Overview
Deakin alumnus Rajesh (Raj) Marfatia explains why he chose Deakin University.
Career overview and highlights
Career success has come very quickly for Rajesh Marfatia since he graduated from Deakin's Architecture program in 1998.
Raj founded the multi-award winning AMG Architects in 2000, an architectural design company specialising in commercial and residential retail projects.
AMG has offices in Melbourne and Geelong and has won a string of prestigious architectural awards, including the 2003 and 2004 Australian Timber Design Awards, and the 2003 Housing Industry Association (HIA) Best Custom Designed House and Luxury House of the Year (Western Region) awards.
The AMG website has also been recently recognised by HIA as the most popular architecture website in recent times. The achievements of his company have been immensely satisfying for him.
'Being committed to providing our clients with an entire service and ensuring the quality and long-term performance of the architectural product is extremely satisfying. But essentially, the challenge to achieve the 'perfect design' is the most fulfilling of all,' he said.
'I am also particularly pleased for our company to be recognised as having the most popular architecture website by the HIA.'
After initially enrolling in a computer science degree at Deakin, Raj decided to pursue his passion for architecture and sought out a university degree that offered a strong practical base.
Deakin University has a more environmentally conscious and practical approach to teaching architecture. Being a practical person, this was very appealing,' he said.
'I have come to feel very strongly about the architecture course at Deakin as I believe it is one of the best in the country,' he said.
'The course has a balance of good design theory and construction practice. This helped me enormously to develop recognition in the industry as an innovative and yet practical architect. I was also extremely fortunate to have studied under some very good educators such as Professor Nick Beattie, Alan Collier, Tom Paciaccoa and James Coulson.
Outside work, Raj is a keen angler and hopes to represent Australia in the World Fly Fishing Championships.
Raj has won many angling competitions and awards in recent years, including: Port Douglas 2007 Annual Fishing Competition: Day 1 and 2 Aggregate Points Champion, the 100 Point Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA) Master Award (the Master Award is the highest award honoured to members of ANSA); the 250 Point ANSA Master Award; the 2002 Lake Purrumbete Freshwater Fishing Competition (winner of the highest point scoring and overall Senior Angler Award); the 2002 Lake Purrumbete Freshwater Fishing Competition (winner of the highest point scoring and Senior Team Award); the 2003 Geelong Blue Water Sportsfishing Association (GBWSA) Fresh Water and Saltwater Grand Champion; and the 2003 GBWSA Fly Fishing Champion and Highest Point Scoring Species Champion.
Raj is currently researching and writing a book entitled Truth about fishing, is the secretary of the GBWSA and is a MENSA (Australian High IQ Society) inductee.
Raj is based at the Geelong AMG offices in Belmont. He hopes to pursue a career in academia further down the track.
'I have many aspirations, yet to impart my knowledge and experience to students at a tertiary level is an ultimate goal of mine,' he said.