Mariam Issoufou designs Rolex Pavilion for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale

The Rolex Pavilion is designed by Mariam Issoufou. Image credit:  ©Rolex/Matthieu Gafsou

May 2025: Mariam Issoufou Architects is proud to reveal the design for the Rolex Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition (also referred to as the Venice Architecture Biennale). Curated by Carlo Ratti, this year’s biennale draws attention to the climate’s vulnerability and the need for collaboration across different forms of intelligence, as we adapt and collaborate towards a different future. Drawing on the skills of local craftspeople and utilising waste materials, the pavilion aims to be a resource-efficient, locally-made intervention. The design departure was the shape of Venice itself, an island sinuously split in half by the Grand Canal, inspiring a form and space to hold exhibitions. With Mariam Issoufou’s intersectional approach to sustainability and the Rolex brief at the heart of the project, all aspects of the pavilion were produced and upcycled locally in Italy, particularly Venice, or recycled from other projects.

 Mariam Issoufou said: “Being approached by Rolex to design this pavilion is a true honour. The Rolex Pavilion gave us an opportunity to explore our intersectional approach to sustainability in collaboration with Italian crafters and makers. I visited Venice several times during the research part of the process and I was intrigued by the talent and the commitment to craft that dates back centuries. I was really excited to collaborate with local makers and crafters.” Mariam Issoufou Architects’ intersectional approach to sustainability extends beyond ecological sustainability, ensuring that the project uplifts the social fabric, cultural history and economic conditions of the people we collaborate with. The pavilion took inspiration from the green in Rolex’s brand identity as well as the watchmaker’s dedication to craft and timeless design. 

The interior of the Rolex pavilion features exhibitions. ©Rolex/Matthieu Gafsou

The Venetian glass masters, Vistosi, created the circular glass discs that make up the ceiling of the pavilion, and extend the language of the tree leaves dangling above. The translucent coloured ceiling provides abundant dappled natural light that morphs along the Earth’s natural cycle as the day moves from light to dark. Glass is front of mind on the floor as well, where the terrazzo employs recycled glass shards from Murano as aggregate, while the overall metal structure of the project is composed of bolted fully recyclable steel. An embodiment of material circularity and the folding capacity of time, 200-year-old Venetian Palazzi wood beams are repurposed and transformed into walls for the pavilion, maintaining a connection to the city’s deep architectural history and fashioned to evoke the fluted bezel of many of Rolex’s iconic watches.

The articulation and opacity of the form is ultimately a nod to Italian architect, Carlo Scarpa, who was deeply influenced by the history of Venetian culture, its landscape and its materiality. The exhibition within is orchestrated in a fluid manner starting with a look behind Rolex’s newly crafted flagship stores in Milan and Tokyo. The opposite end of the pavilion showcases the making of the Rolex pavilion and the work of this year’s Rolex Architecture Protégé, Lebanese architect Arine Aprahamian, who was mentored by French architect and educator, Anne Lacaton. The biennale is open to the public from May 10, 2025 until November 23, 2025.

Mariam Issoufou talks about intergenerational housing with ECD Matters journal

In this interview with architect and urbanist Victoria Chavez, Mariam Issoufou discussed how architecture can enhance family life and support the wellbeing of children and caregivers. This issue of ECD Matters journal unpacked how caregiving transforms brains and bodies,, it also as highlighted the importance of designing communities and cities that support caregivers and families.

Hikma Community Complex part of MoMA exhibition

Hikma Community Complex is part of ongoing exhibition titled Down to Earth at MoMA.

The exhibition is organised by Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator; and Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, Curatorial Assistant; with Joëlle Martin, former 12-month intern, Department of Architecture and Design, and Abby Hermosilla, Curatorial Assistant, Curatorial Affairs.

The curatorial team said: "Today, new generations of architects worldwide are forging close relationships between built structures and the Earth’s surface. This approach sharply contrasts with that of their modernist predecessors from the early and mid-20th century, who intentionally raised living spaces from soil—then viewed as a source of humidity, insects, and disease. No longer understood as an antagonist but as an ally to human well-being and survival, the ground has become a rich site to reconsider our interconnectedness with the planet.

