SVA International was established in 1943 as Stauch and Partners by the well-known and influential Ittenschulle (an offshoot of the Bauhaus) trained architect, Hellmut Stauch. A leading teacher and practitioner in the Pretoria Regionalism movement during the 1940s and ‘50s, Stauch’s output of domestic architecture was prolific. Larger commissions followed, and through projects influenced by Modernism, the Brazilian movement, a strict concern for local conditions, economy of materials and efficient function, Stauch Vorster Architects grew into a leading national practice in main metropolitan centres.
SVA International has seen much change in the nearly eight decades since its inception. With offices in Southern, Western, and Eastern Africa, the practice is engaged in projects throughout the African continent. The offices have gained solid reputations for successfully completing more than a thousand architectural projects during this term, ranging across a spectrum of scale, form and function. Currently the practice has offices in the following cities: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Lagos, Maputo, Port Louis and Gqeberha. Having successfully negotiated a partnership with GIBB, one of South Africa’s leading black-owned multi-disciplinary engineering companies, in 2014, SVA International (Pty) Ltd became one of the GIBB Group of Companies.
SVA International remains a fully independent architectural practice, now enriched with a level 1 B-BBEE empowerment rating.