from 2006 to 2014.
- 2007Lebombo One Stop Border Post and No 38 Church Square.
- 2012Receives the inaugural Norman Eaton Award from the Pretoria Institute of Architecture.
- 2013Architectural study tour of India, lecturing at schools of architecture.
- 2015New chancery for the South African High Commission in Lilongwe, Malawi.
- 2016Amka Campus: production, distribution, laboratories and head office.
- 2019Life Membership of the South African Institute of Architects is conferred on Aziz Tayob, on the nomination of the Pretoria Institute of Architecture.
- 2021Aziz Tayob turns 80; the practice is past 50 years.
- 2022The documentary 'In Plain Sight: 5 Decades of Aziz Tayob' is screened, with Tshwane University of Technology.
- 2024'Going According to Plan' is launched on 16 June.
- 2025Under Haneef Tayob, the practice has a number of residential and commercial projects delivered and in the pipeline.
Opening the door for others
After graduating, Aziz Tayob was told by one firm that it had "no toilets for non-white professional staff". So he started his own practice, and made it the first stop for black graduates who could not find training elsewhere.
Before the 1990s the practice had employed more than 25 black architects, most of whom went on to run their own successful firms. He served on the Institute of SA Architects' Education Action Group for black students from 1975 to 1989, and co-founded the Association of Black Architects in the 1990s.
The door is still open. Aziz Tayob still enjoys giving his office talks to visiting students and young architects, and nobody is exempt. Thirty years into his own career, Haneef still finds himself in the audience for a few.
Working with other practices
We have worked on numerous projects with other firms, sometimes leading the team and sometimes as active support to the lead architect.
As is common in South Africa, many larger projects bring together several practices and professions, and they succeed only when those people work well together. We have a long record of doing exactly that.
Either way, we bring the same standard of drawings and the same commitment. We value long relationships with fellow professionals as much as with clients: some of these working relationships go back to student days and have run for decades.
Leading the team
As lead or project leader in consortia and joint ventures, including an award-winning provincial legislature won in open competition and an award-winning urban design framework.
Sharing the work
As joint appointee alongside other practices on heritage conversions, civic buildings and corporate facilities.
Supporting another firm
As active support to a lead architect, adding capacity, documentation and local knowledge where it is needed.
Working with specialists
Alongside town planners, urban designers and fellow architects on masterplans, competitions and large public projects.
How we practise
"If you're not an honest person, then architecture is not the right profession for you."Aziz Tayob
Honest fees
Early in his career a contractor offered to show Aziz Tayob "how it was done": cut fees to win the client, then inflate costs and share the kickback. He refused, and made it office policy to pass every supplier discount on to the client.
Templates that keep improving
Since the early years, the office has built its own library of standard schedules, specifications and details for doors, windows, finishes, ironmongery and fittings. It is developed and upgraded continually: first as hand-prepared sheets, now within our BIM software. Every project starts from proven, tested information, so contractors have no guesswork, quality stays consistent, and design time goes into what makes your project different.
Technology, used well
The practice embraces technology without chasing it. Each tool is adopted once the team is proficient in it, so it serves the client's design and smooth documentation rather than the other way round.
Community
The practice has always taken on community projects, pro bono or in kind. It designed standard house plans for people who could not afford a full service, and helped communities fund their own developments through debenture issues instead of selling out to developers.
Giving back
- Board member, Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand
- Board member, Association of Black Architects (co-founder)
- Institute of SA Architects Education Action Group for the education and training of Black students, 1975 – 1989
- University accreditation teams for the SA Council of Architects with RIBA and the Commonwealth Association of Architects (Wits, UCT, Pretoria, Natal, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein), 1995 – 1998; chair of the Wits accreditation team, 2009
- Expert panel, New 7 Wonders of the World, 2005 – 2007
- Adjudicator, SAIA and Gauteng Institute of Architects merit awards, 2007 and 2009
- External examiner at Wits, University of Pretoria, Pretoria Technikon and Tshwane University of Technology
- Gauteng Institute of Architects Benevolent Fund committee, since 1980
Going According to Plan
By Haneef Tayob with Tahera, Zeenath and Imraan Tayob. A monograph and family history of Aziz Tayob's architectural journey, organised by decade, with the original drawings, project stories and tributes from architects he trained. Launched on 16 June 2024 (ISBN 978-0-7961-4238-2).
"…It took me many years to fully appreciate how Aziz represented the transformation of an all-White profession. His service to the profession and to his community has been exemplary…."
Prof Amira Osman, Tshwane University of Technology