The Gold Medal is the Australian Institute of Architects’ highest honour. It recognizes distinguished service by architects who have designed or executed buildings of high merit, produced work of great distinction resulting in the advancement of architecture, or endowed the profession of architecture in a distinguished manner.
At the 2023 National Architecture Awards, the Australian Institute of Architects made an unexpected Gold Medal announcement. The 2003 Gold Medal originally awarded to the late Peter Corrigan LFRAIA was amended to include Corrigan’s business and life partner – Maggie Edmond LFRAIA as the rightful joint recipients.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear the A.S. Hook Address of Maggie Edmond LFRAIA.
In the history of Australian architecture, there have been many partnerships of note, some of them personal as well as professional. One thinks, for example, of Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin, and of Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland in Canberra; of John and Phyllis Murphy, and of Peter and Dione McIntyre in Melbourne; of Bill and Ruth Lucas in Sydney; and of many others past, present and still to be documented. In 1975, one of these partnerships of “significant others” was formed by Maggie Edmond and Peter Corrigan. It was a partnership that would, over the next three decades, shift architectural thinking locally, nationally and even internationally – sometimes controversially.
It was Edmond and Corrigan’s series of buildings for the Catholic community at Keysborough in outer-suburban Melbourne that first made architectural headlines nationally. Their new church, parish centre, childcare centre and school used the everyday language, forms and materials of the suburbs, signalling an alternative to traditional notions of Catholic worship and educational buildings. The Keysborough Church of the Resurrection (1977) was the first building to be completed. It was a larrikin cry from the suburbs and a pivotal moment in the contemporary debate between the prevalent regional modernism and an emerging postmodernism.
... Over more than three decades, the office of Edmond and Corrigan was a key training ground for many young Melbourne architects. In my time alone, these included Geoff Barton, Michael Markham, Sean Godsell, Lindsay Davis, Antony DiMase, Adrian Page, Peter Malatt, Marc Dixon, Nigel Bertram, and a host of others who seemed to come and go over the years – as I did. Through all of this, Edmond was a reassuring counter to Corrigan’s mercurial disposition. It was never dull.
Peter Corrigan was awarded the 2003 Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal. The retrospective granting of this award to Maggie Edmond is utterly fitting. She has never sought the limelight or played to the crowd. Instead, she quietly appeared to assume a supporting role – but this was never the case. While Corrigan often took a lead design role, the pair always collaborated, and resoundingly so as each project rumbled its way to completion. From the very beginning of the firm’s life, its name made this clear. The inclusion of Edmond’s image on the front cover of the 2003 Gold Medal issue of Architecture Australia further served to underline this fact. Twenty years later, this is a moment for celebration. Brava, Maggie! Full tribute by Philip Goad
Be sure to register quickly to avoid missing out.
A.S. Hook Gold Medal Presentation
Date: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm
Location: Great Hall, National Gallery of Victoria (180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne)
Dress: Smart Casual