Ann Marie Baranowski, FAIA, LEED AP
Ann Marie Baranowski’s roles as architect, planner, client, advocate and teacher give her an understanding of design excellence, its value for cities and practical effects on the lifecycle of buildings. She investigates how personal experience, public life and culture intersect, energizing the spaces we make and inhabit. This framework allows her to examine the ways meaning and form bridge and enhance program requirements, technological advancements and physical detail. Ann Marie’s work includes planning, design, management and coordination of complex building projects and programs.
Her experience includes re-joining Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCPA) in 2014. As an Associate Principal, she contributes to the firm’s New York office senior management and continues forging experiential observation with the collaborative process through her design team leadership. Currently, Ann Marie directs the design team for 200 Liberty Street – part of the Brookfield Place Reconfiguration. This project repositions the tower’s two public levels through redesigning a double-height lobby and select exterior curtain wall elements. These components will shape a new public experience of the building. At PCPA’s New Haven office, she participated in the winning competition for the World Financial Center. Her involvement in the artist selection project for the Waterfront Plaza sparked the beginning of a career-long passion for art and design in the public realm.
Prior to returning to PCPA, Ann Marie founded the architecture practice AMBA PLLC. As Principal of her firm and consultant to the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority, she coordinated and managed award-winning public art installations in Lower Manhattan, including: See it split, see it change by Mike and Doug Starn at the South Ferry Terminal and, Jamie Carpenter’s Sky Reflector-Net for the Fulton Street Transit Center. These projects set a national example for enriching urban life after the events of September 11.
From a client’s perspective as the in-house architect for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Ann Marie directed projects and consultants from strategic planning through construction drawings for the Museum’s Masterplan, including the $32M Eastern Parkway Entrance, renewing the Museum’s identity.
As an Associate at Prentice & Chan, Ohlhausen, Ms. Baranowski’s quest to influence making of successful public places led her to research, write, and coordinate the approvals process for the MTA NYC Transit Station Planning and Design Guidelines. These Guidelines still shape NYC’s subway system.
Informing her built work, Ann Marie regularly participates in design juries and has taught at Yale University and Rhode Island School of Design. For the AIA NY Chapter, she co-chaired the Chapter’s Cultural Facilities Committee, leading volunteers in advocating for culture as an essential investment in our buildings and cities. In 2008, she received the Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence for the committee’s work in leadership and expanded programs. In 2017, Ann Marie was honored to become a member of the College of Fellows within the American Institute of Architects.
Strengthening Your Commitment
May 6, 2021
Working in architecture presents challenges, particularly for women. Practitioners are asked to balance many aspects of their personal lives while remaining committed to a demanding career. Ann Marie’s roles as an architect, planner, client, advocate and teacher give her a singular perspective on grounding the long arc necessary to achieve our career goals. From her experience, she has learned that a focus on developing the skills of collaboration and advocacy amplify our work as fulfilled and successful architects.