Our approach to team structures is centered around the Project Team Leader. In most cases, our team leader will work with you on the project from the first meeting until opening day, maintaining a continuity of expertise and project understanding throughout. Similarly, we will dedicate one of our Principals to oversee the work throughout and maintain adherence to our strict quality standards.

Our Principals attend all design meetings and work with our Clients on design strategy and direction, while our Associates and Senior Designer team leaders offer the close attention to detail and follow-up required to run projects day-to-day. The office is also supported by other Landscape Architects, Administrative Assistants and accounts staff who work collaboratively on a sessional basis to deliver our award-winning work both in Australia and off-shore.

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Catherine Rush – Director

Catherine Rush has worked on numerous high profile public urban projects in Melbourne and Sydney. These include the Shrine of Remembrance and Docklands Park Melbourne—both AILA award-winning projects.

Catherine has 35 years of experience and is widely accepted in the profession as being uniquely gifted in design generation and representation and in setting the creative direction for our projects. Her experience as an urban designer brings a complementary focus to rush\wright, enabling the practice to maintain a sense of the ‘big picture’ while working on detailed design problems.

Catherine has led the rejuvenation of Grattan Gardens and Greville Street in Prahran and the public realm designs and landscape regeneration projects for for the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRP). More recent public  and institutional projects include the refurbishment of campuses at the Sunshine Law Courts, Caulfield Grammar School and new public housing developments and schools for the Victorian Government.

Catherine’s experience in project design extends across a broad range of project types and scales – multi residential, hospitals, schools and university campuses, small residential and memorial design. She continues to be part of landscape design education and mentoring landscape architects for registration. Catherine is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra.

Catherine has recently been awarded a Fellowship by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

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Michael Wright – Director

Michael Wright has a wide-ranging track record in landscape design and construction, having worked on projects at every scale from small private courtyards to entire new city plans. He has also worked as a horticulturist, stonemason, design-construct contractor, and for two years was a lecturer in design at the University of New South Wales. Michael’s 34 years of experience underpins his approach to the resolution of projects from conception to detail. His intuitive responses to each project are site based and result in unique design approaches for every landscape and urban design proposition.

He has worked on a range of urban landscape projects including major public domain commissions around Melbourne and interstate. Michael is a registered Landscape Architect AILA.

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Teresa Koo – Principal

Since graduating from RMIT’s Landscape Architecture program in 2004, Teresa has extensive experience in the industry over the past 15 years. Teresa brings a range of multidisciplinary and technical skills to her work as project landscape architect across a range of varied projects. These have included a number of institutional projects for school, health care facilities and tertiary campuses.

Teresa pursues a thorough approach to problem solving and a keen interest in design generation from concept development to planting design & construction detailing. She is an extremely diligent landscape practitioner.

She works closely with architects, stakeholders and other design team members to pursue integrated design outcomes. She is driven to create beautiful and functional landscapes that support a deeper connection between humans and the urban space they inhabit.

Teresa has recently completed documentation for the Springvale Community Precinct project. She is also involved in RWA’s ongoing work for the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) and currently working on the Acland Street Plaza Revitalisation project and Kananook Arboretum.

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Mark Rodriguez – Principal

Mark is an architect and landscape architect with extensive experience, having worked in the industry for 19 years. He brings a depth of knowledge from Australia and overseas, working on projects with a diverse range of scales. These include a number of public realm works for local councils and universities.

Mark’s key interests lie in the multidisciplinary approach to design. He has developed unique skills that utilise the 3D capabilities of Rhino to test, explore, and visualise from many angles, alongside experience in AutoCAD, Photoshop and Indesign among other software programmes.

Having worked across all stages of projects including construction documentation and contract administration, Mark appreciates the complexities involved with realising quality projects. He is currently overseeing the construction of works in Prahran and Melbourne CBD including WestSide Place and 350 Queen St.

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Karolina Bober – Principal

Karolina joined RWA in 2014. Trained in landscape architecture, urban planning, and interior and furniture design, Karolina brings a range of multidisciplinary and technical skills to the team.

Karolina’s design principles are centred around people and places, functionality embedded in aesthetic. With 18 years of experience in practice, Karolina’s folio includes a diverse range of public realm, institutional commercial and infrastructure projects.

Karolina’s main focus was on public realm projects including high profile, internationally awarded complexes; Cracow Congress Centre and Malopolska Garden of Arts

Karolina’s strong focus is on technical skills allowing her to lead complex projects delivery successfully. Karolina pursues a thorough approach to design problem solving and is dedicated to finding innovative solutions granting better public outcomes. She has the knowledge and capacity to drive the conceptual process and lead projects from development to implementation.

