SBE was founded on a simple but enduring belief: that architecture should serve the people who live in it, not the other way around.

In 1992, Johan Breytenbach and Suzette Hammer founded SBE with a clear conviction: that luxury architecture could be both bold and deeply personal - and that design excellence and genuine client collaboration were not competing values, but inseparable ones. More than forty years later, that founding conviction shapes everything we do.

SBE began in South Africa and has grown into an internationally active studio. Besides our strong local experience, we have delivered residential projects in Angola, China, Dubai and Rwanda.

We have built deep expertise within some of the country's most prestigious residential estates, while continuing to take on projects that challenge us, push our thinking, and demand the very best of our team.

Every SBE project begins with understanding the client — your routines, your ambitions, your family, your need for privacy, your style of entertaining, your work patterns and your vision. We do not arrive with a predetermined solution and ask you to adapt to it. We arrive with questions.

Only after we understand you do we begin to design. And even then, the process is iterative: you see our concepts, you respond, we refine. This is collaboration in the truest sense — a genuine creative partnership.

SBE is led by a founding leadership team who remain deeply involved in every project — not as distant directors, but as active creative partners

Our leadership is supported by architectural technologists, 3D visual artists and video animation specialists — collaborating to deliver personalised service to clients worldwide.

SBE is a registered member of SACAP (South African Council for Architectural Professionals) and SAIA (South African Institute of Architects). We offer both full turnkey architectural solutions and design services through to council submission — adapting our scope of service to suit the specific needs of each client and project.

The best way to understand whether SBE is the right fit for your project is through a one-on-one conversation. We'd love to hear about what you're wanting to build, and share how we might help you turn your vision into reality.