Archinect - News

Seeking expansion, atelier masōmī rebrands to Mariam Issoufou Architects

2024-04-02T18:50:00-04:00

The ten-year-old practice known as atelier masōmī has announced it is rebranding as Mariam Issoufou Architects.

Formed by Mariam Issoufou (née Kamara) shortly after her graduation from the University of Washington, the Niger-based practice is now a widely known entity with projects featured in exhibitions worldwide and their name included as finalists for several top industry honors, such as the 2019 Prince Claus and Royal Academy Dorfman awards, 2020 Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture nomination, and 2022 Aga Khan Award shortlist.

In an announcement detailing the name change, the studio said: "We have seen a growing interest in our work and our intersectional approach to sustainability from South America, North America, Middle East and Europe. This expansion in the geographic scope of our work has presented an opportunity for us to open a design studio in New York, where our founder and principal, Mariam Issoufou, is building a team. Through her professorship at ETH Zu...

The new Bët-bi Museum by atelier masōmī will continue a shift toward cultural justice in Senegal

2022-05-17T12:32:00-04:00

A historic new museum is set to take shape in West Africa, the vision of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and designer Mariam Kamara of Niger’s atelier masōmī.

Bët-bi is said to be the first institution dedicated to the (temporary) collection and display of repatriated objects taken from their native lands in a reversal of controversial practices which have been at the heart of many Western museum operations since their beginnings in Colonialism.

Image courtesy atelier masōmī

The studio beat out four other firms based in Africa for the commission, including Rwanda’s MASS Design Group and the Moroccan firm Aziza Chaouni Projects.

Located in the Kaolack region of southern Senegal, Bët-bi (or “The Eye” in Wolof) aims to position itself as an intermediary between Western art-collecting institutions and surrounding nations in addition to serving in its functional capacity as an educational fount to the area. In this regard, its mission and scope are similar to that of the planned Ed...

Adjaye Associates unveils design for Le Mémorial des Martyrs in remembrance of Niger's fallen soldiers

2020-10-19T11:48:00-04:00

Adjaye Associates has released a design for The Martyrs Memorial, a monument commemorating those who lost their lives in the fight against terrorism along Niger's southern and western borders.

Located at the heart of Niamey, Niger, the memorial brings a new urban plaza and multi-use civic gathering space to the region. The memorial sits on a raised triangular base, creating a sense of separation and sanctuary.

Upon arrival, visitors will be immersed in a grid of 20-meter-high pillars, situated at the back end of the triangular plot. A secondary grid of trees anchor the two rear ends of the site. Each one of the concrete pillars symbolize lost individuals. At night, an array of light projects from the pillars. further emphasizing the monument's status as the civic heart of Niamey.

At ground level, the civic space will provide a multi-use environment that also functions as a cooling cavity, providing air to the main space with each column acting as a thermal chimney to release heat bu...

Mariam Kamara on the higher aspirations of African architects

2020-08-19T14:13:00-04:00

[...] Kamara is mounting a quietly radical revolt against the “Western dictatorship over our space,” which still insists that African architects should only build clinics and rural schools, never addressing higher aspirations. For Kamara, that attitude is not just constraining, it’s an affront to the humanity of the place she comes from and the people for whom she builds. She prefers instead “to elevate lived experience,” to “dare to do something that would make someone dream.”

The New York Times in conversation with Mariam Kamara, the founder of Niger/Rhode Island-based architecture and research practice atelier masōmī.

Hikma Religious and Secular Complex in Dadaji, Niger by atelier masōmī + Studio Chahar. Photo: James Wang, Mariama Kah.

Among other distinctions, Kamara was one of the 2017 LafargeHolcim Middle East + Africa Award winners, David Adjaye's 2018-19 Rolex Arts Initiative protégée, a Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture nominee, the 2019 Prince Claus Award laureate, and more recently, announced as a participant for the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice.