Episode 104: Ada Gomperz
The time, December 11, 1884. The place, Vienna, Austria; Adele aka Ada, Stepnitz was born. Her parents were factory dispatcher Hanns Stepnitz and Paula Schauerle. In 1917 she married the philosopher Heinrich Gomperz. A decade later she entered the Kunstgewerbeschule or Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. Today the school is known as the University of Applied Arts Vienna. There she had the opportunity to be the student of Oswald Haerdtl, Oskar Strnad , and Carl Witzmann. She graduated from the Vienna School of Applied Arts in 1932. That same year she was working with her professor Oskar Strnad and together they entered “The Growing House” competition. Ada and Oskar also collaborated in the design of the Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna or Vienna Craftwork Association Housing Estate. It's a housing complex made up of 70 houses in Vienna's 13th district. The project was opened in 1932 and was marketed as a model for ‘the modern way of living. To this day this project is recognized among the most important examples of Modernism in Austria. While working at Erich's office she was put in charge of furnishing house no. 5 by Hugo Häring; and designing the kitchen of house no. 33 by Julius Jirasek.
Ada and her husband did not agree with the political direction their country was taking and they emigrated to the United States in 1938. In the USA Ada made connections. She kept working in interior designs, kitchens, and furniture. She collaborated with the firm owned by Anita Toor and when Liane Zimbler came to the United States, in 1938, escaping Austria, Ada was able to connect Liane with Anita and Ada and Liane became a duo themselves. Often working together on projects. For the rest of her career Ada kept designing interiors in hospitality projects. in restaurants, hotels, and retirement homes. She passed away in 1954, she was 69 years old.
Caryatid: Katie Donahue
Katie Donahue, is an award winning registered architect in the United States, working on projects at various scales. She is the Co-Director of K-Works Studio, which she runs with past caryatid Katharina Horath! As a firm K-Works Studio focuses on residential design, architectural installations and sustainability. As paraphrased from their website, Katie is particularly interested in exploring how design solutions address issues of culture, environment and neighborhoods and the ways place-making affects the vitality of cities.
She is also a consultant at Handel Architects in New York and Denver. And most importantly for today's episode, Katie is the business partner of the Caryatid for Liane Zimbler's episode, and as we've mentioned Liane was a business partner of Ada's so this felt like a good fit. Katie's got degrees on degrees. Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and architecture degrees from Cornell University and University of Colorado. She's also professor, teaching design, representation, drawing and rendering at the University of Colorado-Denver and Parsons School of Design.
-
This transcript was prepared during the development of the episode.
Final recorded episode may deviate slightly from the content presented below as changes, edits, or improvements may be made during the recording and editing process.
Norgerie: Hi! Welcome to She Builds Podcast, where we share stories about women in the design and construction field, one lady at a time.
Jessica: This season’s theme is: “Pairs, Duos” . We are talking about ladies who were a part of a professional pair in some fashion.
Lizi: As always, we are not experts, we are just sharing stories about the information that we find, as friends having a fun conversation. If you find an error, send us an email and we will all continue learning.
Norgerie: Today we're talking about Ada Gomperz, the interior designer with a focus on kitchen design and collaborator of many architects. I’m Norgerie Rivas, really into Blue Eye Samurai, in Houston Texas
Jessica: Hi, I’m Jessica Rogers watching reruns of Sex in the City in Miami, FL
Lizi: Hi, I’m Lizi Raar, and I've been watching Welcome to Wrexham in San Francisco.
Norgerie: Ok info on Ada, at least in English, and readily available on the internet was pretty scarce. But I really wanted to share her story this season since we spoke previously of her fellow often collaborator Liane Zimbler.
Lizi: Oh fun! I love when the ladies are connected. Excited to learn more about Ada.
Jessica:Yes love seeing the connections
Norgerie: Also before we start I want to let listener's know that today's story has a tragic death near the ending, so I want to give you a trigger warning now. Also when it's about to occur I'll let you know so you can decide if you'd like to fast forward a minute.
Lizi: Good to have a heads up.
Jessica: Oh snap now I’m intrigued but also a little nervous
Norgerie: Here we go. The time, December 11, 1884. The place, Vienna, Austria; Adele aka Ada, Stepnitz was born. Her parents were factory dispatcher Hanns Stepnitz and Paula Schauerle. Do you guys know what a factory dispatcher is or does?
Lizi: No idea.
Jessica: like an announcer or maybe like a PM of sorts?
Norgerie: I had no idea so I looked it up. According to the world wide web, factory dispatchers deal with inventory stock, arrange transportation and order shipments.
Lizi: ohhh kind of sounds like the factory superintendent.
Jessica: Ahhh I see
Norgerie: A few sources mention she started out in the field working for 15 years in a commercial company specializing in hospitality architecture and she was involved in the area of planning logistical processes.
