Born in Johannesburg in 1992, Adam Maserow is an architectural designer,researcher, and educator based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His multi faceted work examines race, displacement, reparation, and decolonization, fueled by his own complex relationship to oppression—on the one hand, the grandson of Jewish immigrants who fled the holocaust in Europe in the 1930s; on the other, the beneficiary of white privilege in South Africa, where the legacy of the racist, segregationist apartheid system continues to impact the social fabric to this day.

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"The dieDAS fellowship provides an unmatched opportunity to engage closely with a curious and thoughtful cohort of fellows from all over the world."—Adam Maserow

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Maserow studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Cape Town before going on to earn a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard’s GraduateSchool of Design (GSD). Alongside his architecural career, he has dedicated time to social and community causes, including work for Ndifuna Ukwazi, a South African activist organization advocating for urban land justice. 

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Among the highlights of Maserow’s portfolio is his GSD thesis project, which imagines a new life for Ponte City, an iconic residential tower on the outskirts of Johannesburg, originally built in 1976 at the height of SouthAfrica’s apartheid era. Acknowledging the landmark’s problematic history while opening it up to contemporary needs, Maserow’s propositional design includes new teaching facilities, student housing, and community-building amenities.

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