A natural leader, Nicky Drobis is focused on pushing design boundaries. Her ability to understand site context, and respond with interesting and sympathetic architectural solutions that balance client pragmatism with architectural vision, has been manifest from her earliest days with Fender Katsalidis Architects. Worldly, well travelled, and schooled in both architecture and architectural history, Drobis is acutely aware of her responsibility to create buildings that contribute to the social fabric and enrich people’s lives. She thus commits wholeheartedly to designing great outcomes on every level –functional, economic, urban and environmental – and in doing so, achieves the goals of her clients, her firm and the cities her work continues to shape.
Drobis’s conceptual and aesthetic vision has shaped many of the practice’s most significant projects to date, including Australia 108, Edgewater, Ark, Merdeka PNB 118, Parque and Fulton Lane. As head of the design team, her influence and contribution extend practice-wide: from helping define the firm’s architectural language and drive its design agenda, to being an active collaborator on each project the office undertakes. Drobis is also a mentor to many, and a constant source of inspiration to the firm’s next generation of design leaders.
