URBAN BEING is a company whose passion is the creation and recreation of livable spaces.
Our innate desire and success of creating functional as well as aesthetically rewarding livable areas within a given framework – whether it be a budget or an existing structure that requires a revamp – has resulted in us forming a design team focusing on simplicity and functionality in design.
Marlene Stroebel of Legend Designs has always been interested in construction and planning of houses for as long as she can remember. She qualified as an architectural draughts person and worked for three different architectural firms over a period of 7 years. She decided to open her own practice, designing at first small and then much larger houses as her experience grew. It was a great privilege for her to see the structures she had designed take shape in their material form. This however, opened up an opportunity to improve her designs as she noticed the common mistakes made by most designers by not taking into account things like furniture placement, electrical points and general flow of the house, especially from the inside to the outside. This encouraged her to become more involved in the actual building and she went on to obtain a diploma on project management for the building trade.
During 1997, she took on her first single-handed building contract to the value of approximately R2 000 000,00 using various sub-contractors and co-coordinating the project until completion. This was also the first major interior decorating contract she had ever done after various smaller projects mostly for friends & family. She realized that architecture, building and interior decorating go hand in hand. Today she is of the firm belief that decorating starts with the drawing up and planning of one’s building plans, long before the first item of furniture is purchased.
After 18 other building contracts she discovered the extreme difficulties related to the building trade and found the work load exhausting, the only compensation being that she was able to decorate most of these houses. She decided to turn her focus to the interior design side and now offers a service whereby she consults clients and their builders throughout their building process, assisting with tile choices, colours and all other finishes as well as complete project administration.
When it comes to style, she feels it is important to establish the client’s taste and then compliment the finished product with her own style, which would lean towards timeless and classical rather than what is in fashion at the time.
At this time, Legend Designs consists of a team of consultants that work closely together and are able to assist clients from planning their house, preparing a 3D model, managing the building of the house and selecting all the furniture and fittings up to the smallest detail including the cutlery and crockery.
A total turn key operation.
LEGEND DESIGN on the upper mezzanine floor (accessed from the stairwell next to lunar).
