Mary Anne McGirr<br /> HBO+EMTB

One of the profession’s younger female directors, Mary Anne McGirr commenced her career in urban design whilst studying architecture at Sydney University.

Undergraduate work with Keys Young quickly lead to a full time position where she worked on the public domain guidelines for the Australian Technology Park at Sydney’s Eveleigh rail yards and also the design of Paul Keating Park in Bankstown.

She then joined Conybeare Morrison where she specialised in urban design and planning for public transport corridors including the Liverpool to Parramatta Transitway and Sydney’s North West Tansitway. Last year, aged 35, after four years with the firm she became a director at HBO+EMTB where her work has included the route planning and urban design for 30km of the notorious stretch of the Pacific Highway between Woodburn and Ballina, preparing LEPs and DCPs for councils and designing new residential sub-divisions.

Why did you decide to become an urban designer?
I was good at maths, history, English and art and my English teacher suggested architecture would embrace these proficiencies... I’m glad I listened!

What is your most treasured possession?
My retro Danish teak dining table.

If you weren’t an urban designer, what would you be?
A demanding client.

Your favourite subject at high school?
Toss up between art and modern history.

What books do you have on your bedside table?
Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt – six degrees of separation in economic theory.

Determination, integrity and knowing when and how to negotiate.

Who would you most like to design something for?
The UN.

Favourite tool of the trade?
My clutch pencil and circle template – not to say that I can’t use a computer!

Your greatest extravagance?
See answer to Q.2 above.

Your greatest achievement?
Convincing a client to NOT put a road too close to a town even though the team wanted me to agree that it was okay.

Your thoughts on being a woman in the industry?
Thanks to those who have done the hard yards before me I’ve found gender to not be such an issue – of course the skill shortages are also helping!

Best architectural holiday destination?
India – for the extremes of architecture from the ancient to the modern – the Taj Mahal to Chandigarh.

An upcoming international architectural project that excites you is?
Dongtan in China, the first carbon neutral city by William McDonough and Arup.

What is the biggest challenge you face as an urban designer?
Convincing clients to invest for future generations rather than just today.

Best vista?
View to Sydney Harbour Bridge looking north on Pitt Street.

Worst blight?
Pastiche new houses which mimic older styles of building that are inappropriate for today’s lifestyle and environment.

If you could meet one person alive?
Jennifer Saunders or Dawn French, ideally both, together.

One artwork that inspires you is?
Jeffrey Smart’s Container Train in Landscape – beauty in an industrial object.

The greatest hero from the history of urban design?
The union workers who imposed the green bans and saved The Rocks, Woolloomooloo and parts of Glebe in Sydney.

The dastardly villain?
Local councils who delete parks from new sub divisions because they don’t have the budget for upkeep.

Perfect happiness is...
Sailing on Sydney Harbour with my husband.

Any advice for the young?
Back your judgement and don’t be afraid to speak your mind even if it may be unpopular.