About Andrew and Mark

ANDREW MAYNARD

Andrew established Andrew Maynard Architects (now Austin Maynard Architects) in 2002 after winning the Asia Pacific Design Award's grand prize for his mobile work station, THE DESIGN POD. Andrew is Tasmanian and has a bachelor of Environmental Design and a bachelor of Architecture (with honours), both of which he received at the University of Tasmania. Andrew has won loads of awards. While still at uni he won an international design competition that sent him around the world. A short time later, he won the Asian Pacific Design Awards for his Design Pod. Again the prize was a trip around the world, plus other cool stuff. His prefab housing model has received awards and his built work has won numerous local and international accolades. His Zero Waste Table also received recognition at the United Nations World Environment Day Awards. He has received a high commendation twice at the World Architecture Festival and he is also a recipient of a swag of AIA awards including The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award, The Gene Willsford Award, The Canberra Medallion and The John and Phyllis Murphy Award (on 3 separate occasions). Andrew’s work has been shown throughout the world. His first big exhibition was at the YOUNG Guns exhibition in New York City in 2004 while his Styx Valley Protest Shelter was exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Andrew is regularly asked to lecture, which he loves. He has been a keynote speaker at the Malaysian Institute of Architects conference, the New Zealand Institute of Architects conference and the Anabata conference in Jakarta. He was also a speaker at a conference all about space/time. Other speakers were scientists, academics and philosophers. He wasn’t out of his depth, much.

Andrew has an ongoing love affair with all types of media. He is interested in the way that the ubiquitous nature of media influences culture. He has been interviewed and written about in various new media, on TV and in newspapers, magazines and books. He’s even been asked to host a couple of TV series, which is rather rad. In 2014 Andrew became a founding board member, and a director, of Nightingale Housing, a social enterprise creating ethical, social sustainable and cost effective housing, whilst also revolutionising the developer-dominated housing market. Andrew is left of centre and can’t keep his political views to himself. He’s keen to see a fair, equitable and generous world. He thinks that there should be an even distribution of wealth and that white middle class people like him should consider their responsibilities more than their rights. After all, the world has been designed in favour of people like him for too long. Andrew’s hero is Peter Singer, the bioethicist, and he attempts to follows Singer’s lead by giving away a healthy chunk of his income to people that could use it more than him. Andrew wrote an essay a couple of years ago about Work/Life balance. The essay explored exploitation within the architectural profession and why it happens. The response was huge, making it one of the most read articles of all time on Archdaily.

MARK AUSTIN

Mark Austin joined Andrew Maynard Architects in 2007 and became a director of the practice in 2009. In 2016 the name was changed to Austin Maynard Architects to officially recognise his contribution. Mark is regarded as the bedrock of AMA. It’s his diligence, acumen and professionalism that clients trust, respect and rely on. Though he’s been known to wear thongs to a building site, builders appreciate his hands on attitude, practical knowledge and problem solving abilities. 

Mark has a bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Tasmania and a Bachelor of Architecture from University of Melbourne, receiving a high distinction for Design. After finishing his studies he took a break from architecture and moved to London to pursue a rock 'n'roll career. As a member of 90’s indie band The Paradise Motel, he spent three years touring Europe and recording albums before the group disbanded and went their separate ways. Fortunately Mark had other skills and stayed in London, securing a job as Production Designer for the English National Opera. Based in Covent Garden, Mark was the link between the stage and the workshop. He had fun, but never did develop an appreciation for opera.

After the ENO, Mark focused on being an architect, working on various building types and project scales - from urban redevelopment in the West End to co-ordinating the upgrade of The Grosvenor Park Hotel on Park Lane. 

In 2004 he moved back to Melbourne and joined old-school master-architect Col Bandy, where he learned how things are built. In 2007 someone thought that Mark should meet Andrew, because they were both architects who were born in the same small town of Devonport, Tasmania. Oddly they weren’t related, but they did get on and soon after Mark joined Andrew Maynard Architects. Two years later he became a director and in 2016 the name was changed to Austin Maynard Architects to reflect his contribution. 

Though modest, and preferring the semi-shade (ever the keyboard player), Mark occasionally gives public lectures and media interviews. He also served as a jury member for the Victorian Institute Awards. 

Mark is passionate about mid-century design. He collects 20th century furniture and has trawled LA and Palm Springs to look at some of his favourite buildings. He hates it when great modernist houses are knocked down, or unsympathetically renovated, and is currently restoring his own 1960s home. Sometimes he still plays music.