Vanessa Bird co-founded Bird de la Coeur Architects in 1996. The practice specializes in housing, ranging from medium-density housing, to social housing, retirement living and individual houses. Vanessa has a strong interest in local context and experimental housing models, producing major projects such as Atherton Gardens Social Housing, Roi and adaptive housing such as Wedmore House. She is a skilled negotiator, able to interpret the often disparate requirements of client groups, time frames and construction techniques to produce highly crafted outcomes on site.
As an extension of BdlC’s commitment to promoting the benefits of architecture, Vanessa holds advocacy positions with the Australian Institute of Architects. She is a nationally elected councillor and immediate past president of the Victorian Chapter and sits on the Honours Committee. She has represented the Institute on course accreditation panels for the University of Melbourne and Deakin University, the Reference Group for the Better Apartments Design Standards in Victoria and on the 2007 National Conference organizing committee. She was an RAIA Chapter Councillor from 2001 to2007 and was made a Fellow in 2008.
