Mariam Kamara
{{short description|Nigerien architect}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mariam Issoufou Kamara
| image = Mariam_Kamara_OTRS.jpg
| birth_name =
| birth_date = April {{birth year and age|1979}}
| birth_place = Saint-Étienne, France
| nationality =
| alma_mater = Purdue University
New York University
University of Washington
| occupation = Architect
}}
Mariam Issoufou Kamara (born April 1979,{{Cite web|title=People|url=http://www.ateliermasomi.com/team|access-date=2021-06-15|website=atelier masomi|language=en-US}} in Saint-Étienne, France) is a Nigerien architect.{{Cite web|title=Mariam Kamara - Prince Claus Fund|url=https://princeclausfund.org/laureate/mariam-kamara|access-date=2021-06-08|website=princeclausfund.org}} Her designs focus on open living spaces and make use of locally produced materials available to African communities: cement, recycled metal and raw earth.
Biography
Mariam Issoufou Kamara{{Cite web|title=Brown faculty members earn awards, distinctions|url=https://www.brown.edu/news/2018-05-21/awards|access-date=2021-06-08|website=Brown University|language=en}} was born in 1979.
Kamara's first career ambition was to become a computer engineer, for which she earned a Purdue University bachelor's degree in technical computing (2001) and then a master's degree in computer science from New York University (2004). She worked in the computing field for seven years before deciding to change careers and become an architect to fulfill her teenage ambition.{{Cite web|date=2017|title=In Conversation // Mariam Kamara|url=https://www.brown.edu/academics/urban-studies/sites/brown.edu.academics.urban-studies/files/uploads/USN_Fall_2017-edited.pdf|access-date=2021-06-08|website=Brown.edu}}
In 2013, Kamara earned her master's degree in architecture from the University of Washington. Her thesis, Mobile Loitering, focuses on gender issues in Niger's public spaces. Her master's work was exhibited at the Triennale di Milano in 2014 at the Africa Big Chance Big Change exhibition.{{Cite web |title=Mariam Kamara |url=https://arch.be.uw.edu/mariam-kamara-2/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=Architecture |language=en-US}}
= Professional career =
She co-founded the architectural group united4design (2013) while still living in the United States, and on her return to Niger she established an architecture and research firm called Atelier Masomi (2014), which focuses on open living spaces in local architecture.{{Cite web|title=Prince Claus Awards|url=https://princeclausfund.org/storage/documents/Report-from-the-2019-Prince-Claus-Awards-Committee.pdf|access-date=2020-06-08}}
The international collective of architects participating in United4design worked on projects in the United States, Afghanistan and Niger. Kamara's designs feature buildings with geometric shapes and rely on three locally produced materials available to many communities: cement, recycled metal and raw earth.
In 2017, she taught urban studies as an adjunct associate professor at Brown University in Rhode Island.
In 2022, Kamara was appointed as Full Professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.{{Cite web|title=Departement of Architecture ETH Zürich - Appointment of Mariam Kamara|url=https://arch.ethz.ch/en?q=2|access-date=2022-08-16}} In 2024, she was part of the multidisciplinary advisory committee for the inaugural Ammodo Architecture Awards.{{Cite web |last=Fakharany |first=Nour |date=2024-11-19 |title=Ammodo Architecture Announces Inaugural Global Awards Recipients for Social and Ecological Innovation |url=https://www.archdaily.com/1023692/ammodo-architecture-announces-inaugural-global-awards-recepients-social-and-ecological-innovation-in-architecture |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=ArchDaily |language=en-US}}
= Major projects =
== ''Niamey 2000'' ==
Her first major project was Niamey 2000, an apartment complex built in 2016 and designed in collaboration with Yasaman Esmaili, Elizabeth Golden and Philip Sträter. The project addresses the spatial problems linked to the concrete structure of Kamara's childhood home built in Niamey in the 1960s.{{Cite web|date=2019-03-21|title=Mariam Kamara: 'architecture itself can not make a more equitable world but we can contribute with specific actions'|url=https://www.archdaily.com/913252/mariam-kamara-architecture-itself-can-not-make-a-more-equitable-world-but-we-can-contribute-with-specific-actions|access-date=2021-06-08|website=ArchDaily|language=en-US}}
The result is four structures made by combining earth and cement fitted together. A notable feature is a bench in the front that allows the reintroduction of the traditional faada - local gatherings of friends and family that routinely occur in the space between the house and the street, which is also a historical gathering place.
