Tanzeem Razak
I am the director and founding partner of Lemon Pebble Architects and Urban Designers, an award-winning architecture firm in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I am a passionate advocate for spatial transformation in South African cities, and my focus is on design in areas of limited resources, particularly the townships where I still live.
I lead a creative team that designs socially relevant buildings and urban strategies alongside my business partner. Our work includes urban research, housing, urban regeneration projects, and the design of public buildings. I also re-imagine heritage buildings that seek to uncover hidden narratives of those whose histories and lived experiences in spaces have been erased. This work includes renovating historic buildings and segregated spaces of the Apartheid and colonial era.
Social regeneration in the built environment remains the underlying theme of my research and built work.
I have taught and lectured at various universities, nationally and internationally, advocating for humane, equitable spaces. I have also given talks and published writing advocating for transformation and racial equity in my field, where a Black-female-led architectural practice like mine remains a rare minority. To tackle this disparity, I currently serve on the Transformation Committee of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession, where we seek solutions to redress issues of racial inequality.
I graduated from the University of Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1998. In 2014, I earned a master’s in Human Settlements focused on urban design in countries with limited resources for communities in need.
I love to travel, and after years of trying, I am still learning to swim.