Bio:
The great designer, Mona Elamin, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Associate is a Sudanese designer based in Houston. She received her Masters in Architecture from Rice University and her Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Sharjah. Her work experience extends between Dubai and Houston working for offices like RMJM, U+A Architects and Gensler. While pursuing her masters, Mona was the managing editor of PLAT, a 2017 recipient of Graham Foundation grant and a 2019 participant in Oslo Architecture Triennale.

How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
I learned about architecture in high school while deciding not to pursue medical school, but wanting to touch people’s lives. Telling, creating and bettering people’s stories has always been a passion of mine, and architecture fit that role to me.

What do you do?
I am an architect in the making practicing at Shepley Bulfinch while studying for my AREs.

What excites you in the work you do?
Solving problems, creating stories and new paths for people excites me the most in what I do.

Who or what inspires you professionally?
What inspires professionally are projects by minority architects like David Adjaye and Mariam Kamara, and what pushes me more is the lack of black female representation in Architecture that I am hoping to change one day.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
My proudest professional accomplishment so far has been receiving my masters in architecture, and I am looking forward to the day my greatest achievement will be adding to the number of registered black female architects.

Featured Project Name: 
Beyond Shelter; Situations of Connectivity
 
Featured Project Location: 
Houston, TX
 
Featured Project Completion Date: 
Unbuilt

Role in Featured Project: 
Designer, Researcher, Author
 
Featured Project Description:
Housing has evolved into more than protection; it is a symbol of status, wealth and well-being. Identities are transmitted onto dwellings to reinforce self-worth. Society places a substantial weight on people to buy houses, but home ownership is not for everyone. A forgotten part of society, the working poor, has an urgent need for simply a shelter rather than home ownership pride. The project argues against universal solutions and for connective situations because ownership is not for everyone.

Photography Credit:
Mona Elamin