Sara Elhussein

Sara Elhussein is an Architect and Senior Sustainability Consultant with over 10 years of experience spanning professional practice, academic research, and teaching. Her expertise includes sustainable and parametric design, building physics, AI, and project management, balancing environmental performance with socio-economic and operational efficiency.She holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Khartoum and a Master's in Environmental Design and Engineering from University College London (UCL). In 2013, she founded I Design, a multidisciplinary architecture and sustainability firm based in Sudan, which remains active today. She has also held academic roles, including serving as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Architecture, Future University. In the UK, she held senior positions at internationally recognised firms such as Hydrock (now Stantec) and ME Engineers, where she led projects involving LEED, WELL, BREEAM, life cycle assessment, and circular economy strategies. Her work spans Africa, the Middle East, and the UK. She has contributed to major projects including Qiddiya Stadiumin Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest and most expensive stadium designed for the FIFA World Cup 2034; the Aylesham Centre Redevelopment in the UK, a large-scale urban regeneration scheme comprising 15 new residential, commercial, and public buildings; and 4 Selsdon Way, a retrofit project transforming a 1980s office block into over 200 apartments.She won the architectural competition for the Sudan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which was successfully constructed and officially featured on the UAE government’s Expo website. Her role as Lead Architect was highlighted in Vogue Arabia as one of the few female architects to design a national pavilion. In 2016, she became the first Sudanese architect to curate her country’s participation in the Venice Architecture Biennale, presenting Nubia, The Displaced Kingdom. As Commissioner and Curator, her work is officially listed under National Participations, and she later published a book expanding on the exhibition, contributing to architectural discourse on cultural identity and displacement. She also won the national design competition for the Professional Teachers’ Union Headquarters in Sudan in 2015.Her academic contributions include a peer-reviewed book chapter titled “Reimagining Sudan’s Built Environment: A Sustainable Recovery Approach”, published by the World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) at Queen Mary University of London. This work also formed the basis for a peer-reviewed journal article in the International Journal of Sudan Research (IJSR) and a keynote presentation at the Re-Building Sudan After the War international conference, where she addressed climate resilience and sustainable post-conflict design.Sara currently serves as a researcher on the SDGs Tracker Project, led by Professor Allam Ahmed at WASD, employing AI-based tools to analyse global implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She is also a peer reviewer for the Journal of Climate Change, published by the World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (WSSET), University of Nottingham. Additionally, she is a key member of the Development & Advocacy Committee within the Sudan Heritage Preservation Council. Her research interests centre on climate-responsive design, building simulation, data-driven urban planning, and the preservation of architectural heritage.