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Miki Mitsuta – Principal

Miki is a landscape architect with over 16 years of experience since graduating from Master of Landscape Architecture (The University of Melbourne). Miki has worked on projects within Australian and internationally, including Hong Kong and Japan. In 2018-2021 Miki resided in Tokyo, Japan and managed her own business Overlap. Projects included the Shibuya Sakuragaoka Area Redevelopment and Road Station – Shonan.

Miki is passionate to deliver exciting projects for the community while having a strong focus on sustainability issues. Currently, she serves for Climate Change working group of the International Federation of Landscape Architects Asia Pacific Region (IFLA APR) and liaises with landscape professionals in the region.

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Andrew Fullwood – Senior Landscape Architect

Andrew is a Landscape Architect with 14 years of extensive experience working in Horticulture, design and landscape construction. Andrew has worked on a number of projects at various scales including new and existing campus design, public revitalisation projects and civic centres since joining RWA in 2016.

He has a fundamental understanding of design process, interrelationships and the skill set required to ensure successful design outcomes in collaboration with others and the community. Andrew is involved in working on large scale infrastructure projects he seeks to implement and deliver projects that are site specific, engaging and reveal existing site qualities.

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Simon Batchelder – Senior Landscape Architect

Simon brings new international design insights to our studio, knowledge gained through international masters level studies in Denmark and Morocco, extensive travel experience and understanding of current landscape and architecture work around the world.

Simon’s project folio encompasses commercial residential and public landscape works. His experience in working across both disciplines allows him to design with a holistic methodology, one where the interplays of built form with natural systems are easily articulated.

Simon has delivered projects from inception through to project construction completion. He has a passion for creative problem solving, a fine attention to detail and technical design resolution.

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Alvin Lin – Landscape Architect

Alvin joined RWA in 2015, prior to working with RWA his prime focus was on large scale residential projects. Whilst working at RWA he has worked on diverse range of projects. Alvin is proficient in Photoshop and has a high attention to detail which has been a feature of his work at RWA.

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COSMO DARBY – Landscape Architect

Cosmo has joined RWA in 2020 after graduating from The University of Melbourne’s Master of Landscape Architecture program. Cosmo has worked as a tutor at The Melbourne School of Design in site grading and digital modelling. He brings prior experience from law and editorial pursuits.

Cosmo is interested in landscape architecture as a meeting ground of urban, human, plant and water systems. He offers strong technical ability and an interest in working across modelling platforms.

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Richard Le – Landscape Architect

Richard is a landscape architect with over 8 years of experience since graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architectural Design at RMIT. He is a talented young designer with the ability to apply his skills to a wide range of subject matter and projects.

He offers strong technical ability and an interest in working across modelling platforms. Through his technical skills and creative approach, Richard has developed a flexible tool set to meet the challenges of communicating big ideas in the built environment.

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Jackie Chen – Landscape Architect

Jackie joined RWA in 2022. She is a passionate landscape architect with two years of industry experience and a proven track record of delivering multiple award-winning projects in the design industry. Her landscape projects include large-scale rural renewal, commercial, open spaces and residential. She has a solid reputation for being collaborative and innovative in her approach to creative design solutions. Through these landscape projects, she has demonstrated her ability to develop a reputation of professional integrity with internal and external stakeholders. Her key strengths are communication, design software skills, and a solutions-focused attitude.

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Fiona Runjia Chen – Landscape Architect

Fiona completed her master’s degree in landscape architecture in 2022. Her year-long self-directed thesis “The Afterlife of Concrete” was awarded with The Jones & Whitehead Excellence in Design Research Award. The thematic of material disassembly and reusing was further pursued through curation of MTalk at MPavilion 2023.

Prior to joining Rush Wright, Fiona had practised in local boutique firms in China for two years. Having worked on projects at various scales including educational, commercial, and corporate campuses, she sees challenges as opportunities in projects and determines to realise ideas with considerations for aesthetics, functionality and practicality. Her diverse skill set include drone scanning, 3D modelling, grasshopper, GIS and hand drawing.

Fiona is interested in connections between human culture, ecology and materiality and believes that deep understanding of the land would transform how we negotiate with landscape.

She was on the editorial team for the 29th issue of a local landscape architecture journal, KERB: WILD.

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Hayley Siyun Huang – Landscape Architect

Hayley is a landscape architect with 6 years of industry experience, practising both nationally and internationally on prominent public civic spaces, community open spaces, streetscapes, hospital and aged-care developments. Hayley has collaborated closely with allied disciplines, with public and private client groups. Hayley continues to develop her practical skill set in site research and design, tender documentation in response, with sometimes strict physical and planning regulations, and project budgets.

As an alumnus of the University of Melbourne, she continues to support the next generation of landscape architects through the ABP mentoring program and tutors across a range of undergraduate subjects (Urban Open Space Studio) within the design faculty.

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