After graduating from Hilton College in 1941, Don Dyke-Wells attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he earned his first degree in architecture, before eventually obtaining a PhD. During the course of his studies, he competed in rowing and was a member of the South African coxless fours squad at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics that was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He gave up international competition in the sport shortly thereafter to focus on his career in architecture, a field in which he soon became quite successful. He worked for many years as an architect and industrial designer, and also worked as a teacher and professor, most notably at the KwaZulu-Natal Institute for Architecture, even while running his own firm.