Lizi: That’s a long but vague job description haha.
Jessica: hahahaha
Norgerie: Now to me, saying she worked in a commercial company specializing in hospitality architecture and she was involved in the area of planning logistical processes, is a lot of words that still keep this info pretty vague. I was like, ok what does that mean? Was it an architecture firm or a manufacturer of something? Was she on the planning side as in drawing layouts? Or was she in procurement? What exactly was she up to those 15 years? I'm sorry I don't have an answer for y'all. Right now but maybe as the story continues we can tie a few dots.Lizi: oh sad. But yes I have all the same questions.
Jessica: bummer - I had similar questions at first it sounded to me like procurement maybe but it could honestly be any of those things.
Norgerie: Honestly after her birth I know nothing else for certain for the first 30 years of her life. So feel free to make up your own stories of Ada growing up and working in a vague place with a vague description in Austria until 1917 when she married the philosopher Heinrich Gomperz. How did they even meet? Who knows…Lizi: hahaha she’s a mystery!
Jessica: they met in Austria … and that’s all we got/ what we can assume because Heinrich was from Austria.
Norgerie: She started studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule or Vienna School of Arts and Crafts in 1928. Today the school is known as the University of Applied Arts Vienna. It was started in 1863 as a place of advanced education for designers and craftsmen. It was the first school of its kind in Europe. Famous alumni include the one and only Gustav Klimt,Lizi: ooooooo Klimt! That’s a cool classmate to have. Also this school sounds really cool.
Jessica: yeahhhh we might have had some other ladies - Liane Zimbler ep. 101 went there
Norgerie: There she had the opportunity to be the student of Oswald Haerdtl, Oskar Strnad , and Carl Witzmann.Lizi: Oswald Haerdtl was an Austrian architect who worked on the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Jessica: ooh okay - Oskar Strnad, was an Austrian Architect, Sculptor, Designer and Set designer he worked on alot of theaters in Vienna - but he is most known for being in the duo to started the Vienna School of Architecture
Norgerie: And Carl Witzmann was an Austrian architect , interior, industrial, and stage designer. It was a big deal for her to learn from all three of these guys. They were a major influence in the work she did in her career.
Lizi: Very cool. Sounds like she was learning from big names at the time.Jessica: I agree and from different sectors too: stage design? Interiors and industrial? All diverse
Norgerie: Ada even won a prize in 1931 from the school. For what exactly? No one quite says but hey, she's award winning now.
Lizi: hahaha way to go Ada!
Jessica: she’s a winner in our bookNorgerie: She graduated from the Vienna School of Applied Arts in 1932. That same year she was working with her professor Oskar Strnad and together they entered “The Growing House” competition. Not sure if they won but this competition was a big deal, you know else entered it?
Lizi: Who?Jessica: ooh who?
Norgerie: Mr. Walter Gropius, his entry lives in the Harvard archives. I found that as I was looking for Ada's drawings. I couldn't find those… had to settle for Gropius.
Lizi: Aww man, I wish Ada’s drawings were there, but that’s cool that she was in the mix with Gropius.
Jessica:: bummer but I’m assuming it’s because Gropius won?
Norgerie: I did not look that up, so not sure, I think its mostly cause there’s more research on Gropius than Ada. So, Ada with Oskar was also involved in the design of the Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna. In English this is the Vienna Craftwork Association Housing Estate. It's a housing complex made up of 70 houses in Vienna's 13th district. The project was opened in 1932 and was marketed as a model for ‘the modern way of living. To this day this project is recognized among the most important examples of Modernism in Austria.Lizi: Amazing. I love that she was on the cutting edge of architecture in Austria.
Jessica: yes- that sounds so exciting to be a part of. And who doesn’t love a good housing project??
Norgerie: Her and her friend from school Margarete Zak began working together in the office of the architect Erich Boltenstern.Jessica: aahhh makes sense since Erich was a professor at the Vienna School and his connections to Ada’s previous professors and mentors. Erich Boltenstern was still impressive in his own right- he had a lot of projects in all around Vienna and Austria
Norgerie: While working at Erich's office she was put in charge of furnishing house no. 5 by Hugo Häring; and designing the kitchen of house no. 33 by Julius Jirasek.
Lizi: Ok, ok, so she’s collaborating on these housing projects.
Jessica: Very neatNorgerie: During this time she had become a known kitchen designer and she was a member of the Vienna Soroptimist Club. Apparently this is an international volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.
Lizi: I love that she was involved with that, and that it sounds like she’s making a bit of a name for herself.Jessica: here here!
Norgerie: Ok now I don't know if y'all remember from episode 101 Liane Zimbler but we're about to enter turbulent times in Austria.
