Hakan has previously been a partner with the international firm, Peddle Thorp Architects before becoming the Principal of Elevli Plus. During this time, he has fine-tuned his creative and technical skills working on a broad range of projects. These include prestigious residential commissions, high-rise towers, commercial developments, community and educational facilities, sporting facilities and resorts. in addition to these Australian projects, Hakan has significant international experience with a range of diverse projects located in New Zealand, China, Vietnam and Turkey. Hakan also collaborates with acclaimed architect Glenn Murcutt to produce visionary designs.
Ken Sowerby studied architecture in Adelaide and Sydney and has been a fully registered RAIA architect since 1984. He worked initially in Australia, Hong Kong, Germany and Italy. Currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, Ken moved to the Africa-Middle East region following a successful worldwide architectural competition win for the Qatar National Bank Tower in 2007. Upon completion it will become one of the tallest buildings in the world and the world’s tallest financial institution.
Since moving to the region he has successfully designed a number of distinctive and unique projects in the Gulf region including Oasis Hospital in U.A.E, South Sudan’s first Shopping Mall, resorts in Mombasa and Eldoret and a new city and masterplan north of Nairobi, Kenya. His projects focus on his passion for sustainable architecture and the respect for the culture, climate and genius loci in whichever part of the world he is designing.
Prior to collaborating with Peddle Thorp Group in founding StudioArchitetto, Ken operated his architectural firm from Europe originally based in Frankfurt, Germany and subsequently in the hilltop town of Trevi in Umbria. StudioArchitetto was formed in 2005 allowing his Italian atelier studio to collaborate together with the larger resources of Melbourne-based Peddle Thorp Architects.
His widely acclaimed work has been published globally and has been the recipient of many awards of excellence for architecture and green design, among them 21 environmental and RAIA Architectural excellence awards for the zero-emissions Age Centre in Australia and the autonomous energy O Globo PLanta II in Rio de Janeiro Brazil premiated in the Italian National Architecture Awards.
His current projects in design or construction include Qatarium (Doha Aquarium) in Qatar, QNB Global Branch design, Qatar National Bank Tower in Doha, Abu Dhabi Police Academy, a new hospital for Anjouan Island Comoros, Retail Malls in Nairobi and resorts and conference centres in Kenya.
Ken also joined the progressive Melbourne practice of Elevli Plus as Intrenational Design Director in 2010 and collaborates on local and global projects with the firm. His work has featured in publications globally from Brazil to Europe and UK. Ken was recently appointed as an advisor and consultant to the Kenya Green Building Council for Sustainable Development.
He is married to a Kenyan with three children and lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya.
Linguistically, Ken’s mother tongue is English and he is fluent in Italian, German and French and has a working knowledge of Portuguese, Swahili and Kikuyu.
Carol Hartleif is the managing director and founder of Elevli Plus. An accomplished interior designer Carol has worked internationally on leading projects and been published in an array of architecture magazines. Carol graduated with a Diploma in Interior Design has had 15 years in the business. She likes to customise her design to each clients needs and integrates her fine arts background and love of furniture design and ensure they get a completely unique and standout space.