Finding Inspiration in New York City

We’re collecting stories from freelancers around the country and sharing them with other members. Share your story and we might feature it on our site. Ann Marie Baranowski from New York, NY recently shared hers:

Architecture is both deeply material and highly spiritual. I am continually investigating ways in which personal experience and public life intersect to energize the spaces we inhabit. For me, at the core of discovering the social, physical and conceptual foundations of every project is the potential for social benefit. Within this framework, I often explore the interaction of architecture and art to create spatial form and art united in a singular experience. Working on See it split, see it change at the South Ferry Terminal with the artists Mike and Doug Starn gave me the opportunity to bring these ideas into practical focus. Completed in March 2009, this MTA Arts for Transit commissioned installation won the Municipal Art Society's Brendan Gill Prize.

An ardent New Yorker, the city grounds me in its vibrant, dynamic culture. It inspires my teaching, drawing, painting, poetry, music and volunteer service in the architecture/arts communities. I mentor and have taught at Yale University's School of Architecture and the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2008, as the co-chair for the American Institute of Architects NY Chapter Cultural Facilities Committee, I received the Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence for the Committee's work in leadership and expanded programs. I am an active member of Art Table and Americans for the Arts and a founder of the non-profit cultureNOW.

My design education began at Boston University where I studied the visual arts and social sciences. Harvard Graduate School of Design's Career Discovery program influenced me to combine art and social concerns in physical structures. I received my Bachelor of Architecture, (minor: classical archeology) from Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning. My firm AMBA was founded in June 2001. Website: www.amb-a.com