Borrowing its title from French philosopher Bruno Latour’s book Down to Earth, this gallery showcases a series of design projects that thoughtfully intervene in our planet’s so-called “critical zone,” the “minuscule zone a few kilometers thick between the atmosphere and bedrock,” where most life occurs. Both conceptual and material, these highly varied strategies demonstrate how the design of the built environment can help foster resilient communities, mitigate the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, and re-establish connections between humans and nonhuman life."

Read more about the exhibition: https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5780

PIN UP: Mariam Issoufou and Adam Caruso on museums

The latest issue of PIN-UP Magazine focusses on museums, posing two essential questions: is the museum a space that can nurture and inspire the imagination or is it a place of ruin where objects go to die? The editors interview Mariam Issoufou, professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich and her colleague, Adam Caruso, professor of Architecture and Construction. Some of the topics they discuss include the accumulative acquisition policies in museums as well as the capitalistic, colonial implications that are embedded in the DNA of many museums. In discussing a recent studio she taught, At The End Of The World: Museums, Mariam Issoufou said: “Museums aren’t necessarily a core topic of mine in teaching. But, in practice the subject preoccupies me a lot. As an architect, I work mostly in West Africa, but I teach in Europe, where there’s a lot of talk about museums, their successes and failures, and the way they need to reinvent themselves. At the same time, we’re actively exporting that typology to other parts of the world, telling them they should do something that we’re questioning in Europe. This is kind of odd. I’ve long felt an ambivalence and discomfort toward the idea of the museum.”

Read the rest of the conversation.

Mariam Issoufou and Lesley Lokko in conversation

During the recent Irish Design Week, Mariam Issoufou and Lesley Lokko, founder and director of the African Futures Institute, sat down for an in-depth conversation titled Imagination for Opportunity. In her opening address, Lokko stressed that if we cannot imagine a better world, we will not be able to build one. Lokko added: “Inside every architect is a desire to make things better, at the scale of a detail joining wood and stone or at the scale of the environment.” In their conversation, Issoufou talked about some of her projects and the process that informs her architectural practice: “The question that we asked ourselves was: How do we design something that can be built naturally and effortlessly, by the skills that are available on the ground? This went on to be the way that I approach my practice in general. It’s informed research that happens beforehand to identify the opportunities that are present on the ground, the kinds of materials, skills and know-how — whether ancestral or new — in order to make a project.”

Mariam Issoufou in AXIS Japan

In the latest issue of AXIS magazine, Mariam Issoufou talks to Maki Nakata about her practice including some of her earlier work like Mobile Loitering, a response to public space needs in Niger's post-colonial, highly gendered urban context. They explored Issoufou’s formative experience growing up in Niger; how the notion of good architecture or good design translate to process; the values, practices, and processes that one learns from practicing in West Africa that can be applied elsewhere in the world, among other topics.

Mariam Issoufou speaks to UNEP's Resilience The Global Adaptation Podcast

In a conversation about Climate-resistant buildings, Mariam Issoufou shares her journey of returning to Niger, where she’s using her expertise to tackle extreme heat.

Listen to the episode: https://resilience-global-adaptation-podcast.transistor.fm/s2/1

Holcim Foundation Awards: Words with Winners

Mariam Issoufou and Yasaman Esmaili won two Holcim Awards for the Hikma Community Complex in Dandaji, Niger. In 2017, they won the Gold award for the Middle East / Africa region and in 2018 they won a Silver award in the Global category. In a recent video interview, Mariam Issoufou talked about how the design team’s sensitivity to cultural heritage and sustainability was central to the project’s success. She also talked about social sustainability as it pertains to this project, “For me, social sustainability is about much more than just the direct environmental impacts of a building. It's about understanding and responding to the deeper social and economic needs of a community. In this case, our approach was to start with open-ended conversations, rather than jumping straight to design solutions. We didn't ask the community what kind of rooms or spaces they wanted; instead, we listened to their aspirations, challenges, and practical needs. This allowed us to identify opportunities where the architecture could truly make a difference, whether it was providing study spaces for students, workshop areas for women's economic initiatives, or simply creating a more inclusive and accessible civic hub.”

