Alumni > Yasaman Esmaili
About ...
Yassi joined the DMG in autumn 2012, after earning a Bachelor of Architecture from University of Tehran in 2008 and a Master of Architecture from the University of Arizona in 2011. Before joining the DMG she worked at Arcosanti Urban Laboratory and also worked as an intern architect in Turkey and Iran.
At the UW her research focused on the integration of digital design, fabrication and space-making. Her goal was to explore how digital design and fabrication tools, through the integration of emerging material technologies and existing innovations, can enhance generative design processes in creating efficient, lean and responsible architectural systems.
Her thesis (chaired by Rob Corser, and with the guidance of Elizabeth Golden), was centered on the Gohar Khatoon Girls' School in Afghanistan, and has been cited in ArchDaily (http://www.archdaily.com/774074/gohar-khatoon-girls-school-robert-hull-plus-university-of-washington/).
In 2014 she co-founded united4design, a design collective to stimulate a dialogue about architecture and global practice. u4d's project "Niamey2000", an urban housing development addressing middle-income housing crisis in the capitol of Niger, was awarded 2016 AIA Seattle Award of Merit (see https://aiaseattle.org/awards/honor-awards/).
In 2017 she joined blokable, a Washington based company addressing housing affordability on the west coast by developing prefabricated smart homes.
In 2019 she moved to the east coast and now lives near Boston, while teaching part time at Keene State College in New Hampshire and continuing her Studio Chahar practice.
Projects
Publications
- Equity in Practice: Digital Architecture’s Role in Maker Culture (2020) [Papers]
- low-tech.high-touch: DNA Brick Assembly (2014) [MS Theses]
- Arcosanti - a prototype arcology (2013) [Blog Posts]