Episode 39: Astra Zarina
Astra Zarina was born on August 25, 1929, in Riga, Latvia. Her family fled Latvia when Germany invaded in 1941 and rode out the war in Austria. After the war, her family was granted political asylum to the US and in 1949 they moved to Seattle where Astra began studying architecture at the University of Washington. She graduated with her B. Arch in 1953 and got a job working for architect Paul Hayden Kirk. She received a scholarship from MIT and moved to Boston in 1954. A year later she graduated top of her class and moved to Detroit where she worked at Minoru Yamasaki’s office as a project designer. In 1960, Astra was the first woman to win the Rome Prize in Architecture. She extended her study in Rome when she got a Fulbright Fellowship. In 1965 and 1968, Astra became a visiting lecturer at the University of Washington’s Department of Architecture. Astra convinced the chairman that she could teach better in Rome so she took six students for one semester abroad. It was such a success that the program was continued and still exists today. In the 1960s, Astra was visiting the town of Civitá di Bagnoregio which was a small town on a hill that was only accessible by a pedestrian bridge. She got caught in the town by bad weather and a family let her stay at their house during the storm. They offered to sell her their house and she bought it on the spot. She restored the house and worked on other restoration and modernization projects in the town. In 1976, she began a second study abroad program in Civitá called the UW Hilltowns Program. Astra also published a book called I Tetti di Roma in 1976 with photographer Balthazar Korab. Astra found, helped broker the lease for, and renovated the building called Palazzo Pio in the center of Rome for the UW Rome Program’s new home. Astra and her husband Tony co-founded the Civitá Institute, a non-profit, based in Seattle, that promotes excellence in design through educational programs and cultural exchanges between the US and Italy. Astra and Tony moved to Civitá full time in 2001 and she taught her last class in 2003. Astra passed away on August 31, 2008, at 79 years old.
Civitá Institute: https://www.civitainstitute.org/
CPDI Africa Global Studio: http://www.cpdiafrica.org/courses?active=yes
Caryatid: Nmadili Okwumabua
Nmadili attended the University of Tennessee and Georgia State University to receive undergraduate degrees in architecture and urban studies. She then went on to get a master’s in African Studies from Clark Atlanta University focusing on the evolution of modern vernacular architecture in Nigeria. In 2013, she founded CPDI Africa or Community Planning and Design Initiative Africa. This organization is a research-based, culture-inspired initiative created to develop this new architectural language for Africa through design competitions and their global studio. Nmadili serves as the director of the African Global Studio program which is an African-centered academic platform for architects and designers which teaches philosophies not found in traditional architecture education. It is a virtual platform and architects and students from all over the world can take classes from leading professors and architects who are known for teaching African centered architecture.
References
Cipalla, Rita. “Zarina, Astra (1929–2008).” HistoryLink, 30 Mar. 2020, www.historylink.org/File/20991.
“CPDI Africa Global Studio.” CPDI Africa, www.cpdiafrica.org/courses?active=yes. Accessed 23 Sept. 2021.
Gamolina, Julia. “A Story No Longer Untold: Astra Zarina’s Influence on Modern Architecture.” Metropolis, 11 Oct. 2021, metropolismag.com/viewpoints/rome-teacher-astra-zarina-exhibition.
“Nmadili Okwumabua – The Community Planning & Design Initiative Africa.” CPDI Africa, cpdiafrica.com/speaker/nmadili-okwumabua. Accessed 23 Sept. 2021.
“Nmadili Okwumabua: ‘Africa Defines Architecture: The Quest for Defining New African Inspired Design Languages.’” University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture, 15 Mar. 2021, arch.illinois.edu/about-us/events/nmadili-okwumabua.
Sudermann, Hannelore. “Under the Spell of Astra.” University of Washington Magazine, Sept. 2020, magazine.washington.edu/feature/astra-zarina-visionary-uw-architecture-professor.
