Sabiha Ambareen Haque is an architect and landscape designer working at the meeting point of design, build and research. She is the founder of BAANABO, a landscape architecture practice working between Bangladesh and the United States.
Her training in architecture and landscape architecture provided her with an aperture to see the world in the form of systems that are interdependent and exclusive at the same time. Her work spans community-led housing and landscape in the chars and refugee camps of Bangladesh, curatorial research into displacement and memory, and the teaching of landscape architecture to a new generation of designers.
Approach
Every project begins by listening — to the land, the water, and the people who live with both. Sabiha works through participatory and co-design methods, building with local materials and knowledge, and documenting the work through research that stays in circulation through writing, exhibitions and teaching.
Education & career
- Bachelor of ArchitectureBRAC University, DhakaProfessional training in architecture in Bangladesh.
- Master of Landscape Architecture — MLA ’17The City College of New York (Spitzer School of Architecture)Graduate training in landscape architecture; MLA thesis research placed third among 100 graduate architecture students in the 2017 CCNY Graduate Student Symposium.
- 2016 — 2017Arcadis Waterfront Scholar · CELA graduate representativeSelected as an Arcadis Waterfront Scholar at the annual conference; served as graduate representative for the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. Volunteer with the Architecture League of New York.
- Founding memberFACE — Foundation for Architecture and Community Equity, DhakaCo-facilitates community construction of the climate-resilient Khudi Bari housing system across Bangladesh and in Rohingya refugee camps.
- Former Senior Research & Design AssociateBengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and SettlementsResearch and design on architecture, landscapes and settlements.
- Adjunct facultyDepartment of Architecture, Bangladesh UniversityTeaching landscape architecture to architecture students.
- FounderBAANABOLandscape architecture practice — design, build and research.
Recognition
- Arcadis Waterfront Scholar (2016) — selected at the Arcadis annual conference.
- CCNY Graduate Student Symposium (2017) — third prize for MLA thesis research.
- CELA graduate representative — Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.
- Volunteer — Architecture League of New York.
Beyond the studio
When she is not working, you may find her taking interest in theatre and writing nonsense poems.
