Andrew is the Founder and Director of ADAD, Andrew Donaldson Architecture and Design; a high energy, optimistic, embedded mentoring practice based in Sydney that values originality, brilliance, relationships, leadership and paying it forward.ADAD specialises in delivering bespoke, customised, and highly designed residential homes, public art galleries, interiors, and joinery, with particular expertise in the creative transformation of complex natural landscapes, existing buildings and urban environments.As an internationally recognised firm, ADAD has been recently awarded the HIA Australian Home of the Year for their North Curl Curl House, the NSW Chapter Australian Institute of Architects Blacket Prize for their Watt Space Gallery, and NSW AIA Small Project Award for their Potts Point Apartment.Andrew and ADAD have featured both on Grand Designs Australia TV and Amazon Prime Unbelievable Builds internationally.Prior to launching ADAD, Andrew worked for 10 years on a multitude of cultural projects. Most notably, Andrew was the Design Architect for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from concept design through project delivery, spearheading the design and supervision of the complex exterior envelope, internal articulated ceilings and integrated 3D signage into the building fabric. This resulted in client delight, iconic status for the MCA and a partnership offer at the firm.Andrew has travelled extensively across Europe, North America and the Middle East on multiple architectural scholarships experiencing and dissecting the world’s great museums, galleries and residential homes, first as a student on the Inaugural Eric Parker Memorial travelling scholar, most recently as an Emerging Architect as 1 of 5 national winners of the inaugural RAIA Dulux London Study Tour, each time bringing that knowledge back to Australia.Andrew graduated from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons.1) in 2005 where he was awarded the Neville Clouten Architectural Synthesis Design Prize, RAIA Architects Graduation Prize in Architecture for Newcastle and the NSW Department of Commerce Prize in Architecture. He co-founded the A5 Student Organisation.He currently maintains ties to academia through his creative practice PhD candidature, and 20 year invited sessional tutoring and lecturing across all NSW universities in design, communication, theory and architectural practice.Driving these pursuits is Andrew’s core passion of mentoring young creatives into following their dreams: particularly from Australia’s Regions.