I founded my practice in 2009 with a clear intention: to design homes that are not only beautiful, but deeply personal — spaces that reflect the lives, routines, and values of the people who inhabit them. Specialising in small to medium-scale residential projects, I offer a highly tailored service where each detail is carefully considered, and every design is crafted in close collaboration with the client.

As a sole practitioner, I’m closely involved in every stage of the process — from initial concept to completion — ensuring a consistent design vision and a responsive, hands-on approach. Whether it’s a compact renovation or a full-scale new build, I aim to make thoughtful, site-specific interventions that enhance the architectural fabric of our homes and suburbs.

My work is grounded in a sensitivity to context — drawing on the language of existing structures, the history of a place, and the inherent opportunities within each site. I have a particular interest in designing seamless additions that enter into dialogue with the existing built form, but I also welcome the creative possibilities of designing from a blank slate — balancing form, function, and constraint to shape new spaces with clarity and purpose.

Architect

Victoria de la Cour

  • “It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business.”

    Laurie Payton

  • "Thank you again for everything!! This project ran so smoothly and we are delighted in our new house and love the special memories we are creating here already.  Such a dream come true!"

    Jamie Kokot

  • “Victoria is a sensitive and sensible architect, who concerns herself with the tectonics and materiality of the structure (not just how well it photographs), as well as the nuances of scale. She is primarily focused on guiding the experience for the end user, providing beautiful spaces in which the practical requirements of function are met. A family home by Victoria will cater for the divergent needs of kids and dogs, as well as pristine showroom furniture pieces. Her ‘style’ is one of timeless, practical, yet sublimely simple and beautiful architecture. "

    Helen Counihan-Greene

  • "Victoria has undertaken and executed several elegant additions to houses in which the original architecture has been acknowledged while simultaneously rationalising the existing planning and bringing a new freshness to the architecture. Her work is beautifully detailed and always provides a liveable environment."

    Mira Fassler Kamstra

 my journey 

I studied Fine Arts before obeying my calling as the third generation of architects in my family and birthed my own practice in the same year I birthed my first child.

My passion for detailing, problem solving and site work was cemented at Paragon Architects under the mentorship of Marilize van Dyk. My aunt, Mira Fassler Kamstra has instilled a love of landscape, and supported me with the intricacies of running a practice and raising children. Michael Sutton’s clarity of form and spatial serenity always guides me.

My body of work is built on personal referrals. I take pride in my relationships with my clients, many now dear friends. Being appointed by architects, Henning Rasmuss and Philippa Rodseth to design a new studio in dialogue with their original Sutton house was a great compliment. This project received a regional Special Commendation in 2015.

I am determined to improve our urban fabric with sensitive interventions that respond to their immediate and broader contexts. Instead of developing a hard and fast stylistic language, I take guidance from the atmosphere of each site, the urban context, heritage as well as the client’s individual brief. Each project is unified by the pursuit of clarity which filters down from spatial relationships to the smallest detail.

Having been born and raised in Johannesburg, my family made the move to Cape Town in 2018. I wound down my thriving practice, commuting to complete projects that were underway. I was motivated by the promise of designing my own home in Cape Town. Having designed many houses for my clients, it was my turn to design for myself! To realise this dream I spent a year searching for the perfect property and then an intensive 2 years in design, planning and construction (with a serious drought and pandemic along the way).