Designing with dignityArchitecture was Mariam Kamara's second career. She started out as a software designer after degrees in Computer Science and later studied architecture at the University of Washington. She won acclaim for her work in architecture right from the get go, when her Masters thesis on Mobile Loitering, which focused on issues of gender and public space in Niger, was awarded Thesis Prize and a special mention in the 2014 Young Architects in Africa Competition. Mariam Kamara, Niger architect. The project was also exhibited in the 2014 Milan Triennale’s Africa Big Chance Big Change exhibit. It has since been part of a worldwide traveling exhibition to various European countries, South Africa, China and more. In 2013, Kamara helped found united4design, a global collective of architects working on projects in the US, Afghanistan and Niger. They collaborated to produce projects like Niamey2000 in Niger, which was awarded an American institute of Architects Seattle Award and Architect Magazine’s 2017 R+D Award for innovation. In 2014, she founded atelier masōmī, an architecture and research firm. Kamara’s work ethos is about bringing dignity into design. She believes that architects have an important role to play in “thinking spaces” that have the power to elevate, dignify and provide a better quality of life; through the intimate dialogue that architects have with architecture, people and context. A notable example is the Religious-Secular Complex of Dandaji in Niger, a collaborative cultural project that won the 2017 Gold LafargeHolcim Award for Africa and Middle East, and the 2018 Silver Global LafargeHolcim Award for Sustainable Architecture. Kamara is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Brown University and a recurring Architecture Critic at the Rhode Island School of Design (R.I.S.D.). Kamara was born in Niger and divides her time between the country-of-her birth and the United States. In her presentation, she spoke about the challenges of working in Niger, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, but which is still experiencing growth in major cities due to climate change and drought - and with that comes infrastructural challenges. Dandaji Market, Niger ©atelier masomi/Maurice Ascani. She came up with an interlocking system to provide high density housing on a single level, while maintaining privacy, community and dignity. Her community market solution, using recycled metals, was also showcased. Bizcommunity.Africa interviewed her after her talk at #DesignIndaba2019 and discussed what drives her, her purpose, designing with dignity, and what’s next?
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