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Ushna Raees Bio

Ushna is a practicing Architect/ Designer based in Karachi, Pakistan and currently working for ‘arcop’ one of the most renowned firms in the country. During the course of her stint with ‘arcop’, Ushna has worked as Project Architect on several complex projects undertaken by AKDN (Aga Khan Development Network) and AKESP (Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan) in the Northern Areas which is a diverse terrain from cultural, social and geographical aspects. The projects comprise four Schools and an IT Park. Other than that, she has assisted and been part of the team on the projects including a five star hotel (Serena) in Gilgit & Hunza, Office buildings (HBL Plaza, HBL Clifton, HBL Swing space), Emaar Mosque, Emaar village Islamabad, TCF vocational center, The Indus Hospital, Surjani Town Karachi, Panu Orchards Mansehra, Aga Khan Center etc.

She has previously worked at Najmi Bilgrami Collaborative as Project Architect on several Residential, Public, hospitality architecture and interior projects. 

Ushna believes in the social responsibility of Architecture. She considers herself as a human being who is in a constant process of learning and evolving.

In her education, Ushna completed her professional degree in Architecture from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi in 2018. She did her undergraduate thesis on 'Facilitating learning for the children with Sensory Perception Issues through Architecture' which was also nominated for the Graduate Award. She also presented her thesis research at Falling Walls lab Karachi. She has written a dissertation on how the Urban Redevelopment in Karachi has been majorly dominated by a Neoliberal ideology. Her paper analyzes the case study of a 9th century Shrine of a Sufi Saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi. Her research focuses on how the culture and morphology of the shrine has been affected after the construction of a 62-story high rise building right next to it. Her research was also nominated for the RIBA Presidents Award for Research 2018 and the abstract of the research was published in the annual journal of RIBA.

Ushna was one of the semi finalists in Berkeley Prize essay competition in 2018. She also won Berkeley Prize Travel Fellowship Prize through which she travelled to the United States to attend a five week Arcosanti hands-on construction workshop and to study the principle of Arcology. At Arcosanti, she also received Arcosanti Scholarship Award.

Ushna won First Prize in ARCASIA student design competition in 2015 and was also awarded a Gold Medal at the ARCASIA award ceremony in Ayutthaya, Thailand. She is a recipient of several awards and prizes. She has also been a speaker and a delegate at several national and international conferences.