Atelier Ten announces leadership promotions in Melbourne studio
Atelier Ten is delighted to announce the promotion of David Ritter to Director of the sustainable design consultancy’s Melbourne studio. Atelier Ten is also promoting Priya Gandhi to Associate in Melbourne. The promotions add significant strength to the pioneering global team, who for the last 30 years have worked with forward-thinking clients and leading names from the world of architecture and design to create inspiring buildings, contributing towards a net zero emissions future.
David has over 20 years of international experience in delivering cutting-edge Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) solutions and leads the team of enthusiastic and talented environmental designers in Melbourne. David works with our clients from outset, setting the vision, goals and brief; helping them to achieve the best possible outcome and targets for each individual project. Priya, a passionate sustainability advocate and experienced analyst, leads Atelier Ten’s energy modelling and building performance practice. Priya speaks regularly at industry events and participates in sustainability thought leadership forums. Atelier Ten is helping to accelerate and promote the impact of a climate resilient built environment in Australia with a growing portfolio of high-performance buildings that work to reduce energy consumption including: The Australian Opal Centre with Glenn Murcutt and Wendy Lewin with Dunn & Hillam, WA Museum Boola Bardip with Hassell and OMA, Ian Potter Conservatory in Canberra with Chrofi, Western Sydney Airport with COX Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects and Southbank by Beulah with COX Architecture and UNStudio.
Following the announcement of Atelier Ten joining the Surbana Jurong Group in November, these promotions mark a new phase in the continued growth and progression of the environmental design consultancy. At the same time, allowing Atelier Ten to share their expertise and strengthen their commitment to championing sustainability and developing climate change solutions across Australia.
David Ritter, Director, Atelier Ten Australia said: “Our interest has always been in creating great environments for people – and for this you need a great team of designers that understand both the physical and the invisible architecture to make a building both inhabitable and inspiring. I’m excited by the opportunity that myself, Priya, and the rest of the team in Australia have to provide vision and leadership in delivering the net zero carbon goals set by the international Paris Agreement. Through shared knowledge, holistic design thinking, advanced technology and engineering solutions we can do this.”
Leader of the Melbourne studio, David Ritter’s expertise ranges from strategic consulting through to environmental design optimisation and ESD consulting on ambitious built environment works. He is experienced working with government and corporate clients on large scale masterplanning projects and portfolio-wide leadership towards meeting the urgent challenges of the day, such as the net zero carbon imperative. As a member of CIBSE and AIRAH, he is also an accomplished environmental engineer and has led engineering and ESD input on significant commercial, arts, culture and science projects around the world. David is also a passionate advocate for interdisciplinary design integration and is currently teaching at Melbourne University on an innovative ARENA funded design studio comprising a mix of architectural and engineering students. He is leading a teaching process challenging architecture and engineering students to deliver zero carbon buildings for the Aged Care and Health Care sectors.
After graduating from Berkeley, Priya Gandhi continues her analysis work at Atelier Ten, leading on energy modelling and building performance tools, and working with design teams to integrate efficient strategies into project designs from the outset. Priya uses her background in engineering, architecture, and building science, and passion for climate action to embed sustainability in her projects. She is a member of the fifth cohort of Homeward Bound, a global leadership initiative that heightens the influence and impact of women in STEMM in making decisions for the greater good of our planet. She is a contributor to the Discomfort Zone podcast; Vice President of the building performance simulation association IBPSA Australasia, an active member of Engineers Declare and a regular speaker at events and conferences.