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Dimity Reed
Born 1942 (age 82–83)
Parkes, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality Australian
Alma mater Melbourne Girls Grammar, Melbourne University, RMIT University
Occupation Architect
Practice Dimity Reed & Associates

Dimity Reed AM was born in 1942 in Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. She is a well-known architect, urban planner, and teacher. She has helped the government with advice and written for newspapers like The Sun and The Age.

Early Life and Inspiration

Dimity Reed was born in 1942 in Parkes, New South Wales. She was the middle child in her family. Her father worked at a local store before joining the war in New Guinea. When he came back in 1946, her family moved to South Melbourne, Victoria.

Dimity lived with her mother and older brother in a boarding house. Her grandmother ran this house for people who moved around a lot. During this time, many neighbors were losing their homes. Landlords were selling properties to developers. This experience deeply affected Dimity. It made her passionate about designing homes for people with low or no income.

School Days

Dimity went to school at Melbourne Girls Grammar School. After finishing high school, she started studying architecture at Melbourne University. She got married during her second year. By her fifth year, she was expecting her first child. This meant she had to pause her architecture studies.

Ten years later, after having three children, she went back to university. She completed her Masters of Architecture at RMIT University.

A Career in Architecture

After graduating, Dimity worked for architect Kevin Borland for a few years. But she always wanted to start her own business. Kevin Borland was very supportive. He even gave her a project to start her own company. For many years, she worked alone, mostly on home and office renovations.

In 1982, a government minister called Dimity. He asked her to become a housing commissioner. This was a big job to help improve housing. Dimity worked to get young architects like Peter Corrigan and Greg Burgess to design new homes. Many of these homes are still standing in Carlton today. She also looked at improving tall apartment buildings in areas like Broadmeadows. She wanted to make sure these buildings worked well for the people living in them.

Dimity has been part of many groups and planning committees. She helped start Women in Architecture. This group aimed to support female architects in a field mostly dominated by men. She reached out to all women who had studied architecture in Victoria. These meetings led to great partnerships between women architects.

As the group grew, some women decided to run for the board of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Four women made it onto the board. Dimity became the first female president of the Victorian Chapter of the RAIA. In this role, she encouraged younger architects to join the institute. She also promoted their new ideas about the city of Melbourne.

Later, Dimity worked on several important projects. She was a trustee for the Shrine of Remembrance. She helped choose ARM Architecture to design the new underground 'Galleries of Remembrance'.

Dimity also loved writing about architecture. She got her first writing job at The Sun newspaper. She wrote a weekly page about architecture in Melbourne. This also led her to write for The Age newspaper. She also helped publish several books.

Special Recognition

In 2023, the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects honored Dimity. They renamed their annual Melbourne Prize to the Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize. This was to recognize her important work in urban planning and architecture in Melbourne.

Key Projects and Contributions

Even though she had her own architecture business, Dimity mostly focused on urban planning. She advised many planning and government boards. She also shared her ideas about architecture in Melbourne's newspapers and books. She was also the head of design and a professor of urban design at RMIT.

In 2007, Dimity and a small team began to improve Dandenong City. The city was going through a tough time, which Dimity called an "Urban Depression." In 2006, the government promised $290 million to help Dandenong. Dimity said, "Renovating a vast city follows the same process as renovating a house; it’s just that the implications are far-reaching, the costs are of a different order and the time lines stretch into the future."

Dimity is now retired from architecture. But she is still very active on the HomeGround board. This group helps people find housing. She also runs her own film company, Mad Women Films, with her two sons who are filmmakers.

They recently released a series of films about Wagner's four Ring operas. These films explain how Wagner used music to tell his complex story. They show how each character and event has a special musical theme.

Awards and Honours

  • RAIA Bates Smart and McCutcheon Award for Architectural Journalism, 1988
  • RAIA President’s Award for Architects In Schools Program, 1988
  • RAIA President’s Award for an outstanding contribution to architecture, 1990
  • RAIA President’s Award, Curation of the Home Sweet Home Exhibition, LaTrobe Library, 1991
  • RAIA Life Fellowship, 1992
  • Honourable Mention, Southbank Housing Competition, 1993
  • RAIA Bates Smart and McCutcheon Award for Architectural Journalism, 1996
  • Victorian Government Honour Roll of Women, 2003
  • Member Order of Australia for her work in urban design, affordable housing, and sustainable housing, 2006

See also

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