Alessandro Belgiorno-Nettis, Henry Goodwin and Rob Scarfone met as architecture students at UTS. Though they didn’t know it at the time, their friendship would become the launching pad for long-term professional success.
As undergraduate students, Alessandro Belgiorno-Nettis, Henry Goodwin and Rob Scarfone bonded over a shared love of sports, cars, boats and spending copious amounts of time at the pub.
All three were students in the UTS Bachelor of Architecture, one of the leading degrees of its kind. Over four years, they worked side by side, honing their design skills and discovering that they shared a strikingly similar approach, not just to architecture but to life in general.
As the end of their bachelor’s degree approached, all three opted to enrol in the Master of Architecture. The decision was partly practical — students must complete a master’s degree to register as an architect in NSW — but it was also based on a collective desire to continue building their expertise in an environment that demanded excellence.
UTS felt like the obvious — and only — option.
“Committing to the master’s at that point in time was a no-brainer — where we did it was the question,” Henry says.
“UTS, in my mind, was the school to be at. There was a level of push that was positive and brought out really good results.”
Robert (left), Alessandro (middle), Henry (right) on holidays together, 2019
Leveraging the postgraduate experience
Unlike undergraduate degrees, which are largely focused on fundamental skills acquisition, postgraduate study challenges students to situate their knowledge in a broader professional context.
In the Master of Architecture, Alessandro, Henry and Rob were also encouraged to push boundaries: to question the profession’s cultural, social and economic implications, as well as its relationship with technology and the environment, and to view their learning through a distinctly future-focused lens.
“The idea that UTS was going against the norm was really appealing,” Alessandro says.
“They’re constantly trying to break away from existing industry standards and think about the future.”
Working under the guidance of leading practitioners, including Anthony Burke and Gerard Reinmuth, helped the three students gain a global perspective on a profession that they’d only ever studied in Sydney-based spaces.
They also appreciated the flexibility that the degree — and their teaching team — extended their way. At the postgraduate level, many students work and study simultaneously; helping them balance those competing responsibilities reflects how the course is structured.
“Where there were things on at work, it was easy to have chats with your tutor and say, ‘Look, I'm struggling to get stuff on time; I need a bit more time to deliver something’. They were always open to those conversations,” says Rob.
But the true value was the self-directed nature of the postgraduate experience — all three were given the freedom to tailor their own learning experiences and to develop, refine and interrogate their skillsets in response to real-world challenges.
“I think the ability for a postgraduate degree to force you into a position where you have to negotiate and collaborate and deal with day-to-day problems with other people really sets you up for life, whether it's in work or outside of work. It's a really important lesson,” says Alessandro.
Henry, Alessandro, Robert sitting on their patent-pending TWOFLD furniture, 2022
From friends to business partners
For most people, spending the better part of six years joined at the hip in a succession of university degrees might be enough, but not for Alessandro, Henry and Rob. As the master’s degree wrapped up, their friendship was stronger than ever — and now, they were further intertwined by a shared professional vision.
“We knew that we could work together comfortably, and we knew the outcomes that we wanted. The visions that we had for architecture in the future were very similar and we each brought a very different skillset to the table,” says Henry.
In 2019, they established GSBN, a professional studio with a focus on adaptable architecture that caters to the human experience. The business draws on their shared skillsets and the ongoing fascination with interactive architecture that they developed during their time at UTS.
Henry (left), Alessandro (middle), Robert (right) on their first day of GSBN in their new office in Leichhardt, 2018
“The UTS setting, the subjects and the staff and the projects that we worked on were a foundation for today,” Alessandro says.
Over the last five years, GSBN has changed and morphed into a thriving creative enterprise with one eye on the future — an ethos that clearly reflects its founders’ UTS experience.
“The built environment is predominantly static. It doesn't have a vision to adapt or respond or react to the problems that we are going to face in the future,” says Henry.
“And I think one project at a time, we'd like to make each space that we design more adaptable, more human-centric.”
Robert, Henry, Alessandro on a team outing to the Powerhouse, 2022
Are you thinking about further study? Learn more about the postgraduate experience at UTS and explore our course options. Enquire about postgraduate study at UTS here.