
Astra Zarina
Lessons on Continuity and Change
Laura Helena Wurth(Author)
Hatje Cantz Verlag
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 29. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-3-7757-6210-6 (ISBN)
Description
In the first volume of our new series She Was an Architect, journalist Laura Helena Wurth vividly recounts the fascinating life of American-Italian architect Astra Zarina: born in Riga in 1929, her life spans Seattle and Rome. In 1960, she became the first woman to win the American Academy's Rome Prize for Architecture. Although she had previously been involved in the planning of the modernist Märkisches Viertel district in Berlin, she subsequently moved to Rome and concentrated on training architects and preserving buildings. She began restoring old historic houses in Civita di Bagnoregio, an abandoned hill town north of Rome. In 1970, she launched the Washington University Rome Program, which enabled young students to study in Rome. Partially unpublished photographs from Zarina's estate and the Civita Institute Foundation provide insight into Astra Zarina's winning personality, which her former student Steven Holl also raves about in an interview. In a holistic approach that is highly relevant today, her main concern was to inspire young students with Italy's building culture and way of life: "If you want to be an architect, first you have to learn how to cook!"
Laura Helena Wurth (*1989, Berlin) is an author and critic. She writes regularly about contemporary art and architecture for FAS, NZZ, and KUNSTFORUM International. She also works as an editor for Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ostfildern
Germany
Product notice
Klappenbroschur
Illustrations
20 Fotos bzw. Rasterbilder
20
Dimensions
Height: 182 mm
Width: 111 mm
Weight
1 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-7757-6210-6 (9783775762106)
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Laura Helena Wurth (*1989, Berlin( is an author and critic. She writes regularly about contemporary art and architecture for FAS, NZZ, and KUNSTFORUM International. She also works as an editor for Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
Author
ISNI: 0000 0005 2868 259X
Designed by
Text by
ISNI: 0000 0005 2868 259X
Interviewee
ISNI: 0000 0001 2138 7863