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DESIGN MANAGER CASSANDRA ZUGHBI REFLECTS ON HER EVOLVING CAREER by Clare Bailey Head of Marketing, Taylor & NAWIC Member
Recognised for her clear and concise style, Cassandra Zughbi’s design work is a balance of creativity and practicality. A Design Manager at Taylor, Cassandra places emphasis on building strong, collaborative relationships as the key to delivering exceptional and effective design solutions for clients. With more than 12 years’ experience in the field, Cassandra has played a pivotal role in award-winning builds like the Rosehill Racecourse refurbishment, the construction and fitout of the eco-luxury Wildlife Retreat at Taronga and Lindfield Learning Village Stage 1 - a school constructed to deliver a highly innovative educational model that sees students advance according to their rate of progress rather than age. Cassandra is currently Design Manager on the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Renewal program. BUILDING A CAREER IN DESIGN Cassandra grew up in Bathurst and moved to the city to study an Advanced Diploma of Interior Design at Enmore Design Centre. Eight years in interior design followed, including roles in design and construction with Westfield/Scentre Group and design of the Northlakes Westfield Ikea mall extension and entertainment precinct. Another five years saw Cassandra focus on hospitality interior design and construction, as a Senior Interior Designer and Project Leader for Altis Architecture. During this time, Cassandra led and coordinated interior projects with design, construction, documentation and engineering teams. Cassandra worked on significant improvements to the Rosehill Gardens Racecourse’s events spaces, audio visual experience, amenities and food and beverage facilities. Having consulted closely with the 50
Taylor team on the Rosehill refurbishment General Manager, Ben Folkard, then brought Cassandra on board. Joining after the birth of her first child, the multi award-winning Wildlife Retreat at Taronga was Cassandra’s first job with Taylor. The Wildlife Retreat at Taronga wraps around its own private native wildlife sanctuary within the iconic Sydney zoo. Guests are treated to the ultimate, immersive overnight conservation experience with multiple exclusive guided tours, close-up wildlife encounters, dining opportunities and first-class views of Sydney Harbour. The Retreat is a complex hospitality build, undertaken in a live zoo environment. Add to that delivery of CLT and other construction innovations, animal habitats, heritage aspects and unique WSHE complexities, the construction team had to manage many moving parts. That’s where the value of Cassandra’s role in design management came to the fore. On the build, one area of focus for Cassandra was reviewing balustrades, access and amenities for non-compliance, prior to build. She worked with the architect to expedite pre-build changes that, essentially, deliver extensive savings for clients by removing the risk of costly ‘redos’. Assessing all design elements pre-build also protects the project timeline. Cassandra assessed on site water-pooling, undertaking a landscape levels review to reconfigure drainage and grates within the habitat spaces. Cassandra has seen her role in design management evolve to address the overlap between architecture and construction. Taylor Project Manager, Adam Vassallo, said, “Cassandra’s input is fundamental to the success of her projects and to the exceptional outcomes we achieved at Taronga.”
THE NAWIC JOURNAL
