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Madame Architect

@madamearchitect

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The women, entrepreneurs and creatives shaping our world and culture💫☄️🌊
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Created and edited by @julia.gamolina

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Last week, we were honored to welcome Jing Liu, Founding Partner of SO–IL, the Brooklyn-based architecture practice whose work spans continents and disciplines, for the latest installment of New Earth Dialogues.

In conversation with @julia.gamolina of @madamearchitect, the discussion explored how looking beyond the traditional architectural canon can expand our understanding of sustainability and climate resilience. Jing highlighted the value of local materials, indigenous building knowledge, and regional construction traditions, including bamboo, as alternatives to resource-intensive building practices. She also made the case for working with what already exists, challenging the culture of demolition in favor of adaptive reuse, while exploring how emerging technologies and recycled materials can open new possibilities for building more responsibly.

She also shared how growing up in China, living in Japan, and later moving to the United States shaped her understanding of resources, consumption, and abundance. Reflecting on these different cultural contexts, she spoke about the importance of rethinking our relationship with the built environment and embracing a more resource-conscious approach to how we live and build.

The conversation also turned to playfulness as an essential part of architectural practice. Jing discussed how designing spaces that feel dynamic, joyful, and interactive has shaped SO–IL’s work, as well as how raising her daughters has influenced her perspective on design. She also reflected on the firm’s B Corp certification, describing it as an opportunity to examine not only its environmental impact, but also its governance, operations, and broader responsibilities.

Her closing reflections turned toward the next generation of architects and the opportunity to imagine our collective future through regeneration and abundance rather than scarcity.

We are grateful to everyone who joined us, and to Jing and Julia for an evening of ideas, inspiration, and dialogue.

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New Earth Dialogues is a series of conversations exploring our collective future grounded in regeneration and abundance, of the Earth, of humanity, and of spirit.

You are invited to our next conversation in partnership with @madamearchitect featuring @maelokko , an architectural scientist, designer, and educator from Ghana and the Philippines, and assistant professor at the Yale School of Architecture and co-directs doctoral research at the Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture.

Mae-ling’s research centers on agro waste and renewable bio based materials, and on the idea of generative justice: new models of production and collaboration that are distributed, participatory, and attentive to the histories of extraction behind our building materials. She is the founder of Willow, a Ghana-based practice that develops academic-community and academic-industrial partnerships to build and scale demonstration architectural projects, and her work has been exhibited internationally, from the Stedelijk Museum to MoMA New York. In this conversation, Mae-ling will explore how the materials we build with can serve ecological health and communities alike, imagining a built environment that regenerates rather than depletes.

In this conversation, Mae-ling will explore how the materials we build with can serve ecological health and communities alike, imagining a built environment that regenerates rather than depletes.

Join us for an evening of ideas, inspiration, and dialogue.

Thursday, November 12, 2026 — 6:00pm–7:30pm Another Tomorrow, 135 Wooster Street, New York

Space is limited to maintain the intimacy that makes these dialogues meaningful. RSVP via the link in our bio to secure your spot.

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New Earth Dialogues is a series of conversations exploring our collective future grounded in regeneration and abundance, of the Earth, of humanity, and of spirit.

You are invited to our next conversation in partnership with @madamearchitect featuring Jing Liu, founding partner of @solidobjectives, Jing is an architect and educator whose practice spans continents and disciplines from her base in Brooklyn.

Over more than fifteen years, Jing has guided SO–IL’s engagement with the social and political questions shaping contemporary cities, through built work like the Artists Loft in North Omaha and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland, alongside artistic collaborations with choreographers and visual artists and large-scale public realm and master planning work in cities such as Melbourne and Indianapolis. She approaches design as a platform that should be open to everyone, and sees community engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration as central to how she leads.

In this conversation, Jing will explore how architecture can hold space for connection across cultures and disciplines — imagining built environments that respond to the people and communities they serve.

Join us for an evening of ideas, inspiration, and dialogue at the intersection of community, design, and the power of architecture to bring people together.

Thursday, October 15, 2026 — 6:00pm–7:30pm Another Tomorrow, 135 Wooster Street, New York

Space is limited to maintain the intimacy that makes these dialogues meaningful. RSVP via the link in our bio to secure your spot.

