Sonja Duric
BBuiltEnv (Interior Design)
Registered Building Practitioner
Principal of Interior Design, GroupGSA
Sonja is Principal of Interiors in GroupGSA’s Melbourne Studio. Her 20+ years of experience has focussed on Interior Design, Concept Design, Project Coordination, Project Initiation and Focus Group facilitation. Sonja brings a recognised capability for facilitating galvanised consensus amongst diverse stakeholders developed across her career in the industry. Sonja has developed a Covid Planning guideline for workplaces. She has a passion for research and evidence-based design.
Her education includes a Bachelor of Built Environment (with Hons) with a major in Interior Design from QUT with the final year completed at the School of Interior Architecture, UNSW. Upon graduating, Sonja qualified for the Golden Key Honour Society. Over the last two decades she has devoted her energy to professional practise. In 2016 she joined the industry advisory panel for the RMIT College of Vocational Education.
Sonja is leading The Working Brain research team at GroupGSA investigating neurodiversity and mental health and how, as designers, we adapt our built environments through sensory design interventions to enable success and inclusion.
Suzi Wedd
BArch
Associate Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Suzi is an Interior Designer and registered Victorian building practitioner. Following 6 years of architectural experience, Suzi ventured into interiors focusing in workplace design and has practiced for some 20 years in both Sydney and Melbourne.
Additional to a core experience in workplace, her experience has been across broader sectors of commercial projects such as housing, retail, financial and health care. Suzi’s extensive industry experience is focused enthusiastically on creative design solutions delivered with a collaborative approach. Particular interests are that of the changing social nature of workplace design and the evolution of wellness, sustainability and social inclusion.
Kylie Lord
ADIntDec&Des, BA (Psych)
Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Kylie is an Interior Designer who has joined the Melbourne team on a part-time basis. She completed her studies in Interior Decoration and Design in the top 2% of RMIT higher education students in 2019 and was included in the Vice Chancellor’s List of Academic Excellence. She also has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and several years’ experience in people management.
Kylie has a passion for creating workplaces that provide greater comfort and support to end users. To date, Kylie has contributed to the project by conducting analysis and interpretation of results.
Ian Piggott
BSc, BBuiltEnv, GDIndusDes
Associate Director of Interior Design, GroupGSA
Neurodiversity is a natural and valuable form of human diversity…the idea that there is one ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ type of brain or mind, or one ‘right’ style of neurocognitive functioning, is a culturally constructed fiction, much the same way in which architecture is conceived/constructed for the viewpoint of a six foot high individual, no more valid…than the idea that there is one ‘normal’ or ‘right’ ethnicity, gender or culture.
Through a comprehensive methodology to derive human profiles that incorporates diversity supported by technology and sound design principles, human operations can be tailored to individual needs within the workplace even with shifting objectives. ‘Predominantly’ autonomy, self-regulation, and self-determination – are better harnessed to align workplace operations with the evolving development goals articulated in the business ecosystem.
This is what has inspired and continues to inspire me. Through simple extension of us. We can achieve at our best.
Alex Macdonald
BDes (Interior Design)
Green Star Associate
Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Alex an Interior Designer who specialises in workplace design. She has experience across a broad range of other commercial sectors including financial retail, health care and hospitality.
Passionate about the impact the built environment has on people and the planet, Alex is driven to create spaces that have a positive impact on the end user.
Wellness in the workplace & the continued efforts of reducing the negative impact buildings have on the environment is something Alex is deeply invested in as a means of improving the lives of people.
Natalie Viola
CertDes, ADipGraphDes
Interior Designer
Winner of the Design Institute of Australia’s Graduate of the Year Award (GOTYA) for 2016 for the Victoria / Tasmania region in the category of Interior Design & Decoration. Natalie commenced working for Artillery in 2017 as a Graduate Interior Designer, and then later that year with the newly merged Group GSA team.
Natalie has worked on various interior design projects since commencing, and is an integral part of the design team.
Michael Edwards
BDes (Interior Design)
Green Star Associate
Associate Director of Interior Design, GroupGSA
Michael Edwards is a qualified interior designer with over 20 years’ experience in the design industry focused on the sectors of commercial workplace, specialist healthcare and financial institution in retail environments. With core expertise in workplace design and project delivery, Michael is also an accredited Green Star Associate with a keen interest in workplace wellness and environmentally sustainable design developed over the past 15 years.
Dion Wee
BDes (Digital Design), ADipScr&Med, DipIntDigMed
Graphic Designer, GroupGSA
Dion is graphic designer with a background in marketing, storytelling and communications design. Having worked as a freelance designer on a variety of campaigns for a variety of clients, including Honda, Nickelodeon and Monash University, he has extensive experience with working in diverse teams. He is a designer who revels in the details and likes to cross his ‘T’s and dot his ‘I’s.