Lizi: Yeahhhh… I was wondering when it was going to get dicey.
Jessica: agreed- it was only a matter of time
Norgerie: In 1934 Heinrich, who was part of the faculty at the University of Vienna was part of a large group of professors that were forced into retirement. I mean the dude was 61 years old so maybe someone could play this off as legit but Heinrich was pretty sure he was asked to leave because he refused to join the Fatherland Front, a nationalist political party, which was mandatory for civil servants during that time.Lizi: Hmm. Heinrich sounds like he had the right instincts though. In retrospect.
Jessica: Agreed. Times were really bad, Reading up on some of Ada’s early collaborators like Erich, it came up that since he was “related to Jews” it became a disadvantage - I don’t even know if he was Jewish or not but just a statement like that tells you what kind of environment we are talking about unfortunately.
Norgerie: This, along with everything else going on in the country and in Germany, probably had Ada and Heinrich’s spidey senses tingling. They were like nah dude this feels wrong we gotta get outta here. So by 1935 they were headed to the US, eventually landing in Los Angeles, California.
Lizi: Nice. Glad they had the foresight to leave.Jessica: Yes, before it got worse
Norgerie: In the USA Ada made connections. She kept working in interior designs, kitchens, and furniture.
Lizi: Love it. Glad she was still able to work once she arrived.Jessica: Yeah and that she was able to keep up momentum
Norgerie: She collaborated with the firm owned by Anita Toor and when Liane Zimbler came to the United States, in 1938, escaping Austria, Ada was able to connect Liane with Anita and Ada and Liane became a duo themselves. Often working together on projects.Lizi: yay! Loving these connections and a female collaboration.
Jessica: And that’s how she came to work with lady 101 Liane, love to see it
Norgerie: For the rest of her career Ada kept designing interiors in hospitality projects. in restaurants, hotels, and retirement homes.
Lizi: Love it.
Jessica: oh nice, sounds like fun
Norgerie: Sadly, in 1942 her husband passed away and I think this was the start of hard times for Ada. Five years later she reached out to Austria and attempted to receive the pension that was owed to her husband, and also her benefits as his widow but apparently the powers that be figured out a loophole and told her honey you're an American citizen now and also your husband retired he wasn't let go for political reasons, which we know is bogus but she lost this fight.
Lizi: Oh no! After they pushed him out, they double back and claim he left of his own volition!?! How rude. Ugh I am so sad for Ada, both that her husband died and that she was in such tough financial straits.
Jessica: Agreed what non-sense. How terrible for Ada.
Norgerie: In the early 1950s she resorted to selling her husband's autographs and looking for a publisher interested in buying the rights to a biography about the last years of her husband's life.
Jessica: ooh noo that’s awful
Lizi: Sad. Was she able to sell his biography?
Norgerie: No I don't think so. All in all that didn’t pan out too well. She passed away in 1954, she was 69 years old. The circumstances were not good. Listeners, this is my official trigger warning, fast forward a minute if you like now.
She had been missing since June 12, 1954, two days later her body was found on Santa Monica Beach, after an investigation, her death was ruled a suicide.
Lizi: Oh no! That’s heartbreaking.
Jessica: oh my goodness!Norgerie: I was pretty shocked and sad when I learned about this and there's really no more information about what exactly was going on, what happened, why. But I'm glad she was able to do what she loved for years and collaborate with others and be a great network connection for Liane and the work they were able to do together.
Lizi: Yeah that’s so tough, because we can never know the full story of what someone is going through. I am sad to hear that the end of her life took such a tough turn and that she was hurting that much, but I am glad that we got to learn about the work she did and how she collaborated with Liane and other architects throughout her career both in Austria and the US.Jessica: wow totally unexpected, and like you said - we never know what people are going through, and we don’t know what kind of grief she must have gone through between her husband and even Anita Toor. Plus the financial implications with the loss of her husband. Despite the end, I’m still glad we got to tell her story. I am glad that we got to learn about her work. And because of this story we know that her work matter and that she matters - hopefully she know that somehow?
Norgerie: Alright, now we have reached the second part of our episode, the Caryatid. A caryatid is a stone carving of a woman, used as a column or a pillar to support the structure of a Greek or Greek-style building. In each episode we choose a “caryatid” -- a woman who is working today, furthering the profession through their work, and who ties into the historical woman of our episode.
Norgerie: Drum roll please…
Lizi and Jessica: (applause) Yeay!Norgerie: Katie Donahue, is a registered architect in the United States, working on projects at various scales. She is a consultant at Handel Architects in New York and Denver. And most importantly for today's episode, Katie is the business partner of the Caryatid for Liane Zimbler's episode, and as we've mentioned Liane was a business partner of Ada's so this felt like a good fit.
Lizi: ahh! I love this!
