WUSTL and GSAPP's Adina Bauman on a Better Climate Future, Mentorship, and Time Off
By Julia Gamolina
Adina Bauman is a recent graduate of Columbia GSAPP with a Masters in Architecture. She received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for abilities in leadership and professional merit. While at GSAPP she was the co-leader of GSAPPXX+, a student-run organization dedicated to elevating and celebrating those living as women in the field of design.
She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Washington University in St Louis. Between undergraduate and graduate school, Adina worked for two years at Kohn Pedersen Fox as an Architectural Designer. She loves French fries, a good political podcast, stand-up comedy, and has found herself to be a surprisingly adequate quarantine baker.
JG: Why did you decide to study architecture?
AB: I’ve always been fascinated by the way in which people interact with the spaces around them. I wanted to be able to play a part in the physical environment that would potentially improve someone’s daily life, even if just in a small way.
What was the favorite project you worked on in school? Favorite paper you wrote? Favorite extracurricular?
One of my favorite projects was one I just completed this past semester in the depths of the pandemic with my fabulous partner Luiza Furia. We studied domestic labor in the barriadas of Lima, Peru. The project addressed the lost economic value of domestic work by bringing it into the urban realm. We expanded upon Lima’s communal kitchens to include communal domestic work and education as a way to redistribute the labor burdening young girls and to tackle biases. It was rewarding to be able to weave my interest in gender roles with how architectural spaces might rectify these issues.
Section perspective collage of a new infrastructure to allow for a combined communal cooking, domestic work and education space in the barriadas of Lima, Peru. Work in collaboration with Luiza Furia, Studio Critic Anna Puigjaner Spring 2020.
Unrolled section showing a reimagined construction process that would give agency to the Pentacostal community in Newburgh, NY. This process would allow the community to reclaim the vacancy around their church that was due to urban renewal in the 1960s and 70s. Work in collaboration with Anna Creatura, Studio Critic Ziad Jamaleddine Spring 2019.
What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?
Through both my undergraduate and graduate studies I have been passionate about the intersection of gender and design. While at GSAPP I co-led GSAPPXX+, a student-run organization dedicated to elevating and celebrating those living as women in the field of design. In a profession that is so traditionally white-male dominated, I think it is important to create a space for the experiences of all womxn to be heard. One of the most rewarding events I was able to participate in was the Convergence at Harvard GSD; the event allowed me to broaden my perspectives, listen to many varied lived experiences, and connect with my peers.
When searching for internships and jobs, what are you looking for?
I find myself excited by firms working on civic, public, academic, and community projects. Within this framework, I hope to work somewhere that values building for a better climate future and that also is cognizant of the impact of their projects on the community. But at the end of the day I think the people you work with are an incredibly important part of the job. I want to be able to feel inspired by my colleagues and also be able to laugh over lunch together.
Adina with her WUSTL undergraduate classmates Alexandra Mei and Shira Grosman at the Harvard GSD Convergence, November 2018.
What’s important to you? What inspires you?
Our profession is a huge contributor to carbon emissions with concrete making up about 8 percent of global emissions. It is important to me to think about how architecture can adapt to limit the burdens of climate change. I’m inspired to think of ways to apply architecture to create solutions to this and other issues without always resulting in a ground up building.
What do you hope to do in your career?
One of the positives of the current chaotic moment we live in is that it has forced me to pause and consider where I want to head in my career. I hope to be a part of projects that contribute to our world in a productive way and to create positive and welcoming spaces. I also hope to ascend to leadership roles whether within a firm or by creating my own. I look forward to opportunities to act as a mentor, as my mentors have been so important to my career growth.
Model and rendering of a housing complex designed to allow for varied scales of public space. Work in collaboration with Karen Choi, Studio Critic Adam Frampton Fall 2018.
Diagram created using the NYC 2017 Waste Characterization Study to understand the potential for waste reuse in the building process, Studio Critic David Benjamin Fall 2019.
Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.
It is hard to pin point just one woman who I have looked up to. I’ve been fortunate enough to have so many inspiring female professors, mentors, co-workers, bosses and peers. What I have found that all of these women have in common is the ability to self-advocate, to create an environment where those around them have the ability to succeed, and have personal goals outside of their work. It is these traits that I so deeply admire and hope to carry with me throughout my career.
What advice would you give to those in high school now, choosing their field of study?
One of the best decisions I have made in my architecture career is taking time between undergrad and grad school. Architecture is something I have been drawn to for so long (before high school!), so I didn’t often have the time to sit and ask myself what it was about architecture that I was excited about. Writing my statements for graduate school put into perspective what I wanted to gain from the experience. Taking time off not only helped tremendously with refocusing and warding off burnout, but it also gave me time to learn from a job. When I went back to school, I was so much more aware of how valuable the experience was and I constantly challenged myself to take risks because I knew school would be a safe space to do so, something I don’t think I would’ve understood without working beforehand.