Nigerien Mariam Kamara may have set up her practice, Atelier Masomi, in her West African home country just five years ago (following a stint as a fully trained software developer), but she already comes hotly tipped for success. Not only was the young architect chosen for the Rolex mentor and protégé scheme in 2018 – and currently mentored by none other than Sir David Adjaye over the course of two years – but also Kamara was recently shortlisted for the prestigious 2019 Royal Academy Dorfman Architecture Prize, recognised globally as an emerging practice for her unique style and contribution to her local (and wider) architecture and social scene.
Kamara’s work spans public buildings – such as the Hikma Religious Secular Complex in Dandaji designed in collaboration with Studio Chahar, as well a local market complex – and private spaces. Niamey 2000, a housing scheme in her hometown (and the country’s capital) is among the latter. The boutique development consists of just six homes, arranged around a series of terraces and courtyards. Kamara designed the building alongside Yasaman Esmaili, Elizabeth Golden and Philip Straeter under united4design, a global collective of architects working on projects in the US, Afghanistan and Niger, of which Kamara is a founding member.
The project looks clean and sophisticated, but its concept goes way beyond looks. Niamey 2000 provides a model for dwelling as a response to the country’s rapid growth and consequent housing crisis. Aiming to decrease the distance between people’s homes and workspaces by increasing the housing density and building upwards – even by one storey – the project is an example of what (at least in part) the solution to this crisis could look like. At the same time, ‘[designing someone’s home] is always a profound privilege,’ Kamara says.