Niamey 2000 was one of twenty projects shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Aga Khan Award for Architecture announces 2022 shortlist |url=https://the.akdn/press-release/aga-khan-award-architecture-announces-2022-shortlist |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=the.akdn}}{{Cite web |date=2022-07-07 |title=A project in Niger hopes to create affordable urban housing |url=https://inhabitat.com/a-project-in-niger-hopes-to-create-affordable-urban-housing/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building {{!}} Green design & innovation for a better world |language=en-US}}
== Hikma en Dandaji ==
In 2018, she worked again with Yasaman Esmaili to produce the project Hikma ("wisdom" in Arabic) in Dandaji, which is in the Tahoua region of Niger. Inspired by the rammed earth building technique, the project is a cultural complex that includes a mosque, library and community center. Their work combines the two types of knowledge "without contradiction, between secular knowledge and faith." For each project, Kamara's preparation is key.{{Cite web|date=2018-09-27|title=Urbanisme : Mariam Kamara, l'architecte « made in Africa » – Jeune Afrique|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/632797/culture/urbanisme-mariam-kamara-larchitecte-made-in-africa/|access-date=2021-06-08|website=JeuneAfrique.com|language=fr-FR}}
For each of her achievements, Kamara conducts field surveys in order to better understand the expectations of future inhabitants: how do they live and how do they receive? How comfortable will they be, culturally at ease? What will allow them to lower the temperature inside their house? The Legacy Restored Center project thus required six months of observations. As a result, it offers a citizen space open to all inhabitants of the village of Dandaji, promotes the education of women and strengthens their presence in the community.The project won two awards at the Lafarge Holcim Awards (2017), the largest competition of sustainable architecture of the world.{{Cite web|title=5th Awards Cycle: 2017-2018 {{!}} LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction|url=http://www.lafargeholcim-foundation.org/awards/5th-cycle/5th-awards-cycle-2017-2018|access-date=2021-06-08|website=LafargeHolcim Foundation website}}
== Niamey Cultural Center ==
Kamara is working with the British architect of Ghanaian origin, David Adjaye, to plan a new cultural center in Niamey.
== Bët-bi Museum ==
In May 2022, Kamara was selected by a jury to lead the design of the new Bët-bi museum in Senegal.{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Wallpaper* |date=2022-05-10 |title=Mariam Issoufou Kamara to design Bët-bi museum in Senegal |url=https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/bet-bi-museum-mariam-issoufou-kamara-senegal |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Wallpaper*}}{{Cite web |last=Carlson |first=Cajsa |date=2022-05-11 |title=Atelier Masōmī unveils design for geometric Bët-bi art museum in Senegal |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2022/05/11/atelier-masomi-bet-bi-art-museum-senegal/ |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Dezeen |language=en}} The project will be supported by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and its sister-organisation Le Korsa, and is set to open in 2025.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-11 |title=mariam kamara of atelier masōmī has been chosen to design a new museum in senegal |url=https://www.designboom.com/architecture/mariam-kamara-atelier-masomi-bet-bi-museum-senegal-05-11-2022/ |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=designboom {{!}} architecture & design magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Gallery of Mariam Issoufou Kamara Chosen to Design New Museum and Center for Culture and Community in West Senegal - 1 |url=https://www.archdaily.com/981733/mariam-issoufou-kamara-of-atelier-masomi-chosen-to-design-new-museum-and-art-center-in-west-senegal/627b710f3e4b318e8e00007d-mariam-issoufou-kamara-of-atelier-masomi-chosen-to-design-new-museum-and-art-center-in-west-senegal-photo |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=ArchDaily |language=en-US}}
Awards received
- 2017: LafargeHolcim Awards for sustainable construction:
- Silver medal in the Global category
- Gold medal in the Middle East Africa regional category
- 2018: Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative award enabling her to collaborate with architect David Adjaye
- 2019: Prince Claus Prize in the Netherlands
Selected work
- Kamara, Mariam. Mobile Loitering: A response to public space needs in Niger's post-colonial, highly gendered urban context. Diss. 2014.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- [https://www.larchitecturedaujourdhui.fr/archi-en-aparte-atelier-masomi/ Photos of Kamara's Hikma en Dandaji]
- [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/46708874.pdf Sketches of the design of a girls' school in Balkh, Afghanistan by Kamara and Yasaman Esmaili]
- [https://www.ateliermasomi.com/ Website of Atelier Masomi]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamara, Mariam}}
Category:21st-century Nigerien women
Category:21st-century Nigerien people
Category:21st-century businesswomen
Category:University of Washington alumni
Category:New York University alumni
Category:Purdue University alumni
Category:Academic staff of ETH Zurich