From humble beginnings at a corner of a lounge in a shared apartment in Kileleshwa to the space under the staircase of another apartment in Milimani, in which one of the partners stayed with his family, Morphosis Ltd now boasts of a small but tastefully furnished office where they operate from.
Their modest staff team; four architects – three of whom are the partners, two interior designers, two architectural assistants, IT specialist and an administrator are no match for their biggest achievement of having won all design competitions they have participated in.
The script is all the same, they are invited to participate, they submit their proposal, and they win. “How do you do it?” I asked Yasir, one of the partners at the firm. “In all competitions, we keep I mind our core value which is to remain true to architecture.”
Morphosis Ltd was registered in May 2005 by the founder partners, Leonard Mcharo and Yasir Brek who had a long history dating back to their student years at the University of Nairobi.
They were in the same class, both were passionate about architecture, shared a studio bay and at some point, they were both elected architecture student representatives.
Their third partner, Adnan Mwakulomba, who the other two say he was their mentor, joined them later in 2008. “He used to come in every time we had a project to work on and needed a third opinion,” Says Mcharo, the other partner. He continues, “Sometimes in 2008, we asked him to join us and fully become part of the team, he agreed.”
The beginning was not all rosy, with a start up firm that had no projects, bills to pay every end month and young architects straight from employment without a clear direction on how to venture into architectural practice, a sense of confusion and lack of focus could be noted from the projects the undertook then.
This saw the partners engage in all manner of projects as architects and contractors. Yasir notes that this was a major challenge, “It was very difficult to balance between an architect’s desire for quality and a contractor’s urge to make a profit. The meeting point was nonexistent.” It was towards the end of 2006 when they realized that this was not what they wanted to engage in. They made a decision to practice architecture.
Their big break came in 2007 when the Jamia Mosque committee invited them for a competition to develop a 5 acre piece of land located at the Globe Cinema roundabout. The client was high profile and the site prime. As expected, all the ‘big boys’ in the industry showed interest in taking part in the competition. It therefore came as a surprise when Morphosis Ltd emerged winners.
While they were issued with a notification letter and paid the prize money for the winner, Morphosis Ltd were declared ‘too small’ and the job awarded to the first runners up, who was one of the more established firms.
The experience was both demoralizing while at the same time encouraging, that after putting in effort and emerging winners, they still could not get the job. However, having beaten some of the biggest and most established firms in Kenya, they got all the assurance that they required that they too cannot be ignored.
What followed thereafter was a positive stint in practice that saw them win all the other competitions that they participated in.
Notable among these was the proposal to develop a 4 acre plot of land for Red Cross in South C. The firm’s radical proposal had a cost estimate that was more than double that of other participants. They however stood out with their unique design and a financial proposal of how the developers would break even despite the huge investment required.
The result is what will be the five star Red Court Hotel which is bound to change hotel accommodation within the South of Nairobi.
The most recent competition they won was for developing a commercial office building for First Community bank along Lenana Road.
Their key strategy for the future, the partners say, is to grow the firm and increase its capacity. They say that they will always remain true to architecture.
aspiring to work for you.
true 2 architecture I love that.
Am coming home.
"From scratch" phenomenon…..it takes people to unimaginable heights.
KWFT Hdqtrs…cool stuff!
cool stuff… so inspired by the beginning.
i like your firm,and i would like to join you and work with you,great people
Inspiring!
inspiring
That is what you call design
Very inspiring am proud of my classmate Adnan and his partners, Taita got brains too apart from the beauty
All the designs that I see here done by morphosis are marvelous.
Kituo Cha Sheria HQ’s is amazing. This is a truly inspirational story. More of this breed of architecture is what Nairobi needs.
I love your work, it is inspiring. KWFT HQs Eldoret does for me…
Very good job
your profile is quite rich.Your job is outstanding
eyes of visualizers. Good job
Inspiring. It is not by your own strength but by unmerited favour of He who began the good work in you.
Please can you quote and sketch for me an architectural design for a child Rescue and Trauma Management Centre on a half an acre of land. The premises should have a safe child park, Training School for Industrial Courses(first aid, occupational health and safety and fire safety), 12 rooms of Offices for the organization, Trauma management unit with clinical management section, Rescue and rehabilitation unit with a capacity of holding 20 survivors at any given moment. Please do this urgently for consideration. I’ came to know your good work when you drew a plan for Boma Hotels while I; served in the Executive Board if I’m not wrong.
Regards,
John T. Kariuki
Executive Director
your design are so inspirational , i just finished my diploma in arch recently, and i would like to join you
I love your creative and courageous moves to embrace postmodern architecture especially in kenya. Your work is awesome.
You have amazing designs and would like working with you in relation to designing the building maintenance units appropriate for the buildings .keep it up
Do you do mater planning for future projects? i have a 8acre beach plot on the shores of lake victoria, and would like to put up a unique lodge designed around the luo culture and way of life
Very creative very inspirational simply out of words..keep up the good work.
Quite inspirational and determined team with focus in true architecture.Keep going guys with transformation.
Very inspiration story, visionaries of architecture, try 2 architecture, marvelous designs. This is one which took my attention, the pictures of the partners.you realize from scratch n they still look happy and thankful as if when the person start this story from the end it will look like the photo was taken after having successfully won the proposals.#Realy inspired