Watch the Holcim Foundation video

Mariam Issoufou speaks to ETH Zurich News

In a recent interview with Christoph Elhardt from ETH Zurich news, Mariam Issoufou spoke about her career and how growing up in the Sahara desert influenced her appreciation of architecture: “Back then, it wasn’t unusual to walk home from school in temperatures of up to 45 degrees. I’ll never forget the feeling of stepping inside our cool mud house.” Elhardt adds that unlike people who grow up in the West, Mariam Issoufou wasn’t surrounded by houses made of concrete or wood during an important phase of her childhood. For centuries, clay was the standard building material used in Niger to insulate houses against the heat. This feel for the architectural heritage of her homeland is a major part of Issoufou’s work to this day. Not least in her lectures, in which she teaches her students about forgotten building cultures. She wants to show that beyond the modernist mainstream in America and Europe, there are traditions from which Western students can learn a lot. To do so, however, they must first abandon modernism’s blinkered view of architecture. “It’s not as if things only got going in the first half of the 20th century with a few gods of modern architecture such as Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright…”

Join the team!

Mariam Issoufou Architects is looking for a senior architect to join our growing team in New York City immediately. This is an on-site contract position. We are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

Requirements:

📌 The ideal candidate will be a deadline driven and self-starting individual with at least 7 years of post-qualification experience.

📌 The candidate must be capable of adapting and adding value in a diverse environment.

📌 The candidate must demonstrate excellent technical knowledge in their application. 
📌 The candidate must be highly proficient in Archicad, SketchUp and AutoCAD.

📌 The candidate should be capable of managing every stage of a project under pressure from inception to completion.

📌 The candidate must have the ability to independently produce detailed construction drawings, compliant with industry codes and best practices.

📌 Salary Range: Salary range: $95,000 - $115,000 annually.

Interested candidates need to send their CV and portfolio (or queries) to office@mariamissoufou.com

Letter From #6: Mariam Issoufou Architects

Mariam Issoufou talks to Salone del Mobile about her intersectional approach to architecture and her interest in maintaining an intimate dialogue between architecture, people and their context. She says: “Although our work exists in different geographical locations — from Africa, Europe and the Middle East — the starting point is always the same. The starting point for all our projects is to immerse ourselves in deep research to learn as much as we can about the people, climate, and culture of the regions in which we work. This research-led approach has continued to enrich our architectural projects no matter the typology we are working on. Our work rests on three pillars: intersectional sustainability, new urban typologies and creating social impact.”

Read the rest of her letter: https://www.salonemilano.it/en/articles/letter-6-mariam-issoufou-architects

Mariam Issoufou lecture at Columbia University's GSAPP

Mariam Issoufou will be in conversation with Mario Gooden at Columbia University's
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) on September 26, 2024. The lecture forms part of Columbia GSAPP’s Fall lecture series. The talks affirm the inseparability of practice, discourse, and activism in its commitment to anticipate change. Through a variety of formats, the School will think together how to action change through the built environment – and the forms of practice, professional engagement, and research needed to accelerate a change of paradigm from extractivism to fair coexistence and mutual care.  

You can watch the conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJGPMHRwvGk

Mariam Issoufou gives keynote at IASS 2024 in Zurich

Mariam Issoufou giving the keynote address at the IASS 2024 held at ETH Zurich.

Mariam Issoufou talked about her work in the village of Dandaji in Niger. In this village, about 7 hours outside Niger’s capital of Niamey, Mariam Issoufou has worked on two projects: the Dandaji Market and Hikma Community Complex. She told the audience about overcoming challenges on the construction site through listening to and working in close collaboration with local masons, builders and blacksmiths.

Listen to the lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZHjtODVujU

Mariam Issoufou talks to the Guardian’s architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright

Mariam Issoufou talks to Guardian architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, about her work at Mariam Issoufou Architects. She reflects on how her childhood growing up in the Sahara desert, among the majestic adobe structures in Agadez was such an inspiration for her later career as an architect. “There were no role models,” she says. “I didn’t know of any architects in Niger, let alone any women in the field.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/sep/02/nigerien-architect-african-mariam-issoufou

Mariam Issoufou in Swiss magazine: Interview by Ringier

Mariam Issoufou featured in Swiss magazine "Interview by Ringier". 

