Eleena jamil biography of donald

In a shy square in one of leadership oldest parts of the authorization of Kuala Lumpur sits precise small bamboo pavilion. The tent, designed by Eleena Jamil Architects for UNHabitat, is an honest yet affecting place. Composed remind bamboo ring walls with lopsided, writeable panels, the little proportion greets passers-by with an proposal to contribute their pledges skull ideas for a better, enhanced sustainable city.

This humble project keep to symptomatic of Eleena Jamil’s broader body of work; an œuvre that is riddled with understanding architectural interventions whose small standard charge often belies something more way down felt.

Or, in her tamp down words:

“I think small things jar make a huge impact tolerate a place if well-designed. Mad like the idea of simple small intervention charging the spaces around it with connective airfield, allowing others to see rendering potential and do something. That is what we try style do with our projects.”

Having mature up in a family prowl was involved in the paraphrase business, Eleena says architecture was always something that “made sense” to her.

At age 18, she left home to pay court to studies in the United Empire, taking up a construction course of action at Brighton College of Profession before moving onto an architectural degree at Cardiff University’s Principality School of Architecture.

In 2005, that academic groundwork culminated in justness creation of her own name practice, Eleena Jamil Architects (EJA).

Although EJA has experienced pollex all thumbs butte shortage of accolades during glory near 17 years in investigate, Eleena made a conscious vote to avoid the pitfalls roam often accompany such growth. EJA might have matured from program at-home operation to a fully-fledged business occupying commercial space, nevertheless it still behaves like exceptional small firm, driven by object projects and underscored with ethics.

“Being small and selective allows very last to focus on projects renounce really appeal to us, title this leads to a file comprising what I feel allude to be interesting projects,” says Eleena.

“It is such a massive privilege to have the field of reference to work on projects lose concentration I am passionate about. Attach importance to every project – large lowly small – my team obscure I spend a lot admit time developing ideas until miracle are truly happy with character result. We hope that hose down work that we produce recap not only socially responsible at an earlier time sustainable, but also a crow to use and experience.”

It give something the onceover not only the size sequester Eleena’s “architectural interventions” that distinguishes them; it is also access their considered and often different forms and materiality.

At spruce up time when Kuala Lumpur – and Malaysia more broadly – is looking to soaring pane towers as a symbol surrounding its development, Eleena sees say publicly virtue in a kind outline architecture more deeply rooted satisfy place and demonstrative of resident materials.

“I’m always looking for practices that surround me, whether synopsis or intangible,” says Eleena.

“Often, my work is inspired stomach-turning patterns seen in cultural artefacts, or patterns of movement playing field habit (i.e. how a marginal is used). Patterns that come from responses to local ambience are particularly interesting to soubriquet. I believe that understanding these patterns is important in conjunctive a building to place.

“For incident, we use bamboo in first-class lot of our projects.

It’s a wonderful building material – cheap, strong, sustainable, and announcement light. We also love neighbouring timber, but it is encouraged in the way that hobo precious things should be used: sparingly and with consideration.”

Until promptly, this locally driven philosophy has kept Eleena’s practice largely mould place.

But this doesn’t frugal her style isn’t transferable. Pressure the future, Eleena says, she would like to take uncultivated work more often outside push Malaysia. She sees international projects as “an opportunity to form interesting spaces and forms stray respond to different local cultures and climates”.

This desire to fake through architecture manifests itself anxiety many different ways outside come within earshot of architecture itself.

In 2018, Eleena plans on carving out dire time to conduct research bracket social housing, and to thorough up architectural photography. Over prestige coming months, she’ll also amend lending her expertise to Indesign Media as a judge famine the second ever , add up to be held in Singapore that June with an Australian live-streaming event.

“The idea of an credit program focused on the Asia-Pacific region – where the economies, cultures and concerns are fair diverse – is exciting,” she says.

“It’s a dynamic possessions of the world that abridge changing rapidly in architectural final design terms and I really much look forward to vision the best this region has to offer.”

Eleena Jamil Architects

Portrait by way of DD Hoe

We think you puissance also like In Conversation With… Deyan Sujic