"An acerbic intellect combined with a great big heart" INDE awards jury
Recently named Architecture Studio of the Year by Dezeen, Austin Maynard Architects create resilient, highly sustainable, beautiful, robust and long lasting architecture. Architecture designed to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. Austin Maynard Architects are recipients of the prestigious Canberra Medallion. Past recipients of the Canberra Medallion have been The National Gallery of Australia, The Australian High Court, The National Portraiture Gallery, Parliament House and the Australian Academy of Science.
With projects all over Australia, and offices in both Melbourne and Hobart, Austin Maynard Architects have the skill, resources and tenacity to undertake a wide variety of complex projects. Happiness, fun, friends, family, ethics, sustainability and reward for effort, these are the pillars of Austin Maynard Architects. Widely renowned for their boundless creative energy Austin Maynard Architects' designs are at once well conceived, playful and edgy.
Since 2002, the Austin Maynard Architects team has built up an exciting and diverse portfolio. The practice is not inhibited by building type, but rather navigates residential, retail and commercial arenas and is rich in envelope-pushing conceptual designs. Austin Maynard Architects explore architecture of enthusiasm. Treating each project as a unique challenge, and working directly with clients and occupants, our team offer individual possibilities and thoughtful responses to people, brief and place. We embrace deliberative design and look to issues of liveability, culture, heritage, community connection, mental health and cures to modern isolation. We pride ourselves in sustainable design and experimentation. Ideas are concept rich, left of centre, playful and environmentally conscious; styles and singular themes are avoided. At Austin Maynard we specialise in ideas rather than building type, whether the project is a house in Fitzroy, a library in Japan, a protest shelter in Tasmania or a plywood bicycle.
Practice founder Andrew Maynard gained global notoriety for his polemic work (Styx Valley, CV08 robot) years before achieving international acclaim for residential projects Tower House and Mills, The Toy Management House. “Polemic is an attack on something, hopefully a critical one,” he says. “But it’s the idea of constantly agitating that safe space, keeping oneself honest by causing trouble and being playful.”
Andrew is a founding director and board member of Nightingale Housing, a social enterprise that exists to support, promote and advocate for high-quality housing that is ecologically, socially, financially sustainable.
Together with co-director Mark Austin and the team, Austin Maynard Architects continue to look beyond the brief and address the bigger picture. “As architects we seek to make ourselves relevant to the world, to make spaces that engage and are compelling beyond their function.”
At Austin Maynard Architects we ask users to be the authors of their spaces and their city. We work directly with occupants to ensure we understand their wants and needs. It is through this collaborative approach that the richness in our work emerges. We ask for open participation from clients and encourage them to draw, research, question and engage.
The Dezeen awards jury citation "There is a lot of interesting residential architecture coming out of Australia at the moment, and this practice is a leader in this field. The firm has developed an impressive and diverse portfolio of houses at different scales, all of which have a strong sense of identity. These are homes that people would really want to live in."
The Austin Maynard team
Andrew Maynard
BA Environmental Design
BA Architecture (Hons)
FRAIA (Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects)
Principal and Architect
Andrew Maynard is a Tasmanian now living and working in Fitzroy, Australia. Andrew Maynard Architects was established in 2002 after Andrew won the Asia Pacific Design Award's grand prize. In 2020 Andrew was named Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects for his significant contribution to the architecture profession.
Andrew was also a founding board member of Nightingale Housing - a non-for-profit organisation creating ethical, socially sustainable and cost effective housing, whilst also revolutionising the developer-dominated housing market.
Andrew is an innovative and inspiring architect whose work has been published globally and exhibited worldwide - from New York, Budapest and Osaka; to Milan, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
THE AGE newspaper says of Andrew: “His concepts include a man-eating robot, a bicycle made of plywood and - a structure made from human excrement. Images of the archetypal mad scientist spring to mind, but architect Andrew Maynard, like his designs, comes across as measured and eloquent.”
Ray Dinh
BA Architecture (First Class Hons.)
BA Architectural Science
Associate and Architect
Ray studied architecture at University College Dublin and Ecole Nationale Supérieure d' Architecture de Nantes, graduating in 2012 with First Class Honours. Ray’s final year thesis was featured in The Architect’s Journal and his dissertation on social housing was published in the Irish Archizine 2ha. Ray has since worked in Dublin and New York and is now based in Melbourne, completing his professional registration in Victoria in 2016.
Since joining Austin Maynard Architects Ray has worked on a number of projects including My-House, the mental health house, King Bill and the award-winning Dorman House. Ray is happiest when working on 1:5 details. He’s currently working on some “really good stuff” including a metal shingle house in Canberra, a timber cylinder house in St. Andrews Beach and a very nice roof in Port Melbourne.
Mark Austin
BA Environmental Design
BA Architecture
Director and Architect
Mark Austin is also a staunchly proud Tasmanian. He joined Andrew Maynard Architects in 2007 and become a director of the practice in 2009. In 2016 the name was changed to Austin Maynard Architects to officially recognise his contribution.