Mariam Issoufou was recently interviewed by Barbara Halter, managing editor of Swiss magazine, nterview by Ringier. The interview, who took place at Mariam’s office on the ETH Zurich campus, focussed on her practice over the past ten years and her professorship at ETH Zurich.

Design Champion for the Young Climate Prize

Mariam Issoufou is one of the Design Champions for the Young Climate Prize.

The Young Climate Prize amplifies and accelerates climate-focused projects by young people, aged 25 and under. The prize is free to enter, open to individuals and groups of up to three anywhere in the world. Mariam Issoufou is proud to be a Design Champion for the Prize.

Read more about the Young Climate Prize

Mariam said: “The climate crisis is one of the biggest us and young people will have to deal with the consequences of our actions and inactions. It is important for me to support the Young Climate Prize as I do believe that architects have a role to play in working with the next generation towards possible solutions.”

100 Women: Architects in Practice

100 Women: Architects in Practice features our project, Dandaji Regional Market, on the cover

We are proud to announce Mariam Issoufou’s inclusion in the book, 100 Women: Architects in Practice. Mariam had an in-depth conversation with authors Harriet Harriss, Monika Parrinder, Naomi House and Tom Ravenscroft, which is included in the book. We are all especially proud to have our project in Niger, the Dandaji Regional Market, featured on the cover.

The book showcases the largely overlooked stories of 100 women currently making their mark in the architectural world. The authors said: "Over the past decade, awareness of the need for gender balance in architecture has gained traction. Within the profession, women remain underrepresented, underpromoted and underpaid."

The book is geographically balanced to feature architects across six continents from no less than 79 countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between. The book explores “the different worlds, different forms of architecture and the place-sensitive approaches” each architect has taken to fulfil their vision through a series of insightful profiles and inspiring imagery.

Purchase your copy of the book through RIBA.

atelier masōmī is now Mariam Issoufou Architects

April marks ten years of atelier masōmī. To celebrate this milestone, we would like to announce that the firm is changing its name to Mariam Issoufou Architects.

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 Zurich, in the chair for Architecture Heritage and Sustainability, Mariam’s academic and research activities have expanded beyond our office in Niamey. This expansion has also necessitated a need to consolidate our work under one brand. 

Mariam Issoufou Architects remains committed to the ethos behind atelier masōmī. We view this change as an opportunity to deepen our work while remaining rooted to a holistic view of architecture that is ecologically sensitive and sustains local culture, craft and skills. Since the firm’s founding in 2014, we have been dedicated to using architecture as a tool for social change. Through projects like Hikma Community Complex, Dandaji Regional Market, Yantala Office and Niamey 2000, we have explored the ways architecture can advance local vernaculars, aesthetics, spatial conceptions and building techniques. Our participation in international exhibitions like the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale (curated by Hashim Sarkis),  2023 Venice Architecture Biennale (curated by Lesley Lokko), A Lot With Little (curated by Noemi Blager) and MAXXI Museum’s Good News: Women in Architecture has allowed us to apply our approach to craft and collaborate with artisans at different scales. We are also excited for our upcoming projects like Bët-bi Museum in Senegal, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center in Liberia, and Hayyan in Sharjah. 

The past ten years have been full of ups and downs. We could not have made it this far without our dedicated teams in Niger, New York and Zurich. Our heartfelt thanks also go out to our visionary clients and collaborators without whom our work would not be possible. We are thankful to all who have been part of our journey this far, and hope to have you along as Mariam Issoufou Architects enters the next stage.

Feel free to reach out to us on office@mariamissoufou.com

50 Influential African Women Architects

African Column’s 50 Influential African Women Architects

We are proud to announce that Mariam Issoufou has been named as one of 50 Influential African Women Architects. The list was curated by African Column, a platform dedicated to projecting, celebrating, and supporting the good work o Africans in Art, Architecture and Design.

Please click here to see the rest of the list.

Mariam Issoufou joins advisory committee for Ammodo Awards