Render of House Chabedi from the garden: a two-storey house with a deep white roof slab, dark brick walls and full-height glazing under a large tree

Architectural portfolio

Ken Chow

I draw buildings from the first sketch to the council set: houses and offices in Johannesburg, shopping malls for a Hong Kong practice, and a master’s thesis about a city built for 42 people.

See the work Read my CV

House Chabedi · JVR Architects · 2022

About

Small firms taught me the whole job, and a big one taught me scale

I’m an architectural assistant based in Johannesburg. At Gregory Katz Architecture and then Jason Berchowitz Architects I drafted council and working drawings, and at JBA I ran a house in Sandton from concept to site, dealing directly with the client, the builder and the interior designers.

After my master’s at the University of Johannesburg I moved to Hong Kong and spent 2019 and 2020 at LWK + Partners, a practice of more than 400 people, designing facades for shopping malls in China. Back home, I worked on new houses and an office renovation at JVR Architects.

More about me

Based in
Johannesburg, South Africa
Studied
Master’s in Architecture (with distinction), University of Johannesburg, 2018
Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011
Practices
JVR Architects
LWK + Partners, Hong Kong
Jason Berchowitz Architects
Gregory Katz Architecture
Software
ArchiCAD, Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere
Languages
English, Cantonese (spoken)

Selected projects

A house, a mall, a school and a satire

All the work

What I do

Most of a building’s life happens after the render

The renders are what people see first, so they lead on this site. These are the three kinds of work behind them.

Concept and presentation

Massing, facade options and the images that go in front of a client. At LWK + Partners most of my time went into concept and facade design for malls of up to 120 000 m², and the presentations that went with them.

Zhangjiagang Jinmao Mall

Council and working drawings

Plans, sections and elevations for council submission, then the working drawings a contractor prices and builds from. I’ve drawn both for houses, a school, warehouses and renovations to existing buildings.

The drawings

On site, with people

At JBA I ran House Magid while it was being built: changes to the design in progress, applications to the homeowners’ association, a council resubmission, and keeping the builder, the client and the interior designers working from the same page.

House Magid

Drawings

The sheets that get a building approved and built

Sheets from council and working drawing sets I produced at three practices, and the construction drawings from my thesis, collected on one page. Open any of them full size.

See the drawings
Ground floor plan of House Greeff on its site, showing the pool, garden planting and boundaries
South and north elevations of King David Pre-Primary School, showing the patterned windows
Detailed section drawing through the tower's upper levels, annotated with satirical notes about helicopters, trees and service routes
Satirical collage titled View from the Tower: two cat-headed figures in evening wear in a luxurious apartment above a city skyline

Master’s thesis · 2018

Capital Classicism

In 2018 the 42 richest people in the world held as much wealth as the poorer half of its population. My thesis designed a city that serves only those 42, and used it to make visible the labour and consumption that keep the arrangement standing.

It is told through marketing brochures, websites, protest pamphlets and satirical working drawings, as well as the usual plans and sections.

Read about the project

Contact

Have a project, or a place on your team?

Email is the quickest way to reach me, and my CV is on this site in full.