Apex Circuit Design

Martin Baerschmidt joins Apex Circuit Design

Martin Baerschmidt was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia, and is a Registered Architect in the State of Victoria. Having grown up very close to Melbourne’s Sandown Park, and with nearby circuits such as Phillip Island and Albert Park, it was natural for Martin to have a passion for motorsports, mainly following Touring Cars from the early 1970s at the Sandown 500. The Bathurst 1000 and later Formula 1, with Alan Jones winning the World Championship in 1980, were fond childhood memories.

After qualifying as a registered architect he spent 4 years with Bouygues Construction in Singapore on the Millennia project which comprised of a 41 storey and a 34 storey Office Tower, an extensive high-end Retail Mall as well as the prestigious Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

At the age of 29 he moved to Dubai and has worked there for the past 13 years. On arrival he took an active role with the Porsche Club UAE and since the completion of the Dubai Autodrome, and more recently Yas Marina Circuit, he has run over 25 track events with each day having 50 or more enthusiastic Porsche Club participants in attendance.

Martin has led a number of major design and construction projects in the Middle East with leading international consulting firms, for example as Design Manager for the iconic and highly regarded Emirates Towers, as Project Manager for the 43 storey Shangri-La Hotel and as Senior Project Manager for the Novotel and Ibis hotels at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

His passion for Formula 1, MotoGP and motorsports in general allied to his major project experience and leadership qualities led to Martin then being selected by HOK (one of the largest Architectural practices in the world) to lead the international team as Design Manager for the Dubai Autodrome and Business Park project. With a site of almost 300 Hectares, and an aggressive 14 month design and construction program for Phase 1, this was to be his first collaboration with Clive Bowen who was the Circuit Designer.

At the completion of the Dubai Autodrome project, Martin then went on to become HOK’s Master Architect for the 48 Hectare and 2.5 million square metre Dubai International Financial Centre, another landmark project in Dubai.

Recruited to RMJM as an Associate and then promoted to Director, Martin was responsible for staffing, recruitment and numerous design projects including The Jewels, Silverene, The Lagoons, and the ADNEC Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and Masterplan.

Martin is currently completing for Bouygues Turkmenistan the Ministry of Construction project in Ashgabat, a 14 storey tower for the Government of Turkmenistan.

For 2010 and beyond, Martin is contracted to Apex Circuit Design as Consultant Designer and will be working with their consortium including Ridge, Scott Wilson, KPMG and the Sustainable Hospitality Group on FIA Institute Facilities Improvement Programme projects in Asia and Australia.

Martin is an FIA National Licence holder, and has competed in the UAE Touring Car Championship in a VW Golf GTi and, for 2010, in a Renaultsport Clio Cup car.