Les Finnis RAIA
Director
As the founder of Finnis, Les has established a studio with a strong architectural language and open, collaborative culture. He has a great ability to combine business acumen with a design agenda. He enjoys his role mentoring younger staff and gets great satisfaction from designing spaces that make people feel good. Les graduated with an honours degree in Architecture at the University of Melbourne in 1981 and began his career with Daryl Jackson architects, then in 1985 assumed the position of Associate Director at NTMH architects.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Architecture, Honours, University of Melbourne
Associations
Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)
UDIA Design Committee Advisor
Director
Damon Hills RAIA
Associate Director
Damon assists Les to lead the practice and oversee the design direction of projects. Creating buildings that will stand the test of time is important to Damon, and he also sees his role as an architect as helping to shape public policy and contributing to widerdialogues about our cities and environments. Damon studied Interior Design and Architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
Qualifications
Bachelor of Architecture, Honours, RMIT
Bachelor of Arts (Interior Design), First Class Honours, RMIT
Associations
Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)
Kelly Rabbito
Director, Communities
Kelly commenced with Finnis in 2010 in the roll of initiating several community-based projects which led to her to becoming director of Finnis Communities. Kelly has established an extremely knowledgeable base and understanding in the field of development estates, approvals, guideline production and client liaison. The Communities division has rapidly developed into an extremely successful arm of the business and continues to expand under Kelly’s dedicated leadership.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Interior Design, Swinburne University
Associations
Corporate member of the UDIA