A studio grounded in place
Schaerer Architects is a Johannesburg-based practice led by Mark Schaerer. The practice was founded in 2014 as SRS Architects, with Michael Scholes and Mike Rayne, and was renamed Schaerer Architects in 2026. The studio works across scales, from carefully crafted homes to complex institutional and urban projects.
Based in Brixton, the practice operates within a dense and evolving urban environment. This proximity informs a design approach attentive to street life, civic engagement, and the particularities of place.
The studio itself — with its indigenous garden and daily attention to weather, light, and season — acts as a small laboratory for observing how space performs and how buildings respond to their surroundings.
The Schaerer Studio serves as both workplace and test ground for the practice’s ideas about light, landscape, and urban context.
Collaboration underpins everything we do. We work closely with clients, consultants, and allied professionals to test ideas rigorously and ensure design integrity from concept to completion.
Architecture that engages from the inside out — and the outside in.