After experiencing success in residential, mixed-use and commercial sectors in recent times, Australian architectural practice Turner has attributed it in large part to cultural diversity and gender equality at the workplace.
The practice now has representation from 21 different nationalities with 50 per cent of its 80-strong team being female, inlcuding recently appointed Lebanese Australian, Vanessa Saad as Associate and Sri Lankan born Shewanna Mendis as Senior Associate.
Principal Nick Turner says the various multi-national employees bring a different set of experiences to the Turner table – having watched their home cities evolve, especially in the area of medium to high density areas.
“They also bring a range of different cultural values and experiences, which play an important part in any design,” he said.
Turner says the mix of design professionals and nationalities has enabled them to translate the diversity into their work, which is proving to be a competitive advantage for the practice.
According to Saad, the architectural practice is refreshingly diverse with no single author or authoritative design signature. Observing that Turner supports a mix of individual talents that bring something unique to the team, she added that they are ‘constantly growing, evolving and adapting, the metamorphosis being part of their success’.
Mendis has been a core member of the team from the beginning and has been working with Turner on 10 major projects completed over the last six months. The residential, mixed-use and commercial projects feature 1,920 apartments, with the clients including Payce, Becton and Lend Lease GPT.
Residential developments include the second stage of Divercity in Waterloo (Becton); Mascot Square (Atlas); George and Allen in Waterloo (Built); Como at Washington Park (Payce); Platinum at Victoria Park (Payce); Union in Balmain (Anka); Otto in Rosebery (Capital Corporation), and McEvoy Street in Alexandria (Ambicam) as well as a commercial building at 3 Murray Rose, Olympic Park (Lend Lease GPT).
