Saifullah Sami Architect

About the the Firm

Formed in 2015, Saifullah Sami Architect is a compact and cohesive group of inspired young design professionals for whom good architecture is a matter of passion. We combine a rational, analytical approach with intuition in the design process. In the making of architecture, we believe in both problem-solving and poetics - ideals we strive for personally through active engagement with stakeholders, passionate sketching, drawing, 3D modelling, rendering and physical model-making.

We provide design services in the following disciplines:

Master Planning
Architectural Design
Interior Design
Landscape Design
Urban Design

Services we provide include client engagement and program development, concept design, design development and coordination with engineering disciplines, preparation of tender packages to finally top supervision of construction.

The firm is registered with the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (PCATP).

About the Principal: Saifullah Sami
Practicing architecture since 2003, Saif is well-exposed to contexts both global and local. He has a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University, USA and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVSAA), Karachi with a Gold Medal for Excellence in Architecture. He has a diverse educational background with an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. From 2007 to 2009, while on the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship of the US Department of State, Saif traveled extensively to various places across the globe including - Europe and Japan - to experience great works of architecture first-hand. At Yale he was influenced by master-architect teachers such as Fred Koetter, John Patkau, Stefan Behnisch and Peter Eisenman, learning a critical approach to design. Working in Karachi with architect Arif Hasan, he acquired a respect for the urban realm and wider societal realities in Pakistan - an attitude that continues to inform his work at the level of the individual building as well. Having worked for six years first as project architect and then as principal architect of the respected Karachi firm Ahed Associates, Saif gained invaluable experience in the design and production of architecture in general and institutional architecture in particular. At this firm, in 2010 his design for the Habib University in Karachi won a prestigious Merit Award from the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP)in the US - the first instance of a Pakistani firm winning the award.

Saif has an active engagement with academia. Apart from contributing to local design periodicals, he has taught architectural design at IVSAA and NED University in Karachi and has officiated as external juror and examiner at these institutions as well as at Karachi University's Department of Visual Studies. He has lectured at various institutions including the Habib University in Karachi as well as forums hosted by the Institute of Architects Pakistan (IAP), the Pakistan Green Building Council (PGBC) and the United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP). Saif has served on the Board of Architecture Studies at IVSAA as well asat NazeerHussain University in Karachi. He is a member of the IAP and a life-time member of the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (PCATP).