Contact Anton Comrie, Senior Associate Director
anton.comrie@benoy.com
Anton Comrie recently moved across from our sister landscape architecture business Uncommon Land to head up our EMEA Masterplanning & Urban Design team. Here he gives us an insight into his design life.
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Anton Comrie recently moved across from Uncommon Land to Benoy to head up Benoy’s Masterplanning and Urban Design team. He brings extensive experience across a wide range projects in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
His projects with Uncommon Land include the landscape component for the Wadi Safar detailed masterplan in Riyadh as well as public realm concept design for MiSK City.
His skill lies in his ability to integrate landscape across the scales. From large masterplans to small urban squares through a thoughtful human centered design process. This skill was developed through managing his own multi-disciplinary practice in Johannesburg for 25 years which afforded him the opportunity to participate on projects of varied scales and typologies. This includes The Freedom Park in South Africa, Botswana Innovation Hub as well as Mon Tresor Smart City in Mauritius.
I don’t see urban design and masterplanning as profession but rather a vocation. A vocation that is nurtured and developed over time and inspired by a passion for designing places that are contextual and true to life. ‘Cities are dynamic and complex. Masterplanning in many ways is an imperfect endeavour to find the perfect solution for making successful and healthy environments. As designers we recognise this as an opportunity for creative exploration.
As a trained landscape architect it is important to understand the balance between nature and human habitation. We can no longer be oblivious to the impacts of climate change and we need to accelerate our efforts to find better development solutions through design. Architects and designers will increasingly find themselves the executers of policy designed around sustainability. It is important for us to understand this and let it speak through our work.
“Beauty is Necessary” to quote Joan Pim, a pioneering planner and landscape architect from my country of birth, South Africa. It has to be a key part of the way we think about our cities. Pride of place and sense of belonging are key aspect of human-centered design.