ENID DE GRACIA, AIA
Founder
Early Years
Enid De Gracia was born and raised in San Francisco, CA to Panamanian immigrant parents. From an early age and much like her older brother, she had an interest in drawing and art. By the time Ms. De Gracia reached high school she decided she wanted to be an architect.
New York and Other Places
After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. De Gracia relocated to New York City to attend Columbia University where she completed a Master of Architecture degree. Ms. De Gracia had the opportunity to work abroad for a summer in Barcelona and later in Berlin.
Influences
Before starting her firm, Ms. De Gracia had an extensive background and career spanning 12 years at the firm of internationally renowned architect and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern. During her time there, she had the opportunity to work on a number of high profile projects, some of which included: The Century Residences in Los Angeles, California; the Abington House at the Highline in Manhattan, New York; the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas; the Smeal College of Business Administration at Pennsylvania State University; Northrup Hall at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas; and the Mark Twain House Museum and Visitor’s Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
A modernist at heart, Ms. De Gracia’s experience at Robert A.M. Stern influenced her perspective on the importance of contextualism, the city and its historical connotations.
Thoughts
Where a modernist approach is the norm in cities like Paris, London, Rome or Barcelona there is still a clear observance towards preserving and restoring historical structures and celebrating the juxtaposition of the old with the new. The rich cityscape of New York lends itself to this approach of inserting modern infrastructure while maintaining the strands of its historical identity.
Extracurricular
Ms. De Gracia has acted as visiting juror and critic of design, art and Architecture at a number of institutions among of which include The School of Interior Design at The Fashion Institute of Technology, The Parsons School of Design, The Rhode Island School of Design Architecture, The School of Art at Cooper Union, The Department of Architecture at Barnard College and The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University.
