Helen Tippett

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Helen Margaret Tippett OBE (née O’Donnell) was an architect and academic who worked in Australia and New Zealand. She was born on 23 March 1933 in Warragul, Victoria, Australia, and died on 11 February 2004 in Wellington, New Zealand.

Tippett was the first professor of architecture in Australasia and the first woman to be a dean at Victoria University of Wellington. In 1989, she became the first woman to serve as president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

She studied architecture at the University of Melbourne and earned a Bachelor of Architecture (Honours) in 1954, later completing a Master of Business Administration in 1974. She married George Tippett, a physician, and they had three children before they divorced. Tippett lived and worked in Alice Springs, London, and Beirut, and began her career in the studio of architect Robin Boyd. She ran a mobile architectural practice in Australia and even worked on projects in the Middle East during their time in Beirut.

Tippett began teaching in Melbourne in 1969, and in 1979 she moved to Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She served as dean of Architecture from 1980 to 1983, helping shape the school in its early years. She later co-founded The Architects Collaborative in Wellington. In 1989, she became the first woman president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

Her influence extended to New Zealand’s building industry, contributing to the country’s first official building code and the Building Act of 1991. She also helped establish the National Association of Women in Construction (New Zealand). Tippett received the New Zealand Institute of Building Medal in 1989 and was awarded a leadership award by the Master Builders Federation in 1990. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994 for services to architecture.

After her death, an archive of her work was transferred to Victoria University of Wellington. The National Association of Women in Construction (New Zealand) continues to award a prize in her name for contributions to women in the construction industry.