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This week marked the return of our series, New Earth Dialogues, in partnership with @madamearchitect.

We were delighted to welcome
@kharbanda_kritika, Global Head of Sustainability at Hennig Larsen @henninglarsenarchitects, the global architecture and design practice known for its multi-faceted and research-led approach to sustainability.

In conversation with @julia.gamolina, Kritika shared how Henning Larsen follows a "North Star" of positive impact for both people and planet, from an in-house anthropologist studying how urban spaces shape safety and inclusion for teenage girls, to biologists weaving native flora and fauna back into the city.

The discussion turned to what it takes to decarbonize the built environment: the gaps that exist between the highly integrated Scandinavian focus on embodied carbon given already advanced grid energy systems and the U.S. focus on operational energy as energy grids remain behind. In all cases, circular strategies such as design for disassembly and retrofitting existing buildings remain among the most sustainable paths forward. Kritika also reflected on the collaborative realities of coordinating among stakeholders to drive outcomes, how to assess which battles are worth fighting, and the necessity of integrating post-occupancy evaluations to demonstrate how buildings truly perform.

Her closing thought looked toward the opportunity for a resurgence of design that responds more deeply to local culture, the potential for greater collaboration across disciplines, from architecture to fashion, to create systemic change and the critical role of creativity, vision, and inspiration as sustenance to drive us forward.
We are grateful to everyone who joined us, and to Kritika and Julia.

New Earth Dialogues continues on October 15 with Jing Liu, Founding Partner of SO – IL @solidobjectives, in conversation with Julia Gamolina. RSVP via the link in bio.

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New Earth Dialogues returns for a new season.

Earlier this year, we opened New Earth Dialogues — a series of conversations in service of a vision for our collective future grounded in regeneration and abundance. Of the Earth, of humanity, and of spirit.

We continue this season with the world of the built environment, in partnership with Madame Architect @madamearchitect. Hosted at Another Tomorrow’s SoHo flagship, these conversations moderated by Julia Gamolina @julia.gamolina, bring together voices shaping how we design, build, and restore.

Join us for three new conversations this fall:

September 29 — Kritika Kharbanda, Head of Sustainability at Henning Larsen
October 15 — Jing Liu, Co-Founder and Partner, SO – IL
November 12 — Mae-Ling Lokko, Architectural Scientist and Assistant Professor, Yale School of Architecture

We begin on September 29 with Kritika Kharbanda, whose work at Henning Larsen focuses on turning environmental ambition into tangible solutions for architecture. Together with Julia, she will explore what it takes to move an industry toward decarbonization, from the materials we choose to the decisions made long before a building takes shape.

We hope you’ll join us for an evening of conversation, curiosity, and shared ideas.

September 29, 2026, 6:00PM–7:30PM
Another Tomorrow, 135 Wooster Street, New York

Space is limited to preserve the intimacy of these conversations. RSVP via Luma to
join us. Link in bio.

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4 years at @rayisaplace 👷🏽‍♀️♥️🎉

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This week, we sat with Mariam Issoufou—a visionary architect whose awards and accolades (UN Champion of the Earth 2025, Prince Claus Award, multiple LafargeHolcim honors) are only the beginning of the story.

In conversation with @julia.gamolina from @madamarchitect, @mariamissoufouk presented a vision where architecture is stripped of ego and centered in service. Where design becomes an act of listening, of honoring heritage while imagining futures. Where every structure is a conversation with the people it serves and the full lifecycle of materials is honored. In a world obsessed with innovation, Mariam reminded us that the most radical architecture is the kind that makes people feel like they truly belong.

We are grateful for the presence of everyone who joined us for this conversation, and to Mariam and Julia.

The New Earth Dialogues series will return in September with a new lineup of sessions and discussions. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements.

Photographer: Robert Jones

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New Earth Dialogues is a series of conversations exploring our collective future grounded in regeneration and abundance, of the Earth, of humanity, and of spirit.

