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Planform Development Group

About

A city-building company.

Planform combines architecture, urban planning, engineering, strategy, research and development into a single coordinated system. We do not simply construct buildings.

Discipline
Urban regeneration and development
Region
Africa
Horizon
Decades, not quarters
Position
Independent practice

Mission

Design resilient communities through intelligent planning, infrastructure, housing and sustainable development.

Planform identifies underutilised land, develops long-term master plans, coordinates multidisciplinary teams, and delivers integrated communities through architecture, infrastructure, planning, technology and investment.

The practice is structured to hold a project across its full life: from the first land study, through statutory approval and infrastructure delivery, into economic activation and long-term management. Few organisations are structured to think across that span. It is where the important decisions are made.

Vision

To become Africa's leading urban regeneration and development company by transforming land into thriving communities where people, infrastructure and economic opportunity exist in harmony.

The mark

One cube, eight scales.

  1. 01

    One module

    The smallest unit of construction. Repeatable, measurable, understood.

  2. 02

    One room

    The unit of human occupation.

  3. 03

    One home

    The unit of household security.

  4. 04

    One building

    The unit of investment.

  5. 05

    One block

    The unit of urban structure.

  6. 06

    One neighbourhood

    The unit of community.

  7. 07

    One city

    The unit of economy.

  8. 08

    One future

    The unit of consequence.

Method

Structure first. Buildings second.

Evidence

Every framework begins with a factual base: ownership, tenure, servicing capacity, hydrology, movement, economy and demographics. We do not design from intuition.

Systems

We design the structure that outlives buildings — the grid, the movement hierarchy, the servicing spine and the public ground — and code the rest.

Coordination

Complex projects fail at the interfaces between disciplines. Planform holds those interfaces as its core function.

Transparency

We distinguish clearly between concept proposals, illustrative studies, research and completed work. We do not present intent as achievement.
Architectural scale model showing an urban block structure and street grid
Block structure study

Standing

What we claim, and what we do not.

Planform is an independent practice. The work presented on this site consists of concept proposals, illustrative studies and published research. Where a project has been built, it is labelled as completed work. Where it has not, it is not.

We do not list clients we have not served, awards we have not received, or professional registrations we do not hold. Registered engineering, environmental and land surveying work is carried out by appointed professionals who hold the relevant registration and liability.

Transparency is not a disclaimer. It is part of how the practice intends to be judged.

Next

See how the method is applied.

Our services set out the methodology, deliverables and process behind each discipline.

View servicesView projects