Wonderland

For award-winning architecture firm Hubo Studio, play drives their architects’ designs. Exploring design through the eyes of a child — deeply imaginative, fuelled by creative spirit, and, most importantly, fun — Hubo Studio fosters educational centres that inspire curiosity, creativity, and growth.

Their architects undertake thorough research before embarking on a new project. From facilitating workshops with educators to engaging with students, the Hubo Studio team is invested in a holistic design practice that is grounded in the people and communities their projects are meant to serve.

We spoke to architect and founder of Hubo Studio, Asher Marcus, to find out more about the studio’s unique approach to designing educational centres.

Hubo Studio has become a leader in the design of educational spaces. Tell us about your journey here.

I’ve never really worked outside of the educational space. My wife and I used to run children’s clubs, and she’s also a paediatric psychotherapist, so we’ve always worked with children. And our whole family goes to school in the morning. For a little while, I worked in the commercial architecture world, but it was quite draining. The projects I was involved in didn’t allow me to experiment and explore different designs. Then I found myself working on the King David Sandton Library project and realised how energised I was by educational spaces. We had a small budget, but I poured my heart and soul into that project, and we created this beautiful wonderland. The truth is, we never stop learning. So, I never really left the educational space because we are all on a learning journey throughout our lives.

What do you think education builds lack?

Much of the way educational spaces are created and viewed is broken. There is often a disconnect between the children and the leadership. But with the way we design, we really see the children as our clients. We are designing for the children, which is why the field research we do is so important to our practice. We host workshops with the students to find out what they want in their educational space and unpack their needs. 

What was an exciting insight you’ve gained from a workshop with students? 

There was a workshop we did where a lot of children expressed a desire for ziplines and slides at the school. While that concept alone seems ridiculous, what we realised is that the children were wanting a deeper, more interesting connection between spaces. It was really useful to dissect these ideas and to delve deeper into what these ideas point to.

Is there something you’d love to challenge your team to design, and why?

We often work on private schools because they tend to have the opportunity to explore design differently. But I’d love to challenge the team to create an accessible model of what we do to reach schools that really need it and to be able to expand our work of reinventing education on a larger scale. The challenge here is not just creating a dynamic space, but one that is responsive to the school itself and meets the needs of these children. I’d want the design to play into the strengths of that school and explore what learning opportunities there are in less privileged spaces to support these children in becoming innovators and world leaders.

How important is it to have an understanding of pedagogical philosophies as an architect designing in the ‘education’ niche?

For the Redhill Learning Centre, the school follows the Reggio Emelia philosophy, which originates from Italy. What was really exciting about translating Reggio Emelia into a South African context was that the philosophy doesn’t rely on materiality to exist. It isn’t this exclusive, elitist ideal — it’s very much rooted in everyday practice. It’s quite egalitarian in that way. Because of this, we didn’t have this archive to depend on. When we were designing the school’s Piazza, which is an essential element of Reggio Emelia schools, we were essentially working with something that didn’t exist. We had to marry these two different cultures and imagine an ‘African Piazza’.

How do you see educational spaces evolving in South Africa over the next 10 years? What types of projects do you envisage working on? 

We have an amazing opportunity in South Africa to create something very special. People are weirdly progressive and willing to think as world leaders without realising it. We’re already leading so much of what the world does. So much is happening here within the educational space. There’s a real, earnest desire to progress.

“Hubo Studio explores design through the eyes of a child — deeply imaginative, fuelled by creative spirit, and, most importantly, fun.”