This narrative examines how a civic architecture practice emerged in South Africa as a response to exclusion from formal professional pathways. Without access to mentorship and formal recognition, a collective of graduates developed an alternative design organization rooted in coproducing interventions with marginalized communities, informal settlement leaders, and grassroots networks. What began as a survival strategy evolved into a decade-long praxis that questioned the norms of architectural education and practice—how architects are trained, and by whom.