Principal, Director BVN
Abbie Galvin
Abbie is currently a principal, director and shareholder of BVN, one of Australia’s largest and most highly acclaimed architectural practices.
Abbie has worked for over 25 years on public, educational, health, research and workplace projects that have been highly awarded, published and recognised internationally for bringing fresh approaches to common project types.
Among her portfolio of work are the Cancer Research Institute for the UniSA, the new Northern Beaches Hospital, Taronga Zoo Upper Entrance Precinct, the Braggs Research Institute for the University of Adelaide, Stockland’s Headquarters, the UTS Campus 2020 Masterplan, the HMAS Creswell Redevelopment in Jervis Bay, the National Life Sciences Hub at Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga and the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Abbie is a firm believer that building typologies benefit enormously from exposure to other sectors, that experts in their field always have something to learn from the amateurs and that the core of innovation comes from cross-disciplinary expertise.
Abbie is passionate about the public domain, and the ability of architecture and our built environment to positively affect human behaviour, the way people interact, and the manner in which institutions and organisations operate.
Abbie is well-regarded within her professional community. In addition to her role with the AIA and the Board of Architects, Abbie has been invited to speak at conferences, organisations and universities in both Australia and internationally, on design generally, health and research architecture, commercial buildings, public spaces and workplace.
Projects Abbie has led have been the recipients of more than 40 state, national and international architectural awards including the prestigious RAIA Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture for both the Cancer Research Institute for the UniSA and the Braggs Research Institute, the RAIA Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design Award for Taronga Park Upper Entrance Precinct, the RAIA Blackett Prize for Regional Architecture for the National Life Sciences Hub at Charles Sturt University and the RAIA William E Kemp Award for the University of Technology’s Science and Research Faculty.
Abbie is currently a member of the Inaugural Design Advisory Panel for the NSW Department of Planning and Government Architect’s Office and a member of the Design Advisory Panel for the World Heritage Listed Sydney Opera House. Most recently Abbie was a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects 2017 Architecture and Urban Design Awards, the National Jury for the Australian Institute of Architecture 2016 National Awards, and in 2014 chaired the NSW Institute of Architecture’s Awards Jury.
Abbie and projects she has led have been the subject of many professional and industry publications, the most recent of those being Chasing the Sky – 20 Stories from Women in Architecture, which “showcases 20 of Australia’s leading women in the profession” and in October 2019 it was announced that she had been appointed as the first female NSW Government Architect.
Qualifications
B.Arch (Hons), UWA
Membership
Fellow, Australian Institute of Architects (FRAIA)
Registration
Registered Architect, NSW (6501), ACT, Vic, SA
See Abbie speak at the The Business of Architecture and Design Conference 2019.