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Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon PROOME, Nicholas Mallory (Nick) Born: 1959 Architect BArch 1987 Kwa-Zulu Natal. Principal in the firm ELPHICK PROOME ARCHITECTS Inc. Awarded the Gold Medal for Architecture in 2026. Citation: Nicholas (Nick) Proome has spent almost four decades building a personal reputation for design discipline, technical command, and quiet consistency, qualities substantial and long enough now to be judged for the SAIA Gold Medal for Architecture, the Institute's highest individual honour. Born in 1959 in Choma, Zambia, Proome earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Natal, graduating in 1987. He had already begun his professional training in 1981 at MLH & Hamlin, rising through the practice to become an associate by 1988, a grounding that gave him early, hands-on exposure to the coordination demands of large, complex buildings. It was this capability, in particular his skill at steering projects from inception through implementation on work requiring extensive coordination across consultants and stakeholders, that would come to define his individual contribution to practice. When George Elphick, then overwhelmed with his own work, reached out, Proome recognised that such an opportunity rarely comes twice. In 1989, the two established Elphick Proome Architects (EPA). Proome developed particular expertise in the master planning of medical and educational institutions and in the design of hospitals and hotels, building types that demand the coordination skills he had honed early in his career, in which clinical, operational, and regulatory requirements must be resolved alongside architectural ambition. That discipline was evident from the outset: by 1991, EPA had already earned peer-acknowledged awards of merit for two buildings, a pattern of recognition that would come to characterise the practice he co-led. The firm's growth has been symbolized by the design of its own premises, shaped under Proome's direction alongside Elphick's: the Tollgate offices in 1993, built hard against the freeway; and EPA Studio in Westville, which carries a line attributed to Le Corbusier on its lintel, 'simple does not mean easy', and which earned the SAIA Award of Excellence, in 2008. The Investec regional headquarters in Umhlanga, co-authored by George Elphick, followed with a further SAIA Award of Excellence in 2012, proof that the standard Proome had helped establish in the practice's early years had, by then, become entirely reliable. Proome has also built a parallel career as a successful architect-developer, taking on the risk and responsibility of development alongside design — a pairing rarely found in the profession, and one that reflects the breadth of his ambition for the practice and for the city. Among the projects Proome has designed, two stand out for the recognition they have earned in their own right: the Unilever Indonsa facility in Durban, awarded a SAIA KZN Commendation, and Oceans in Umhlanga, honoured with an African Property Award and, in 2023, a South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) Award for Best Mixed-Use Development. The Oceans project has played a significant role as a catalyst for the rejuvenation of Umhlanga village. That standard has since travelled well, with work built and recognised in Mauritius and across the African continent, and a body of work published not only in local journals but selected by the authors of international books and featured on ArchDaily. The SAIA Gold Medal for Architecture is awarded to Nick Proome in recognition of a track record of personal design distinction built over almost four decades, from early technical grounding through to sustained recognition at the highest levels of the profession Submitted by William Martinson.