HISTORY
Symbion Group Over 21 years Later
   

Upon the attainment of 21 years, it is commonly accepted that one has come of age. In some Kenyan communities, the initiate marks such a feat by slaying a Lion and wearing its tail or killing a full-length crocodile bare-handed and adorning all its teeth as a necklace, or simply marrying a second wife anddeclaring oneself a junior elder. Upon celebrating the onset of the 21st year since incorporation in Kenya, Symbion has enviable achievements in the industry that mark an illustrious first two decades.

Its trophies range from award winning hotels and lodges, restaurants, recreational facilities, office and commercial developments, factory and industrial buildings to tented camps in the national parks. Recently, Symbion traversed the human client's base when it was commissioned to design for the indigenous species
of the national park; the Nairobi National park and Animal Orphanage animal walk!
The Symbion Story.....

in Kenya begins on April 1st 1980 when the company was first established. At that time, service companies offering the full range of Planning, Design and management of Architectural and Interior Design were few and far between. The then fast growing Kenyan economy, enjoying the benefits of an all time high world coffee price boom, increasing tea
export earnings, a fast growing and immensely lucrative tourism sector was nurturing quick and consistent growth in real estate. This created a huge need for a highly specialized and professional backbone service for the sector.
There was an increasing demand for modern office space for the growing concerns, residential houses for the highly discerning personnel they drew, while the burgeoning hospitality trade and commercial banking and financing companies sought nothing but the highest international standards.The challenges and demands for the newly emerging company were thus set. Two decades down the line and Symbion have received commissions throughout the length and breadth of the entire East African region from Kenya to Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Zambia, Burundi, Seychelles and all the way to Botswana, South Africa and Gabon.

The Symbion mark can be seen in high-rise office blocks, specialized recreational and clinical projects, huge commercial concerns and private residences.
Over 21 Years Of Turning Ideas Into Reality
    In order to keep pace with the growing demands upon it, the practice grew and in the early 90’s decided to establish offices in Uganda and Tanzania. Its office in the Seychelles operated from 1986 for the next decade servicing the growing commercial and tourism projects in these idyllic islands. In 1997 Symbion expanded into Botswana taking over the oldest established architectural practice in the country, Cons Com Botswana.
Today the Symbion Group is an independent group professional practices specializing in the planning, design, and the management of architectural and interior design projects. Staffing fluctuates related to workload and specific types of projects but the core team usually consists of thirty or so professionals with technical and administrative staff numbering approximately sixty. Resources from a network of associated offices back up this team. Over the last twenty-one years the company has developed a reputation of innovation and customer satisfaction in achieving the practice’s vision of turning the dreams of diverse clients into reality.
Symbion Have Evolved...
Symbion have evolved distinct responses to client briefs over the years and a complete list of projects would read like the construction industry who’s who. When the South African supermarket chain Metro Cash and Carry supermarket sought to enter the Kenyan market with a brand new concept in wholesale supermarkets they turned to Symbion to co-ordinate the construction of their Nairobi outlet and a similar service was provided in Kampala the following year. Similarly Game City employed Conscom for there new development in Botswana in 2001
Designing for the special needs of health facilities is a challenge. Symbion has achieved a number of ‘firsts’ in this field. There is the HIV Palliative Care and Training Center in Uganda where Symbion was selected after a prequalification process to co-ordinate the construction of this first specialised facility for the treatment of Aids sufferers and their families. The result is a sensitive medical and support facility utilizing local materials and adopting a climatic design approach.
Skills In Designing...
for medical purposes are also evident in the ultra-modern Nairobi Hospital accident and emergency center. The hospital’s brief required a facility that would allow the use of technological life saving equipment for one of the leading hospitals in the region. In 1996 Symbion was appointed to carry out another phase of the major re-development of the Aga Khan Hospitals in Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam. This project follows on from earlier first phase Doctors Plaza and the current Accident & Emergency Department which were completed in 1987. This was a major undertaking and a great show of confidence in Symbion’s design ability.
This design work calls for the incorporation of state of the art technology in line with the modernisation programme initiated by the Aga Khan Health Foundation. 		   
    Turning away from the medical field there is also the magnificent Oshwal Religious Centre. A construction marvel that incorporates Jain cultural, religious and traditional architectural traditions has several halls, theatres and worship areas that can be used simultaneously by almost 3,000 people. This project is the evidence of the extent to which Symbion will go to satisfy the cultural sensibilities of a client. Detailed studies were conducted to ensure that motifs and significant reference to religious themes were evident in the external and internal decorations, window openings and paneling.    
The Attainment ...
of maturity could in some quarters suggest a slow slide into complacency and conservatism, but dynamism and the desire to constantly be at the cutting edge of innovation is among the most important corporate culture traits that Symbion has cultivated over the past two decades. Since the wave of computerization first hit the industry in the early 1990’s revolutionizing architecture and design in the region, the firm has fully computerized its operations. All departments are equipped with the latest computer aided design workstations with an inter-office network that can access one of the most extensive private architectural reference material archives in the region.
  This network has recently reached its latest potential in Symbion’s new offices, in Kenya, Uganda and Botswana thereby offering clients instance access to a wide pool of professional services to serve their particular needs. In this age of trading and economic blocks, Symbion already has a virtual COMESA presence through networking the Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Seychelles and Botswana offices. The network makes it possible for a client to visualise and become part of the design process from the Nairobi offices, or off a laptop computer in a project office or bases in any of the regions.
The Two Faces Of Symbion Group
While the former can be seen in the designs of the commercial buildings, hospitals, multi-storey office blocks, clinical hospitals and solid banks the latter can be seen in the lodges and hotels. That face is reflected in the eco-friendly destinations including the award winning Shimba Hills Lodge and Shaba Lodge. Symbion was involved in the rehabilitation of Paraa Lodge in Uganda, The Sheraton in Kampala, the renovations of Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa and the expansion of the Aga Khan Hospitals in East Africa. Over the last two decades two distinct yet compatible faces of Symbion have emerged.  
    There is the Symbion that is keeping abreast with the fast changing and modernising techno-revolution of our continent; executing some of the most futuristic and 'hard-line' architecture that is changing the city skylines, while there is the Symbion that is an integral part of the preservation of the eco-system; a Symbion that is about caring for the environment, for its inhabitants and the land upon which they live; one that utilises the best in renewable materials that nature has to offer; one that innocently blends into the unspoilt landscape, preserving it while enhancing its beauty and utility.
The Aim ...
is always to produce appropriate and refined architecture that reflects the cultural and social traditions of the country in which every project is located. The quality of the work has over the years won the admiration and satisfaction of their clients because by offering commercially viable solutions even on difficult sites, has gained appreciation of building users and captured the admiration of local authority planners.
Over these years Symbion have developed a commitment to a client's requirement and the social, economic and cultural environment in which these requirements are generated. A great attention to detail has become a hallmark of the practice. This integrationist approach to architecture and design mean that Symbion deliver not just 'front of house' design solutions, but integrate into the work ethic and practice an all round sensitivity that ensures the project's logistics, cost and aesthetic considerations are catered for.