Collaborators
Winnie Dunn
PhD, OTR, FAOTA
Distinguished Professor, University of Missouri
Department of Occupational Therapy
Dr. Dunn is a Distinguished Professor of the Department of Occupational Therapy Education at the University of Missouri. She is an internationally known expert for her studies about sensory processing in everyday life. She received her occupational therapy and a special education graduate degree from the University of Missouri, and her doctorate in applied neuroscience from the University of Kansas. She has published more than 100 research articles, book chapters and books, and has spoken around the world about her work. She is the author/ co-author of all of the Sensory Profile measures, which capture people’s responses to sensory events in everyday life; these assessments have been translated into dozens of languages and are used for both professional practice and in research programs. In 2014 Dr. Dunn completed the update and standardization research on the Sensory Profile 2, to ensure that researchers and professionals in practice have the most current evidence to support their decisions.
She has received the top honors in her field, including the Award of Merit for outstanding overall contributions, and the Eleanor Clark Slagle Lectureship for outstanding academic contributions; she is a member of the Academy of Research for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and has received the A. Jean Ayres research award. She has also received a Kemper Teaching Fellowship for her outstanding educational approach. In 2013 she received an Honorary Doctorate from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences to acknowledge her contributions to knowledge development in the health professions. She has written a book for the public about her research entitled Living Sensationally understanding your senses, which has been featured in Time magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine, Canadian Public Radio and the London Times newspaper among others. In July 2009, Living Sensationally received the Seal of Excellence from the Children of the New Earth magazine for parents, professionals and other
Andrew Eddy
Co-founder, Untapped
Autism Advocate
Andrew is a senior finance professional with extensive experience in the public sector and in professional service firms. He also has significant governance experience in the education sector.
Andrew is a founder of Untapped, a social enterprise focused on developing a sustainable neurodiverse employment ecosystem to increase opportunities for autistic individuals, thereby realising their untapped potential.
Untapped is also driving the Neurodiversity Hub initiative which is about facilitating neurodiverse university and TAFE students becoming more work-ready and increasing their chances of securing a job and a career. It is also an opportunity for employers to partner with the Hub and better understand and access this cohort’s talent.
Vlatka Duric
Clinical Psychologist
Dr Vlatka Duric is a Psychologist with Masters in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Psychological Medicine for which she received a full scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. She has been a representative on major scientific bodies and a principal investigator on several competitively funded research grants. Her interests are the application of gold standard psychological evidence to practice helping people achieve positive change in their quality of life so that they can confidently live their best life and contribute to their community. Her career highlights include a first author publication in Lancet Oncology, working as a clinician in Norway and Oman, and a clinical observership at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Nowadays, Dr Duric’s focus is mainly as a full time clinician (working with currently serving and veterans and their families). In her spare time, Dr Duric likes to spend quality time with her family and enjoying any creative pursuit.
Jeremyville
Social Impact Artist
Jeremyville is a New York based artist. He started his art career drawing at the Sydney Morning Herald, while completing his architecture degree at the University of Sydney, and editing the student newspaper. At the age of 19, he discovered the power of simple writing, and the impact an image can have to raise awareness about serious social issues.
Jeremyville has exhibited around the world with shows at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg, La Casa Encendida Museum in Madrid, Colette in Paris, Cappellini in NYC and many more.
He is the co-founder of Studio Jeremyville, with Creative Director Megan Mair, and he has created designs for Converse, Swatch, Urban Outfitters, Kidrobot, Kiehl’s, Uniqlo and LeSportsac.
Jeremyville draws daily in his sketchbook and shares his Community Service Announcements through his social media, with messages of environmental action, social change, inner growth and positive daily actions.
Researchers
Tracy Lo
BIA (Honours)
Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Tracy has been working with Group GSA for the last 3 years and has acquired many skills in workplace design, from initial space planning to finishes and furniture selection through to documentation and project completion. She also has experience in educational and high-end residential projects from previous work experiences. As a designer she tries to satisfy clients’ needs and requirement as much as possible, whilst not compromising the design intent.
Pavel Ornelas
BArch, DipProjMgmt
Associate Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Pavel is a qualified architect and interior designer with over 15 years’ experience in the design industry focused on the sectors of commercial workplace, specialist healthcare and financial institution in retail environments.
In the last 6 years Pavel has specialized in workspace with strong commitments to quality design and optimal project delivery.
Nick Leong
DFurnTech
Associate Interior Designer, GroupGSA
Nick is an Associate with 8 years of experience in interior design; 14 years furniture design and fabrication; Project Coordination; 2D AutoCAD and 3D Computer Modelling. Nick’s knowledge of detailing due to his furniture design skills is a benefit to any project. He speaks the same language as joiners and contractors and is incredibly respected by the site team.
