[1] Born in Vancouver in 1970, Galvin, along with her parents and two younger brothers moved to the inner suburbs of Perth when she was 6 years old.
Her childhood home was an old timber-framed house built by her father, often with the help of young Galvin and occasionally their neighbours.
[2] After completion of high school Galvin commenced a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Western Australia in 1988.
Galvin learnt from a variety of different educators including Geoffrey London, Simon Anderson, Michael Markham, Charlie Mann, Peter Brew, Howard Raggatt and Ian McDougall.
Two key influential figures outlined above were Geoffrey London and Simon Anderson they "…created an environment of complete experimentation".
[3] Throughout her working career Galvin has been a dedicated contributor to an accreditation panel through the Australian Institute of Architecture, her role consisting of monitoring and accessing university courses.
She has been on the judging panel alongside Richard Hassell, Sean Godsell and Peter Corrigan for the inaugural ALVA student architecture competition at the University of Western Australia.
In 2009 Abbie gained further recognition in the Australian Architecture Institution after being involved in one of the largest projects undertaken by BVN.
This was the $1 billion redevelopment of Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital, and the redesign of the HMAS Creswell training college located in Jervis Bay.
[6] Another notable project Galvin was involved in was the research Institute for Photonic and Advanced Sensing (IPAS)[9] building at the University of Adelaide, otherwise known as 'The Braggs'.
In addition, Galvin has contributed in newspaper publications such as The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald.