We were asked by Mpilonhle to design a Master Plan for their offices based around an existing small fruit farm they purchased in Umfolozi. Our main task was to design the office space that would facilitate the Mpilonhle staff as well as provide a storeroom, server room, meeting room, board room, ablutions, kitchenette and outdoor seating space with open plan office. The existing structures were a large farmhouse and a garage, it became clear that by extending the original garage from two bay to three bays we could accommodate the main open plan space. We re-used parts of the existing roof structure and re-used big gum poles to support the extended roof.

This was a low budget project, which needed to have an informal yet modern feel. So many of the materials were re-used and recycled, including the office furniture originally designed by ECA. It was important to keep close to the original footprint of all the buildings, and to be resourceful with re-using elements where possible. A dog kennel was turned into the boardroom, the water tower was turned into the storeroom, an outdoor seating area was constructed with tyres. The only new building footprint was to link up all the spaces with the ablutions.