In Kenya’s competitive architectural landscape, where bold promises often outpace actual delivery, Harmony Design Studio has chosen a quieter — and arguably more powerful — path. Since its founding in 2018, the Nairobi-based practice has built its reputation not on scale alone, but on something rarer: a design philosophy that places the client’s lived experience at the very centre of every project, from the first conversation to the final handover.
Speaking to Construction Kenya Showcase & Construction Review, Principal Architect PETER MURUNDU (pictured above) framed the firm’s identity with characteristic clarity: “Harmony is a firm that combines aesthetic and function. It harmonises them.”
FROM CO-WORKING SPACES TO AN ESTABLISHED STUDIO
Harmony’s founding story is one of calculated ambition and hard-won credibility. Co-founded by Peter Murundu and Joshua Apale, the firm spent its early years doing what many young practices wisely do: building carefully, learning voraciously, and letting the quality of their work speak louder than their marketing. Operating initially from co-working spaces and home offices, the team took on referrals, refined their processes, and steadily accumulated a portfolio that today spans interiors, commercial fit-outs, residential projects and educational facilities.
In 2024, Harmony officially stepped into a more visible phase of its growth, moving into its own dedicated office space — a milestone that signals not just physical expansion, but a maturation of identity and ambition.
Murundu’s own career arc runs through two of Kenya’s most respected architectural firms. His time at Mutiso Menezes International (MMI) gave him exposure to large-scale practice and professional rigour. But it was his subsequent role as the very first employee at Design Partnership Limited (DPL) — where he worked on landmark projects including The Purple Tower on Mombasa Road — that truly forged his philosophy.
“I got to see the founder build a firm from zero. That was a privilege — and it has actually borne Harmony. We borrowed some principles from him on how to do things.”
THE ART OF LISTENING: HARMONY’S CLIENT-CENTRED PROCESS
What genuinely differentiates Harmony is not simply what the firm produces, but how. In an industry where clients frequently feel like passengers in their own projects — handed decisions rather than guided through them — Harmony has made deep client engagement its operational cornerstone. The process begins long before a pencil touches paper. Harmony’s onboarding is built around extensive discovery sessions: conversations designed to extract not just a brief, but a vision.
“We tend to interact with the client more and get to understand what it is they really want,” Murundu explains. “That first phase is mostly us getting into the client’s head — digging out what it is their mind is looking for.”
This process culminates in what Harmony calls the Dream Document — a structured framework that captures:
– The client’s lifestyle, aspirations and long-term goals
– An honest assessment of market realities and site constraints
– Harmony’s own professional recommendations and design vision
– A synthesis document that becomes the shared foundation for the entire project
“We marry these two,” Murundu says. “Then we give them a document that represents their vision, our vision, and the final product.” The result is a client who feels genuinely seen — and a design team working from mutual understanding rather than assumptions.
TECHNOLOGY AS A DESIGN PARTNER
Harmony treats technology not as a drafting tool, but as a genuine coordination platform. Building Information Modelling through Autodesk Revit sits at the heart of the firm’s multi-disciplinary workflow. On any given project, structural, electrical and architectural teams work within a single shared model — catching conflicts in the digital space before they become costly surprises on site.
“Revit is working really well for us,” says Murundu. “Electrical engineer plugs in, structural plugs in, architectural plugs in. So if you’re proposing a light, you’ll see where the beam is.”
The firm is also actively incorporating AI-assisted tools into its presentation, image enhancement and design ideation workflows — staying ahead of an industry shift that is already redefining how architecture is practised globally.
SUSTAINABILITY: FROM CORE VALUE TO CLIENT SAVINGS
For Harmony, sustainability is a foundational design commitment — and one that Murundu argues makes compelling economic sense, not just environmental sense.
“Sustainability is one of our core values,” he affirms. “The initial budget might be costly, but it will manage you well in the long run.”
The real-world impact is best illustrated by a Gigiri residential project where Harmony specified an extensive solar installation. The result: the client’s monthly Kenya Power bill now sits between KES 500 and KES 1,000.
A PORTFOLIO BUILT ON AMBITION AND DIVERSITY
Still a young studio by industry standards, Harmony has assembled a project portfolio of impressive breadth — evidence of a team that brings the same rigour and creativity to a hospitality interior as it does to a commercial development. Highlights from Harmony’s growing portfolio include:
– Glovo East Africa Headquarters — interior fit-out, The Piano Building, Westlands (pictures in this story).
– GEAPP Office — interior design and fit-out, Nairobi
– AICS Nairobi — architectural services
– Proposed Enish Restaurant — The Piano Building, Westlands (hospitality)
– Residential fit-outs and renovations across Nairobi
– Educational facility upgrades and expansions
– Retail and commercial interior design
New and larger commissions remain in the pipeline, with the firm actively expanding its network through professional collaborations, referrals and targeted positioning within Nairobi’s rapidly evolving built environment sector.
LOOKING FORWARD: LEGACY, MENTORSHIP AND A BIGGER TABLE
Ask Peter Murundu where Harmony wants to be in ten years, and his answer reveals something important about the kind of firm he is building. Yes, he wants a stronger portfolio. Yes, he wants larger commissions. But his deepest ambition is generational.
“We would like to be a firm that is recognised for its effective interaction with clients,” he says. “And we would want to train graduate architects to become what we have become.”
That commitment to mentorship — to widening the pathway for the next generation of Kenyan architectural talent — speaks directly to the values that have shaped Harmony from its earliest days.
Kenya’s architectural industry stands at an inflection point: accelerating urbanisation, growing sustainability mandates, increasingly sophisticated clients and a generational shift in how buildings are conceived and experienced. Harmony Design Studio is positioning itself not just to serve that moment, but to help define it.
