Architect of change!
Kholood Akbari’s father Mahmood Akbar was her role model and she grew up watching her father.
When Kholood was young, she always used to be around her father’s office. She loved it when her father used to pick her from school and stop by his sites to supervise. Kholood would open her eyes intriguingly and intently whenever he would design and supervise his sites. Apart from that, Kholood had been always good math, science and art so it became a very natural thing to pursue herself into the field of Architecture.
Kholood studied in the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in 1985. She soon worked for Mahmood Akbari Consultants office, which is the first Bahraini architecture office that opened in Bahrain in 1960.
After working for her father for eight years, she joined National Bank of Bahrain for more experience.
She worked for six years in project management exposing herself to interior design, where she designed new branches and redesigned existing ones for NBB.
In 2000, Kholood opened Akbari Architects, which was four years after her father’s retirement. They have been in the market for 16 years where they mainly worked in residential and commercial projects, which ends with interior work.
Passion for Sustainability and Green Architecture
Ten years ago, Kholood was exposed to sustainability and green architecture through an architect, she met from Barcelona, Spain and since then she has attended a lot of conferences and seminars about Sustainability and Green Architecture.
She enrolled for a Masters degree online in East London University and she is now currently working on a thesis about Adaptation of Sustainability.
Kholood said, “That is where my real passion lies now, where Sustainability and Green Architecture designs and constructs in harmony with the environment. I really found myself in it as it clicked with me immediately.” She attended seminars and conferences in Barcelona, Singapore and London. She added, “I actually found myself already working in that line without me knowing that I was a very responsible architect. I have been cautious about the environment all my life. The more I attended seminars and became aware, the more I became responsible.”
Floating Gardens
With exposure to Sustainability, Kholood opened Floating Gardens last year. She said, “My passion for sustainability got me to start Floating gardens, which is mainly planting green roofs and vertical green garden walls indoors and outdoors. We are planting green roofs to compensate for the greenery we took for construction.
She added, “It’s our responsibility to give back whatever we took from the environment and to create a space for the insects to live. We are a part of the ecosystem, and we need to live as part of it and not as invaders.”
After building her house last year, she applied as many characteristics of sustainable architecture. The green roof and green walls provided a very good insulation and energy for her house. It also provided oxygen and absorbed carbon dioxide from the environment.
She added, “So when I did it, I thought why don’t I help and encourage others to do that?”
Floating Gardens recently conducted a workshop for Al Hekma school and plans to conduct more in schools and universities. “That’s when I had the idea of starting my own Floating Gardens mainly to specialise in green roofs and green walls.
Sustainable Ecovillages
Kholood also attended a course in Italy and received a certificate for Ecovillages Design from Gaia Education.
It involves developing villages into sustainable villages.
She said, “From the sustainable point of view, we’re not a self sustainable country in our basic needs and we’re very dependent especially on food. I’m trying to spread that awareness and tell people to grow their own vegetables and herbs. It’s my dream to take Bahrain to how it was before, it was such a green island with fruits, trees and herbs.”
“My next plan, hopefully, is to develop Nabi Saleh island into an ecovillage, because at the moment, if you need a hairdresser, a tailor, or get your house fixed or get vegetables and meat, you need to leave the island to get your needs. We don’t have anything on the island and we are almost 3,000 people. I want to encourage them to have the island itself as self-sustained, that would also hopefully create job opportunities for the people in the village. I want Nabi Saleh to be a model for other villages to follow,” Kholood explained.
She also plans to arrange a trip for whoever is interested for a week or 10 days to visit those villages and live their lives to see how it is to practice sustainable development and how you can adapt.
Wrapping up, Kholood’s values and passion, she shines a light on the importance of responsibility in which she expresses, “Be responsible in whatever you do. Don’t be selfish, think about others, and think about generations to come. Most people unfortunately think about themselves, now and what is the quickest way to invest and get their returns as quick as possible. My main value is being responsible and do good.”
Kholood Akbari
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