//
Founder of SVA International, Hellmut Stauch, emigrated from Germany
to South Africa in 1935. Stauch opened his own practice
in Pretoria in 1943. He had a major influence in bringing modern
movement principles to South African architecture.
REACHING NEW DIMENSIONS...
// Robin Vorster and Brian Prisgrove join and are central to SVA’s growth and success. //A Johannesburg office was established, to service two new commissions, the Netherlands Bank & President Hotel.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT..
// The practice was commissioned to design the major
Green Acres retail project and the Port Elizabeth office was established. //Construction began on the President (now Protea) Hotel in Sea Point and the Cape Town office was set up
JOURNEYS INTO AFRICA...
//Expansion into Africa provided valuable experience with projects across the continent and in Mauritius.
STRATEGIC MOVES...
//A strategic decision was taken to amalgamate all the SVA entities into a single international company.
A SEASON OF AWARDS...
// In 1952, Stauch won a competition for the Windhoek Library, Archives & Museum and then in 1953, the design of low-cost housing which were modular in plan and easily expandable.
ONWARDS & UPWARDS...
// An amalgamation with the office of Ian Park Ross
and new projects enabled a Durban office to open which later joined with ‘Piet Bakker Architects’
A NEW DIGITAL AGE...
// With the introduction of CAD, SVA opened a central computer bureau, in Midrand, where all working drawings in the practice were done centrally.
GROWTH ABOUNDS...
//Amalgamation with 'Mwamuka O'Malley Moses' (MOM) //Combined office in Johannesburg for the entire Gauteng region.
PARTNERING WITH PURPOSE...
//SVA partners with GIBB and transforms into strong majority Black-owned company with a qualified B-BBEE rating.