Episode 24: Catherine Bauer
Catherine Bauer was born on May 11, 1905, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her mom, Alberta was a self-educated suffragist. Her dad Jacob was New Jersey’s Chief Highway Engineer. In 1922 Catherine went to Vassar College as an art history and literature major. During her junior year, she did an independent study on architecture at Cornell University, then in 1926, she graduated from Vassar. After graduation, Catherine went to Paris, where she made connections with famous artists and publishers. She learned about french culture, modern architecture, public housing, and city planning and wrote about all of it in different journals. By 1927 she was back in New York and collaborating with Lewis Mumford with who she continued expanding her research and work on public housing and urban design. Fast Forward to 1934, Catherine published Modern Housing, where she wrote about social housing and lessons learned from Europe to apply in the US. The message was not only about housing, it was about building whole communities, schools, shops, parks… It wasn’t just meant to be a book about research and theories. It was a proposal for basic changes in American Housing. It was a form of activism. Three years later she was the primary author of the Housing Act of 1937. She was a consultant and adviser to local, state, and national housing and planning agencies during the 1930s to 1960s. She advised 5 presidents on housing and urban planning strategies, like woah. Catherine was still teaching, writing, lobbying, advocating, shaking, baking, when one day, sadly, she fell during a solo hike on Mount Tamalpais, California, and passed away on November 21, 1964, she was just 59 years old.
Caryatid: Claudia Amico Tudela
Claudia Amico Tudela is a Peruvian architect and urbanist. She received her bachelors and masters of architecture from the University of Sheffield and a Masters in Urbanism and Environmental Processes from EAFIT University in Colombia. She’s worked in Paris, Senegal, Colombia and Peru constantly advocating for the quality and improved nature of public spaces. She is the host of a program on Peruvian TV called Umbrales where she discusses topics of public spaces and social design. She also teaches at universities in Peru, runs symposiums and workshops all invested in affordable housing, democratic public spaces, and resilient cities in regards to climate change. “We need to be more political, work with municipalities, debate in the public sector. We need to have a great sensibility towards injustice and necessity and we need to feel a vocation to do something about it, no matter how small it is. We need to assume challenges, face them with confidence and empower ourselves with humility learning the value of the small actions and daily things.” C. Amico Tudela
References
Bayona, Delia. “Destacadas arquitectas, urbanistas e historiadoras reflexionan sobre el futuro de la arquitectura en el Perú.” ArchDaily Perú, 11 July 2019, www.archdaily.pe/pe/890416/destacadas-arquitectas-urbanistas-e-historiadoras-reflexionan-sobre-el-futuro-de-la-arquitectura-en-el-peru.
“Catherine Bauer Wurster - Vassar College Encyclopedia - Vassar College.” Vassar Encyclopedia, Vassar Encyclopedia, vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/Catherine%20Bauer%20Wurster.html. Accessed 22 Feb. 2021.
Gonzales, Juan Carlos, and Maquetas Aparte. “Claudia Amico: ‘Los arquitectos nos tenemos que meter en política.’” Lamula.pe, 3 Aug. 2015, maquetasaparte.lamula.pe/2015/08/03/claudia-amico-los-arquitectos-nos-tenemos-que-meter-en-politica/juankgonzales.
Natividad, Ivan. “Catherine Bauer Wurster’s Legacy to Live on in Renaming of UC Berkeley Building.” Berkeley News, 15 Dec. 2020, news.berkeley.edu/2020/12/09/catherine-bauer-wursters-legacy-to-live-on-in-renaming-of-uc-berkeley-building.
Penner, Barbara. “The (Still) Dreary Deadlock of Public Housing.” Places Journal, 30 Oct. 2018, placesjournal.org/article/catherine-bauer-and-the-need-for-public-housing/?cn-reloaded=1.
“Prof Barbara Penner - Housing Is More than Houses: Catherine Bauer and Modern Housing.” YouTube, uploaded by UCL European Institute, 25 Sept. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZIbicr-uyY.
“The City (1939 Documentary).” YouTube, uploaded by American Planning Association, 30 Oct. 2012,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nuvcpnysjU.
Wikipedia contributors. “Catherine Bauer Wurster.” Wikipedia, 23 Jan. 2021, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Bauer_Wurster.
“Wurster, William and Catherine Bauer | CED Archives.” UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives, UC Berkeley Environmental Design, archives.ced.berkeley.edu/collections/wurster-william-and-catherine-bauer. Accessed 13 Jan. 2021.
Images
Barbara Penner, “The (Still) Dreary Deadlock of Public Housing,” Places Journal, October 2018. Accessed 12 Apr 2021. https://doi.org/10.22269/181030
Natividad, Ivan. “Exterior view looking east of Wurster Hall, now being renamed Bauer Wurster Hall.” Catherine Bauer Wurster’s Legacy to Live on in Renaming of UC Berkeley Building. Berkeley News, 15 Dec. 2020, https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/12/09/catherine-bauer-wursters-legacy-to-live-on-in-renaming-of-uc-berkeley-building/
