萨里卡·巴约里亚（Sarika Bajoria）三年前开始在曼哈顿的现代佛教中心参加冥想班时，发现了一个和平的避难所。她的精神沉浸感与大胆的专业举动相吻合：她在2010年的经济衰退中开始了自己的建筑实践。

她说：“这取得了巨大的信仰飞跃。”“我不得不把自己放在那里，不仅在纽约市，而且在印度和中东，在那里我有一些联系。”她说，冥想逐渐建立了曼哈顿的公司Performa Studio，保持了扎根。

现年35岁的巴约里亚（Bajoria）保持了坚定的敏捷性，有两至三名全职员工和一个船队偏离竞争者和顾问。她已经在国外登陆了许多大型项目，包括孟买的70万平方英尺五星级酒店18luck官网和零售综合大楼，迪拜的20,000平方英尺高端生活方式商店，以及在商会的新外墙加尔各答。

But the project closest to Bajoria's heart dropped in her lap in 2012, when the Kadampa Meditation Center bought a new space and its leadership asked her to design it. "It's been a labor of love," says Bajoria, who, barefoot, asked guests to remove their shoes on a recent tour.

Bajoria was really instrumental in figuring out how the space would look and feel," says Julian Corvin, a center member who helped with publicity for the new venue. The 8,000-sq-ft center, comprising a bookstore, cafe, offices and meditation rooms, is light and modern but with an industrial flair, including exposed brick, wood beams and bamboo floors.

“我们想要它纽约,不是transplanted from somewhere else," says Bajoria. "I can't take credit—it was a true community effort," she adds. To relax from her grueling work schedule, she takes classes in the space at least twice a week, dances salsa, runs in Central Park and goes to kick-boxing lessons.

Bajoria戴着任何数量的帽子 - 主体，建筑师，项目经理和企业家。了解一个项目从其细致的细节到更大的背景，这吸引了她进入建筑。

"You always have to be in this realm of shifting possibilities," she says. "I've had to learn how to slip in and out of different roles and still have a bigger vision. Constraints really add to a project—you have to deliver art on a budget."

Bajoria grew up in the former Calcutta and dreamed of becoming an architect from the time she was 15 years old. She left home at 17 to attend college in the U.S., where she studied math, physics and fine arts before entering the University of Pennsylvania's master's program in architecture.

毕业后，她搬到了纽约市，在那里她已经居住了十年，并在Skidmore，Owings＆Merrill等公司工作，然后才开始自己的执业。

While architecture remains a male-dominated field, Bajoria says more women are taking on leadership roles. Personally, she has never seen her sex as a disadvantage.

她说：“人们尊重你带来的东西和交付的东西。”“我所能做的就是把自己放在那里，给我最好的机会。”