You are invited to our next conversation in partnership with @madamearchitect , featuring @mariamissoufouk, a visionary architect, researcher, and educator whose work bridges identity, place, and history across continents — from the Sahel to the halls of ETH Zurich.

As the Founding Principal of @mariamissoufou_architects, she leads a research-based practice with offices in Niamey, New York, and Zurich, whose completed projects — including the Hikma Community Complex and the Dandaji Regional Market — redefine what architecture can mean for communities rooted in distinct cultural and ecological landscapes. Recognized with the UN’s 2025 Champion of the Earth Award, the Prince Claus Award, and multiple LafargeHolcim honors, Mariam has built a body of work that treats sustainability not as an aesthetic, but as a radical act of care and equity.

In this conversation, Mariam will explore how architecture can serve as social practice — weaving together memory, belonging, and ecological responsibility to imagine built environments that honor both the past and the futures we are called to create.

Join us for an evening of ideas, inspiration, and dialogue at the intersection of heritage, sustainability, and the power of design to transform lives.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026 — 6:00pm–7:30pm
Another Tomorrow, 135 Wooster Street, New York

Space is limited to maintain the intimacy that makes these dialogues meaningful. RSVP via the link in our bio to secure your spot.

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Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting the Madame Architect anniversary celebration at Bossa Chelsea Gallery.

Bringing together architects, designers, creatives, and friends of the platform, gatherings like this become part of how we imagine the gallery, not only as a place for collectible design but as a space for conversation, exchange, and community.

The evening reflected something we deeply value at Bossa: creating space for meaningful encounters across disciplines, generations, and perspectives.

Thank you to @madamearchitect for celebrating this milestone with us.

Photography by Robert Jones

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Last week we welcomed Lindsey Wikstrom, Founding Principal of @Mattaforma and 2026 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award recipient for Emerging Designer, for the latest installment of New Earth Dialogues.

In conversation with @julia.gamolina of @madamearchitect, @lindsey.wikstrom shared her pioneering work at the intersection of architecture, ecology, and material innovation, grounded in the belief that the built environment can and must grow alongside the natural systems that sustain us. Drawing from her research into forest ecology and the findings of her book Designing the Forest, the dialogue explored how cities might fold the intelligence of natural ecosystems into the way we build, and made a compelling case for mass timber as a regenerative, plant-based alternative to the concrete and steel our cities have relied upon for over a century.

The dialogue framed designing with timber as much more than a technical expertise, but as a vision for life more deeply connected to nature, suggesting that we are at the beginning of a new material era, one that over the next one hundred years will blossom into what we might call plant-based cities.

We are grateful for the presence of everyone who joined us for this conversation, and to Lindsey and Julia.

Photographer @SierraPruitt

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@tishmanspeyer’s Antonia Devine (@antoniadevine) teaches a super cool class at @yalearchitecture called “The Architect As: Recasting the Role of the Architect in the Development Lifecycle.” Antonia invited me to join the class and speak to the students for a the class themed “Architect as Innovator,” where I talked about my own journey in professional practice and launching Madame Architect (and the seeds that were planted for it in moving from Siberia to Canada to the US, and also during my time at @cornellaap - Cornell Journal of Architecture, Convivium, Thumbnail!)

I then talked to a larger student group in The Pit — a bucketlist experience — and answered questions moderated by McKenna Sabon (@mckennasabon) who leads the @yale.women.in.architecture affinity group.

All photography by Benjamin Piascik (@benpiascik). Thanks so much to Antonia, McKenna, and Yale SoA for having me!

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The Beverly Willis Foundation (@bwaf.nyc) has been advocating for gender equity in leadership and recognition in the built world for decades, so their recognition for Media Engagement is especially meaningful to me!

Thanks so much to the BWF team and board, and to my fellow honorees, all amazing people leading by example: Sharon Prince, founder of @gracefarmsct and @dffmovement; Amale Andraos of @work.ac and @columbiagsapp; Erleen Hatfield of @hatfield_grp; David J. Cohen of @theigracecompany; and Tess McNamara of @theportauthority_ny_nj.

Such a pleasure to celebrate with all of those who came to support BWF ✨ All photography by @photosbysamuellahoz, and wearing @anothertomorrow of course.

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