Soala Ajienka

The practice of Architecture is a series of questions. The answers we purport are trajectories in reasoning that form the basis of and are influenced by cultural practices. Soala is interested in questions pertaining to materials and construction, policy and law, labor and heritage. As a Masters’ of Architecture Candidate and Graduate Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Architecture (MIT), Soala will be exploring these questions, treading the bounds of architectural practice to engage in interdisciplinary research and practice. 

Soala completed her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at the University of Cambridge in England where she wrote 'Where Fires never go out', an experimental research text on the implications of the Global Crude Oil Industry on communities of extraction. Soala’s architectural practice spans across geographies, from Lagos, Nigeria, to London, England and now Boston. 

While at MIT, Soala's work has concentrated on decarbonization across the building industry, particularly in materials use and energy consumption, incorporating ML to develop tools for predicting building performance based on sustainable environmental design principles. As part of the 2023 DesignX cohort, Soala  worked on Capture, a platform addressing energy inequality in off-grid, under-grid, and disaster-prone areas through renewable sources. 

In addition to her MArch, she is pursuing a dual degree in Real Estate Development, where she explores the integration of design technology in the building industry. This dual focus allows her to delve into sustainable design practices as mechanisms for placemaking and resilient community building.