Personal Statement

Mara Marcu understands space as having an ineffable power over people due to an archaic 'built in' emotional intelligence.  Various projects, therefore, explore this psychological charge of architecture by looking into the symbolism and mythology of space, filtered through an interdisciplinary approach, situated at the intersection of industrial processes, architecture, engineering and optimizing complex geometries. 

Miss Mara Marcu has received her Bachelor of Architecture, with honors, from the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture in 2005 and her Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2009. In 2010 Mara also completed the International Master Class with Pritzker Prize winner, Mr. Glenn Murcutt in Sydney, Australia.

She has been awarded the Best in Show Design Award from the University of Houston upon graduation, which is the highest prize given by the school for design excellence. This recognition grants the participation to the Ghost Laboratory with architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, in Nova Scotia, Canada, which Mara completed in July 2005. She has worked in New York City for Rafael Vinoly Architects, BKSK, Ed Mills and Associates and in Houston for DesignLAB. Beginning with summer 2009 Miss Marcu became a registered LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional.

In addition to teaching research seminars and design studios at the University of Virginia, School of Architecture as the Virginia Teaching Fellow in Architecture, Mara Marcu has also taught at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and served as a visiting critic at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture in Bucharest, Romania.