Leon van der Westhuizen
Professional Architect
Founder & Managing Director
Leon completed his Masters Degree in Architecture at NMMU in 2015. He cum-laude his degree and was also awarded top student which earned him a spot in the top 15% of achievers recognized by the Golden Key International Honour Society.
During his study period he also won the 2013 Ceasarstone Designer of the year which allowed him to travel to Italy to join the Milan Biennale. He also received a travel award by the ECIA in 2014 to travel through Europe for being the top student during the BAS degree.
His thesis "Re-Generating the Boet Erasmus Stadium" earned him a top spot in the Corobrik Competition for best thesis in the Eastern Cape Region. He also represented the top 10 best Architecture Thesis in the country.
The thesis was also published in the book called: 10 years, 100 projects. Leon also had the opportunity to travel to Mexico where he presented his work to the Lafarge Holcim Foundation and the other top 5 000 young architects around the world in 2016. Lafarge Holcim also recognized the project as runner-up in the Sub-Saharan and Africa Region.
During 2016-2021, he worked at CMAI Architects as Senior Architect and presented the firm at Texas A&M and at the CNU in Seattle. During his time at the firm he worked on a variety of building typologies and urban design projects. He was the architect responsible for the design of the largest agri-industrial building in South Africa that won three awards at the Steel Awards in 2021.
Leon started Westhaus in 2021 to further express himself as a young and dynamic architect striving to leave his mark nationally and internaltionally.