The Influencers Influence: TwoFiveFive Architects

WORDS Annette Klinger PHOTOS Getty Images, Paris Brummer, Supplied Portraits Hannah Paton, Getty Images 


Architecture should be fun, say self-proclaimed ’80s babies André Krige and Theo Kruger, who draw as much inspiration from the first-ever Playstation controller as they do from legends such as Olson Kundig, Richard Rogers and Norman Forster.

For all the fun André Krige and Theo Kruger so obviously have with their projects, they’re pragmatists at heart. Take Uxolo as an example. Since its completion in 2021, the building’s unique tapestry-inspired brickwork and bubblegum-pink balconies have been catnip to content creators, yet André says their goal wasn’t to create Instagrammable architecture.

TwoFiveFive Architects
TwoFiveFive’s André Krige and Theo Kruger.

“One of the worst things about our job is that we demolish a hell of a lot of buildings, and we hate it,” he explains. “Our fundamental principle is to design buildings intended to stand for more than a 100 years. That sometimes means not looking at the most environmentally friendly materials – but if the same site is repurposed every 10 or 15 years, the environmental impact is drastically larger. We say, let’s rather create architecture that’s not boring and won’t make people want to break it down five years from now.”

Both born in 1988, the two grew up within kilometres of each other in Linden and, while their paths often crossed, they only became friends when they ended up studying architecture at the University of the Free State. They attribute a lot of their shared design sensibilities to the burgeoning gaming culture of the early 1990s. “There was a definitive aesthetic within that environment that wasn’t really evident in the rest of the world,” says André. “When Sony brought out the first PlayStation, the remote didn’t have an A, B and C, but rather a little square, triangle, circle and X in four different colours. As a result, a two-year-old could pick it up and understand which buttons to push. We spend a lot of time and energy on the way our buildings communicate. The language of architecture should be simple enough for a two-year-old to understand it as well.”

As kids, André and Theo both regularly travelled abroad, which exposed them to a lot of extraordinary architecture. During a student exchange in Germany, for example, 16-year-old Theo visited Norman Foster’s Reichstag Dome in Berlin. “All the mirrors, steel and glass were so impressive to me,” he says. “The way in which Foster incorporated the dome into the old building was sensitive, elegant and really striking, and what stayed with me was that a new addition to something old doesn’t have to be boring.”

André, again, remembers a visit to Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano’s Centre Pompidou in Paris as an 11-year-old, as the day he relented to the fate of following in his parents’ footsteps (renowned architects Annamarie and André Krige). “I was standing in front of this building and it took me about an hour before I could actually go in – I was so overwhelmed by what I was seeing,” he says. “Richard Rogers is probably my biggest influence. There’s something youthful and fun about his work. Until the day he died, he wore a different coloured shirt every day. In a world where architects all wear black and white, it was quite refreshing.”

Theo and André went their separate ways after their studies – Theo doing stints at Heinrich Kammeyer and Smith Architects, and André working with CEA Architects and GLH Architects – but the friends stayed in touch. By 2014, when Theo had established his own practice and André was also itching to break out on his own, the two met for breakfast. “Jokingly, I said to André, ‘You should come and work for me’,” says Theo.

“I don’t think he was joking,” says André. “Eventually, he asked me again whether I would like to come work with him. Working with is a different story to working for. So that’s how we started.” The name the two decided on for their firm alludes to the RGB value of white light – 255,255,255. “We’re pushing the simplicity of white, but the complexity of the full colour spectrum,” explains André.

While the two maintain that they draw some of their greatest inspiration from their clients and sites, TwoFiveFive’s projects are also characterised by a thorough interrogation and exploration of materials. “I like touching a building – the walls, the switches. That’s important to me,” says Theo. “Olson Kundig has always been an inspiration to me in terms of materiality and simplicity of design. I just want to feel what the buildings feel like.”

“Design is visual, but it’s also tactile,” adds André, also a fan of Olson Kundig. “Unlike most artists in the community, we have the amazing privilege that everyone touches and interacts with our work on a daily basis.” Currently, André is excited by the Australia-based firm Freadman White’s experimentation with materiality. “They recently did a project where they introduced a copper-based algae to a fluted concrete facade, and within three months the whole facade became this lovely greenish-bluish colour.”

Ultimately, Theo and André have the end user in mind – whether they’re designing a short-term rental, student accommodation or an extension to a heritage site. “We never try to make something that doesn’t move us,” says André. “It would be great for our architecture to also have an emotional connection, where someone who’s so inclined could stand in front of one of our buildings for an hour before they feel they need to go inside.”


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