Mara Baum

Mara Baum teaches courses in green building, sustainability, and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) at CCA, in the online sustainable design certificate program at Boston Architectural College, and within Anshen + Allen, San Francisco, where she also works as a designer. Her interests include net-zero energy and water use, human health and well-being, and urban and regional environmental planning and design. Much of her current work in hospital design focuses on the intersection between ecological considerations and the creation of a healthy and healing environment.

Mara was the 2006 Ginsberg Sustainability Fellow for the United States Green Building Council, for which she conducted research and wrote policy papers on the significant dichotomy between current green building research funding and the impact that buildings have on human health, the natural environment, and the gross domestic product. Mara is also Anshen + Allen's 2007 Patterson Fellow, and she will travel to Japan to study biophilia in modern Japanese architecture in fall 2007.

Mara's honors for her work in sustainability include the Switzer Environmental Fellowship as well as awards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the United States Green Building Council's Northern California Chapter, and the California Planning Roundtable. She has been a LEED-accredited professional for more than five years and has been involved with local chapters of the United States Green Building Council since its formation.