Anam Ahmed: Wallpaper* Next Generation 2021

Our Next Generation 2021 showcase shines a light on 21 outstanding graduates from around the globe, Wallpaper’s pick of the best new talent in seven creative fields. Here, we profile graduate of GSAPP, Columbia University, New York, Anam Ahmed.

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A project of a home by Anam Ahmed. The background is turquoise and the lines are green and pink.
(Image credit: press)

The concept of home is one of Anam Ahmed’s self-confessed 'fixations’. During her master’s programme at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), it also became the main focus in her graduation project, Home: objects, notions & other things.

The research, supported by the Dean’s Scholarship for the academic year, received the 2020 Honor Award for Excellence in Advanced Architecture Design. ‘It comes from a place existing between worlds, trying to choose parts of those worlds that make what home means to me,’ she says. ‘The process involved exploring memories, objects, language, the freedom to make choices, an attempt to define what I hope for in my home.’

A portrait of Anam Ahmed.

Anam Ahmed. Dream collaborators: Neri Oxman; Assemble; Lex Pott

(Image credit: press)

Material sciences, particularly waste and reuse, is another area Ahmed is exploring. She sees architecture as a means to make life better for communities. This is further supported by her extra-curricular activities, which include volunteering for Yasmeen Lari’s Heritage Foundation of Pakistan and taking part in several projects in New York, from creating a garden for the Union Settlement in East Harlem to supporting communities in Jackson Heights that were disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

Ahmed was selected as a teaching associate for the summer semester at GSAPP for the AAD programme, but this was pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic, and she is currently working at renowned New York architecture studio MOS, as well as running a small design studio from her hometown of Lahore.

A plastic 'balloon' in pink color.

(Image credit: press)

3D model of the interior of the house.

(Image credit: press)

An object made out of wood. On the photo to the left, it's upside down, and on the photo to the right, it's the right side up.

(Image credit: press)

A D model of a girls' bedroom. The girl is sitting at a desk, while a dog is next to her.

(Image credit: press)

A 3D model of a pantry to the left, and the kitchen to the right. A woman is reaching for the dishes on the shelf.

(Image credit: press)

A 3D model of a house. We see the bathroom to the left and a girl washing her hands. To the right, we see a man and a woman talking next to a pool.

(Image credit: press)

INFORMATION

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Ellie Stathaki
Ellie Stathaki

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).