A prize-winning Victorian architect responsible for major community housing projects has been charged with carrying out illegal building work on her own property, and allegedly assaulting a neighbour with a plastic pipe.
Karla Edith Martinez Calderon, professionally known as Karla Martinez, will face the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court in July after being charged by Nillumbik Shire Council over seven alleged building offences at her home in North Warrandyte.
Ms Martinez is a senior architect at a Melbourne firm where she leads flagship affordable and community housing projects.
She has previously won the Architects Registration Board of Victoria’s Association of Women in Architecture Award and was a member of the team which won the Australian Institute of Architects’ most prestigious prize, the Robin Boyd Award for Residential Buildings.
Ms Martinez has also been an associate lecturer and tutor of masters students at RMIT.
Professional records indicate she has been a registered architect since 2007.
Allegations centre on concrete wall
Council charge sheets accuse Ms Martinez of carrying out building work without a permit, failing to ensure a building permit was issued, failing to ensure work was carried out in accordance with the law and a building permit, and failing to display critical building information.
The main illegal building work charge relates to a concrete wall which is allegedly too high.
The council has charged Ms Martinez as a builder.
In Victoria, the Building Act allows architects to nominate themselves as a builder under specific circumstances.
Ms Martinez will also face the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court in June where she is accused of unlawfully assaulting a neighbour, who lives with an ABC contractor.
Court documents reveal that in December 2022, the neighbour was removing a disputed fence with a grinder when Ms Martinez allegedly confronted him.
“I continued with my work when suddenly and without warning I felt a sharp whack to my face, head and back,” the neighbour alleged in a witness statement.
“The force of this whack threw my glasses from my head, and tore skin from the bridge of my nose. Stunned, I stepped back from the fence and looked up to see Karla Martinez with a long agricultural drainage pipe in her hand standing over where I had just been crouched down and yelling obscenities to me,” he alleged.
The neighbour said that since the alleged attack he has felt unsafe at home.
“I am fearful that I will be assaulted again,” he said.
Ms Martinez has rejected this account, according to court documents her lawyers filed.
In her own court documents, lawyers for Ms Martinez are accusing the neighbour of property damage through the use of an excavator, and filming and harassing her.
The documents said she rushed outside and asked her neighbour to stop removing the fence.
“[Ms Martinez] made efforts to stop [the neighbour] from grinding the fence which were unsuccessful,” the documents said.
“It is in dispute that threats were made,” the documents said.
Architects regulator investigating
The charges have prompted the Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV) to investigate Ms Martinez.
The ABC contacted the board but it would not say whether its practice was to allow architects to continue working while they were being investigated.
“Investigations by the ARBV into the professional conduct or fitness to practise of architects can take between 3 to 12 months and potentially longer if the matter is complex,” chief executive Glenice Fox said.
Once the board completes its investigation it will decide whether there should be an inquiry conducted by the Architects Tribunal, which is another separate body.
The tribunal will then make any findings about professional conduct or fitness to practise.
The Victorian Architects code of Professional Conduct binds architects to act with reasonable care and comply with the law, as well as maintain standards and integrity in the profession.
In 2022-23, the Architects Registration Board of Victoria launched 26 professional conduct investigations and referred eight cases to the Architects Tribunal, which probes whether an individual is fit to practise.
The tribunal has the power to caution, reprimand and suspend or cancel registrations.
It has previously considered cases where architects were accused of failing to comply with planning permits.
The ABC has contacted Ms Martinez for a response.
