GroupGSA has appointed Scott Francis as principal of architecture to its team’s Melbourne division.
As an architect with experience across a variety of project types, Francis joins GroupGSA following 15 years with dwp (formerly Suters), where he held the role of national sector leader for seniors living and delivered projects for a number of Australia’s top tier aged care operators.
Francis was also instrumental in delivering projects such as Rathdowne Place in Melbourne for Australian Unity Retirement Living, which was one of the first inner-city vertical aged care developments.
“My aim is to develop a truly integrated design practice where our core disciplines of architecture, interior design and landscape architecture can work collaboratively to deliver a greater depth of project. In future, this will also grow to include disciplines such as urban design and graphic design, building upon what we already have nationally,” he says.
With this appointment, aged care, retirement, and community is set to become a prime focus for GroupGSA.
“It is a market sector that is growing steadily and has developed into a market sector with an increased level of design sophistication. Group GSA will be building upon its current strong portfolio nationally,” Francis says.
“Successful urban design outcomes are where the integration of open space, built form, human scale, consideration of traffic movements (both pedestrian and vehicular) all within an umbrella of the natural environment come together.”
“A classic example of this is the Highline in New York City.”
“I experienced this first hand in 2017 and it is a thrilling urban space to become absorbed in,” he says.
