Eve Mirjam Laron
Eve Mirjam Laron
(1931 - 2009)
Eve Mirjam Biro was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1931. With her middle class Jewish background she had difficulties coping with Nazism and later Communism. She escaped communist Hungary in 1949, on foot walking to Czechoslovakia and Austria, with her future husband George Laron. They were married in Austria in 1949, before migrating to Israel where they remained for 6 years. Here she did her first university studies in architecture but struggled with Hebrew. She worked in various architectural offices in Israel during this period.
In 1955 George and Eve migrated to Sydney. She learned English quicky from books though had difficulties with pronunciation. She joined the Women’s Electoral Lobby and was instrumental in starting an organisation for women in architecture and worked in a wide variety of architectural practices, designing, documenting and supervising a great number and type of buildings.
In 1965 Eve Laron became a Registered Architect and the next year an Associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. In 1973 she became a partner in Eric Towell and Partners, Architects. She was the Design Architect for luxury high-rise home units and town-house developments. In 1975 she became a Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
In 1979 he graduated with a degree in Anthropology from Macquarie University and was also awarded an “Excellence in Housing” award. The next year she established her own practice as Eve Laron Architect.
In 1983 she founded “Constructive Women”, the Association of Women Architects, Town Planners and Landscape Architects, and extended her practice as Eve Laron Associates, Architects. Her work included in the permanent collection of the Power Institute of Fine Arts and the Library of the University of Adelaide.
In 1990 she founded the Association of Solar and Environmental Architects and was featured in "Women in Architecture" by Clare Lorenz (Trefoil 1990), as one of the world's 50 leading female architects.
The next year she was the representative of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects on the NSW Pool Fence Legislation Review Committee, and joined the Advisory Committee on Environmental Policy for the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. For the later years of its existence Eve Laron Associates, Architects, specialised in individual houses and small scale residential developments with particular emphasis on solar and environmental design.
Laron regularly contributed articles to a wide range of newspapers and magazines and appeared frequently on radio and television programs. Eve and George had one son Michael. She died on 6 July 2009, aged 78.
Also see the biography of George Laron in this list.
To access an oral history interview with Eve Mirjam Laron please use this link:'
