Meet Your Designer: Taahirah Igbal
Fun fact: I am saved in my sister’s phone as “The Artist”
Worked at Arkiplan since?
June 2021
Most challenging project?
It’s easy to sit down in front of a piece of paper and “design” a crazy, cool looking building that will awe the public, but it’s my job to go beyond and inside that. It’s also easy to sit down and draw up a building that meets every minimum code and is 100% structurally, mechanically and thermally efficient; but it’s my job to go deeper. There’s more to a building than what is experienced. And there’s also more to what’s experienced than what is seen.
It is my job to be the hub of the wheel; the still point of the turning world.
Every Project has its own significance and challenges. Whether big or small, a creative mind can solve all challenges!
How long have you been making clients’ lives more beautiful?
My journey as junior Architect started from 2008, the year I finished my bachelor’s degree in architecture. With much inspirations from my childhood, study and travel, I was fully dedicated to make the best of my design career wherever it took me.
My clients’ happiness after the transformation of their homes is complete is the beauty not just in their lives, but also in my life too.
Why did you get into architectural design?
When I was around 6 years old I remember going on site visits with my dad. The memory is still captured in my mind the way he would observe the site and the drawings, communicate with the people, measuring with a tape. I also remember going to his Architect’s studio, looking around at the pinup boards packed with drawings and photographs of beautiful buildings.
I used to wait for my school bus just opposite the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank which was built in colonial style, and I admired it every day.
All of this inspired me to pursue a career in architectural design.
Previous work experience?
Over the years I have gone from humble design beginnings to eventually becoming a Senior Architect. I have designed everything from the basic renovation of spaces all the way up to luxury villas, gated housing communities, multi-storeyed apartments, commercial buildings and offices, 5 star hotels, clinics and hospitals.
My absolute favourite project type to work on is domestic renovation as I get to transform spaces to help real people live happier, healthier lives.