Jessica: me too! I am liking this continuation we got going on hahaha
Norgerie: Yeah! She is the Co-Director of K-Works Studio, which she runs with past caryatid Katharina Horath!
Jessica:yeahhhh
Lizi: Amazing.
Norgerie: As a firm K-Works Studio focuses on residential design, architectural installations and sustainability. As paraphrased from their website, Katie is particularly interested in exploring how design solutions address issues of culture, environment and neighborhoods and the ways place-making affects the vitality of cities.
Jessica: love to see it, all important factors
Norgerie: At Handel Architects she is responsible for ground-up development mostly in mixed-use projects.
Lizi: She’s doing double duty with two jobs!
Jessica: wow impressive
Norgerie: Katie's got degrees on degrees. Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and architecture degrees from Cornell University and University of Colorado.
Lizi: Wow! She’s forming a collection.
Jessica: ooh interesting - she got a business degree before architecture, cool!
Norgerie: She's served on the board of directors for Architecture for Humanity, and the Denver chapter board for AIA
Jessica: okay killing it with the extra -curriculars
Norgerie: She's also out there in the world teaching design, representation, drawing and rendering at the University of Colorado-Denver and Parsons School of Design; molding the future of the profession.
Lizi: Holy moly, what isn’t she doing?
Jessica: nice, I wonder if she co-teaches with Kat
Norgerie: In 2014 she was awarded Young Architect of the Year by AIA Colorado
Lizi: Phenomenal. I love to see that she’s got her hand in so many different places with work, teaching, and other organizations.
Jessica: honestly it makes sense - with what she has going on. Very neat!
Norgerie: Before we say goodbye we want to say thank you to CMYK for the music, John W our technical advisor. And most of all thank you for listening!
Lizi: Remember to check out our show notes for links to all of our resources on this episode as well as pictures of projects we’ve talked about.
Norgerie: We hope you enjoyed learning about today’s lady and caryatid along with our banter, and that you are inspired to find out more about them and other amazing professional ladies. Again, thank you.
Jessica: Please let us know what you thought of our episode. If you’ve enjoyed it please help us spread the word. Tell your friends and give us 5 stars on Itunes and Spotify, and write us a review, this will all help us reach a wider audience and for more people to learn about these amazing ladies with us.
Norgerie: Your support means everything to us. If you’ve enjoyed our content and want other ways to help us with our mission, you can support us by visiting our website for merchandise.
Jessica: If you don’t need any more swag, but you’d still like to consider supporting the research we’re doing, you can donate to us on our website shebuildspodcast.com/donate or you can buy us a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/shebuildspodcast. You can also find links to all of these items on our website.
Lizi: She Builds Podcast is a member of the Gābl Media podcast network. Gābl Media is curated thought leadership for an audience dedicated to building a better world. Listen and subscribe to all the shows at gablmedia.com. That’s G A B L media.com.
Norgerie: We are excited to hear from you and for you to come back and keep learning about bosses with us. You can email us your thoughts at shebuildspodcast@gmail.com, leave a comment on our website shebuildspodcast.com, or follow us on instagram and facebook @shebuildspodcast, and on X @shebuildspod. See ya!
References
“English.” English, www.werkbundsiedlung-wien.at/en/biographies/ada-gomperz.
“---.” English, www.werkbundsiedlung-wien.at/en/houses/houses-nos-33-and-34.
“Gomperz Ada – biografiA.” biografiA - Ihr Ausgangspunkt Für Frauenforschung, biografia.sabiado.at/gomperz-ada.
Gomperz, Theodor | Encyclopedia.com. www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gomperz-theodor.
Kniefacz, Katharina. “Dismissal of Political Enemies at the University of Vienna During Austrofascism.” 650 Plus, 14 Jan. 2023, geschichte.univie.ac.at/en/articles/dismissal-political-enemies-university-vienna-during-austrofascism.
K-WORKS STUDIO — Coming Soon. kworksstudio.com.
Wikipedia contributors. “University of Applied Arts Vienna.” Wikipedia, 16 June 2024, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Applied_Arts_Vienna.
Wikipedia-Autoren. Ada Gomperz. 5 July 2022, de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Gomperz.
She Builds Podcast is a proud member of the Gābl Media network. Come join us!
Introducing the Gābl Media AEC Community Memberships. An interactive community platform for you, our audience! Ready to Start? JOIN NOW. Already a member? Login, gain instant access to the community, resources, and the most convenient way to get your continuing education credits.
Be sure to check out: https://gablemedia.com/shebuilds
We wanna hear from you!!
Hey listeners! We're planning something special and we need your help. Please go to THIS LINK and leave us a 10-30 second voice note about your favorite episode, caryatid, or any lady in the AEC profession who inspires your career and life. You might hear yourself on a future episode. Stay tuned!
