Lance & Nicola Herbst met whilst studying architecture at the University of Cape Town. After graduating they worked partly together and partly independently on projects in South Africa and immigrated to New Zealand in 1998 and established Herbst Architects in 2000.
One of the couples first projects was their own bach, on Great Barrier Island, for which they received the New Zealand Institute of Architects Award in 2002. The Island is now home to eight of their houses - all off the grid - each designed to have minimal impact on the environment.