Mark has enjoyed a diverse career since graduating from the University of Tasmania in 1993 and Melbourne University in 1996. He spent six years working in London, as Production Designer for the English National Opera and for a number of commercial firms specialising in a variety of building types and project scales (from urban redevelopment in the West End to co-ordinating the redesign of a large Park Lane hotel).
Throughout his career Mark continues to show a incredible balance between design talent and rigorous, pragmatic, technical and organisation skills. Mark has a fine-eye for detail and is respected by clients, consultants and builders for his management and his diplomacy skills.
Mark's Instagram - mork_austin
Claire Ward
Master of Architecture (w High Distinction.)
BA Sc Environmental Design
Architect
Another West Australian, Claire graduated from the University of WA in 2015 with First Class Honours and moved to Melbourne in 2018 where she completed her professional registration. After a brief period in commercial architecture, she has spent her career in residential design and worked a number of award winning projects.
Before working at Austin Maynard Architects, Claire has spent the last two years remotely managing projects in Perth, whilst living in Melbourne, before it became mainstream. This enabled Claire to hone organisation and communication skills, whilst developing a nimble approach to changing working conditions. Claire has a rigorous and pragmatic approach to design and believes in the process of architecture as co-authoring spaces with those who use them.
You?
We are always looking for excellent new team members. If you are hardworking, smart and motivated then feel free to email us your CV and folio.
Sophie Whittakers
BA Construction Management (1st class Hons)
BA Interior Design
General Manager
With a unique background and skill set, Sophie brings years of design, development and construction experience to Austin Maynard Architects. Sophie has worked on a diverse range of projects locally and internationally. These include a bakery in Libya, an aircraft hangar in Malta, luxury hotels across Europe and heritage listed homes in London. But most recently (and the work she is most proud of) Sophie has been at the forefront of delivering ethical and sustainable multi-residential housing in Victoria.
Armed with the knowledge gained from such varied experience, Sophie has dedicated herself to seeking opportunities to work with ethical and environmentally conscious businesses who are aligned in the goal to deliver legacy driven projects. Rigorous, critical, pragmatic and diligent, Sophie is enabling Austin Maynard Architects to apply their extraordinary design skills to a wide range of building types and client groups.
Mark Stranan
BA Environmental Design
BA Architecture
Associate, Architect and furniture maker
Another of the team’s proud Tasmanians, Mark completed his studies at the University of Tasmania in 2005. With over a decade of multi-residential experience in Melbourne and Vancouver, he came to Austin Maynard Architects to escape from the profit-driven world of developer led projects and, as the project architect of Terrace House, he now uses his skills to create homes rather than commodities.
Mark has been integral to Austin Maynard’s adoption and development of the Nightingale housing model, and he continues to thrive in managing complex projects. His detail-orientated nature shines through in his work, which comes from a furniture making background. Woodworking is his main passion and outside office hours he can be found crafting beautiful things in his well equipped workshop.
Danielle Pozzebon
Masters of Architecture
BA Architecture
Graduate of Architecture
A passionate designer and key contributor to office culture, Danielle brings enthusiasm and energy to not only the practice, and team, but also the projects, as she supports the senior staff. With 4 years of industry experience, Danielle understands the complexities of architectural design and delivery.
As a SONA (Student Organised Network of Architecture) representative at Monash University, Danielle honed her leadership skills facilitate events and networking experiences. In conjunction with her significant academic achievements Danielle similar excelled in her endeavours outside of University winning first prize in the Victorian division for the SuperStudio Design Competition.
Kathryne Houchin
BA Sc Environmental Design
BA Architecture (Hons)
Senior Associate, Architect
Kathryne graduated from the University of WA and worked in Perth on a range of educational and commercial projects before making the move to Melbourne. She joined Austin Maynard Architects in 2014 and is now the Austin Maynard Practice Manager in a role which enables Andrew and Mark stay project and client focused.
Kathryne is a self proclaimed and self appointed documentation know-it-all and the queen of trying to make everyone in the office to do things the same way that she does. She is pretty obsessive about making sure that the details all of the drawings and documents are considered- both creatively and practically- to ensure high quality outcomes. Always the practical one, she is the team member most likely to ask all the boring questions like “can you actually walk on that floor?”
Bridget Brown
Masters of Architecture
BA Architectural Studies
Architect
A born and bred Melbournian, Bridget has over a decade of experience in architectural practice. Bridget completed her registration in 2016 and has worked both locally and internationally, enjoying a year in London, gaining experience through a number of diverse projects, before returning home to Melbourne.
While Bridget has worked on an extensively varied portfolio of projects, her true passion is single residential architecture. With a wealth of experience in delivering projects from conception through to completion, Bridget confidently contributes to bringing clients forever homes to life. She enjoys building collaborative working relationships with clients, builders and consultants.
Bridget has a passion for good urban design and the 20min city, especially in its application to her home city of Melbourne. She is enthusiastic about apartment living and lives and breathes this lifestyle.
Least likely to be wearing black in the office, Bridget's passion outside of architecture is travel, exploring cities and their architectural delights
Gina Morris
Comms.
