Architecture is often experienced through its finished form: a striking exterior, a carefully framed view, or a room that connects the indoors and out. But behind every considered space is a series of decisions that shape how a structure is built within its surroundings and how people experience it.
These ideas sit at the heart of Shaped by Place: 40 Years of Architectural Practice, an exhibition by Cape Town-founded architecture studio SAOTA, now showing at Brundyn Arts & Culture in the city’s historic Church Street precinct. Open until 31 October 2026, the free exhibition offers a closer look at the thinking behind four decades of architectural practice.
Presented in partnership with Poliform, the exhibition brings together architectural models, large-scale imagery, and industry insights into the design process. The collection draws attention to the decisions that happen before a project takes shape: how a structure meets the ground, how natural light enters a space, and how a building establishes a relationship with its landscape.
It is an approach that encourages visitors to look beyond the finished photograph and consider the project itself.
A practice shaped by the Cape
SAOTA’s story began in a small Sea Point apartment in 1986 before the practice moved to Church Street in 1992 – the same street where the exhibition is now being held, giving a particular connection to the city in which the studio first established itself.
Cape Town’s relationship with its natural surroundings has long been an influence to its architectural identity. From the meeting of the mountains and the ocean to the region’s distinctive light and climate, the landscape presents practical considerations for design.
For SAOTA principal Stefan Antoni, these considerations have remained central to the practice, even as its work has extended beyond South Africa.
The exhibition creates space to revisit those founding questions and consider how they continue to influence architectural thinking across different contexts. It also places the studio’s development within a broader conversation about what it means to design in response to surroundings.
Looking beyond the finished building
For those who are interested in design, one of the exhibition’s most compelling aspects is its attention to the process. Architectural models offer a different perspective from finished project photography, making it easier to examine specific scales, forms, spatial relationships, and the way a building engages with its surroundings.
The exhibition also opens the door to conversations about architecture as a discipline that evolves through research, drawing, questioning, and collaboration.
SAOTA principal Greg Truen sees the sharing of this process as an opportunity for younger architects to engage with the ideas behind the work, while allowing the practice to hear different perspectives on the future of architecture.
That exchange continues through a programme of public talks taking place during the month of October. Upcoming conversations include a discussion on modern architecture in the Cape, heritage and continuing influence on 21 October, presented with the Cape Institute for Architecture, followed by Architecture After Automation on 27 October, with Philippe Fouché and Akheel Khan.
The programme also explores architecture's relationship with social opportunity and organisation, drawing on the 9Miles Learning Centre in Strandfontein as part of an earlier conversation in the series.
Together, the exhibition and talks invite visitors to consider architecture's wider cultural and social responsibilities.
An exhibition that extends into print
The exhibition shares its name with SAOTA’s new monograph, Shaped by Place: 40 Years of Architectural Practice, published by Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers and available for pre-order.
The book develops the exhibition’s ideas through four themes: Form and Foundations, Atmosphere and Experience, Context and Culture, and Legacy and Influence. It includes projects, reflections from the studio’s principals and essays by industry mavens.
For a practice whose work now spans six continents and 90 countries, the milestone offers an opportunity to reflect on the ideas that have travelled with it – and the importance of understanding the places in which architecture actually takes shape.
For Cape Town audiences, Shaped by Place is also an invitation to revisit the local landscape through an architectural point of view. Whether approached through the imagery or conversations, the exhibition invites guests to look more closely at the decisions that turn a building into a considered response to its surroundings.
Plan your visit
Shaped by Place: 40 Years of Architectural Practice is on view at Brundyn Arts & Culture, Mandela Rhodes Place, 21 Church Street, Cape Town, until 31 October 2026.
Admission is free, with regular opening hours Monday to Friday, 10:00 – 17:00.
For more information, visit SAOTA.
