The company was founded in 1987 by Stefan Antoni under the moniker Stefan Antoni Architects. As the practice grew and partnerships increased, the company was renamed and rebranded as SAOTA, and acronym from Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects. With a current staff of roughly 90 employees, SAOTA is driven by the dynamic combination of Antoni, Philip Olmesdahl, Greg Truen, Phillippe Fouche, and Mark Bullivant, who each share a potent vision easily distinguished in their respective designs.This talented team has headquarters in Cape Town, with another field office in Durbin, both in South Africa. About 85 percent of SAOTA’s clients are international, with various projects in cosmopolitan cities like Moscow, Sydney, Miami, Dubai, and Lagos.
All-inclusive design team
When clients hire SAOTA, they also hire an entire team that takes care of every aspect of a design project. The SAOTA team includes designers and technicians, a branch dedicated to furniture and interior design, along with an in-house computer-generated imagery team. This all-inclusive approach has been quite successful for the company, as they have garnered a host of international awards.
Recent accolades have come from the South African Property Owners Association, who acknowledged SAOTA with its Award for Innovative Excellence. The Cape Institute for Architecture also selected SAOTA for its Architecture Award, as well as the South African Institute of Architects tapping the design firm for a vacation house they created in West Africa.
It is evident that the company strives to promote services that are marked by minute attention-to-detail. Each project incorporates the desires of the client while maintaining a focus on meeting the highest of standards and with fine results. Those visually stunning projects are proof of SAOTA’s dedication to quality in every aspect of every project.
The firm has also streamlined its carbon footprint within the SAOTA office buildings, introducing sustainable approaches whenever possible and feasible. Not only are their finished projects aesthetically appealing, but the company’s devotion to continually incorporating energy-efficient designs are unmatched and equal or surpass the industry standard of a 4-Star Green Rating. As the company has gradually updated their ecological protocol, the entire SAOTA team implements sustainability efforts on an ongoing basis with each and every project. ■
