Get to know architect Maggie Edmond of Edmond and Corrigan

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Nov 16, 2017

Get to know architect Maggie Edmond of Edmond and Corrigan

Architect Maggie Edmond told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS that good architecture can "enrich the human condition".

Image: John Gollings.

Architect Maggie Edmond.
Image: Melbourne Fresh Daily.

Fairfield Amphitheatre on the banks of the Yarra River.

Maggie Edmond formed the architectural practice, Edmond and Corrigan, with her late husband, Peter Corrigan, in the 1970s.

Edmond told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS she is interested in the concept of shifting indoor-outdoor living spaces to the front of the home, to foster "closer relationship between family and community". Good architecture can "enrich the human condition", she said.

Her favourite project is Fairfield Amphitheatre, an outdoor performance space on the Yarra River, built from recycled bluestone pitchers, hand laid by out-of-work labourers, and based on the stone amphitheatre at Epidaurus in Greece, tiering out to blend into the contours of the riverbank.

What do you enjoy most about your profession?

Architecture is about people. I enjoy making a contribution to people’s lives. Being an architect requires not only a skill in understanding clients and communicating ideas, but also in translating their aspirations through design into buildings or spaces that enrich the human condition.

Have you influenced architecture?

Many words have been written about the influence of the buildings designed by Edmond & Corrigan and of my late partner’s design studios at the RMIT University School of Architecture. I would hope that the influence goes beyond this, to a way of working in architecture with passion and of upholding the integrity of the profession.

What trend, in your opinion, has outlasted 'fashions' and remains perennially popular?

The engagement of the living functions of the house with the space around it via large glazed fenestration and the various permutations that abound with indoor-outdoor living. What I find most interesting is the possibility of this paradigm occurring at the front of a dwelling rather than in the more private space at the rear, enabling a closer relationship between family and community.

What has been your toughest or most interesting brief?

My parents owned a Robin Boyd house located directly opposite Port Phillip Bay. It was the only house in the immediate neighbourhood on Beach Road that did not have a view of the water. As a fledgling graduate architect I was asked by them to design an upper floor extension above the carport to achieve this view. At the time I was ambitious and anxious to carry out my first commission.

Did you take on the project?

I did. But the drawings went into the waste paper basket as I came to realise that the integrity of the original design was paramount and the house should stay as Boyd designed it. To this day it remains in its original condition and is still the lowest house facing the Bay.

What advice would you give to new property investors wishing to build or renovate?

Seek the assistance of an architect to help with queries related to the many hurdles that property investment throws up, such as the suitability of the site, permit approvals, and building conditions.

What advice would you give to a new graduate of architecture?

Always keep your head up and absorb the world and culture around you. Have a sketch book on hand and never stop drawing your ideas and other buildings. Keep learning and maintain an involvement in the community around you.

What is your favourite project?

The Fairfield Amphitheatre, an outdoor performance space in a bend of the Yarra River near the Fairfield boathouse. I designed this project in the 1980s. It was constructed entirely of recycled bluestone pitchers, hand laid by out-of-work labourers working within a government employment scheme. The layout was based on the stone amphitheatre at Epidaurus in Greece, but unlike the sharp cut off ends of the Greek model, the ends of the tiered seating flowed into landscaped planting beds, sinuously blending in with the contours of the river bank.

Where do you live now, and where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?

I currently live in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsular and travel weekly to work in Little La Trobe Street in Melbourne, our architectural office and design studio for over 40 years.

If I could live anywhere in the world it would be Bellagio in northern Italy, on the shore of Lake Como. It too is at the end of a peninsula, but its sense of place is unparalleled. It is both a cultural icon and a village and is surrounded by the sound of silence on the water.