Michál was born and educated in South Africa, and set up Walters & Cohen with Cindy Walters in 1994. She has led a variety of projects, including a wellness centre in the Bank of England, a gallery in Durban and, currently, a new teaching building at St Paul’s Boys’ School in London. Michál is responsible for many of the practice’s education projects, which began in 2003 with designs for an exemplar primary school under the Britigh government’s Building Schools for the Future initiative, and has resulted in several award-winning buildings. Michál takes a keen interest in government initiatives and policy, as well as how children learn, and her expertise on the subject of design in learning environments is now well established. In the UK, Michál is one of the Design Council Cabe’s Built Environment Experts, a trustee for Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and a member of the Design South East and London Legacy Development Corporation design review panels.