ABOUT MIIM DESIGNS:
MIIM is a research-driven architecture practice investigating how spatial systems mediate relationships between ecology, culture, and collective life. Working across scales, from material assemblies and exhibitions to buildings and urban infrastructure, the practice approaches architecture not as isolated form, but as an evolving framework shaped by environmental processes, cultural memory, and civic transformation. Through design, research, and pedagogy, MIIM develops projects as sites of inquiry where architecture operates as both cultural dialogue and ecological agency, connecting spatial form to collective experience, environmental stewardship, and public life.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE COLLECTIVE SANCTUARY
Architecture can no longer operate as the production of autonomous objects detached from ecological and social conditions. MIIM advances an architecture of the collective sanctuary: spatial frameworks that support shared forms of living, cultural continuity, and environmental resilience under conditions of urban, ecological, and civic change.
AREAS OF INQUIRY:
Design as Social Practice
Architecture as a collaborative and participatory process shaped through collective engagement, spatial equity, and shared authorship.
Architecture as Cultural Archive
Architecture as a medium through which memory, identity, and diasporic histories are translated into spatial experience.
Circular Material Systems
Material research centered on reuse, locality, adaptive systems, and environmental responsiveness.
Policy + Spatial Strategy
Expanding architecture beyond object-making toward civic systems, territorial infrastructures, and institutional frameworks.
PEOPLE:
MARYAM ESKANDARI, Principal
Maryam Eskandari is the founding principal of MIIM DESIGNS. Her work operates at the intersection of architecture, cultural narrative, and environmental systems, with projects spanning North America, Europe, Africa, and South Asia. She has received national and international recognition for advancing architecture as a form of social and environmental practice, including awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Institute of Architects.
Eskandari has taught at Harvard University and the Boston Architectural College, and has served as the Nature Conservancy Capstone Thesis Professor. Her work includes contributions to major cultural and educational projects as well as global heritage initiatives, including the restoration of Humayun’s Tomb in India. She has served on the boards of the Open Architecture Collaborative and the 1947 Partition Archive.
Recognition
MIIM DESIGNS has been recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in design, research, and cultural impact.
Selected honors include:
National Endowment for the Arts (2x recipient): Children’s Museum of Manhattan: America to Zanzibar Exhibit
Doris Duke Foundation Award: Children’s Museum of Manhattan: America to Zanzibar Exhibit
National Endowment for the Humanities: Children’s Museum of Manhattan: America to Zanzibar Exhibit
Institute of Museum and Library Services (multiple awards): Children’s Museum of Manhattan: America to Zanzibar Exhibit and Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose: Nowruz Around the World
American Institute of Architects: Betty Fairfax High School, Phoenix College Fine Arts and Steven Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center
Excellence in Design: International Museum of Women
Aga Khan Trust for Culture: Humayun’s Tomb
UNESCO World Heritage: Humayun’s Tomb
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