Saira Hussain from Hussain Architectural Design attended the EU Summit chaired by Member of Parliament RT Hon Keith Vaz, at the European Parliament in Brussels last week, her topic of discussion was Architecture, well-being and health. Panellist included, Stephanie Bodenbach – European Commission, Dr Jim Painter – Professor of Public Health at the University of Texas and Professor Emeritus at Eastern Illinois University.
Hussain Architectural Design Ltd was founded in Burnley by then 23 year old Saira Hussain in 2011; the business has since expanded to Blackburn, Manchester, and London. The practice is led by all-female management and work towards a sustainable future and helping and inspiring females in the construction industry.
Over the last year, Saira has won a number of awards, named AI magazine’s ‘Most influential woman in Architecture’ award, the Duke of Gloucester award and had projects featured on several TV shows and magazines. Breakthrough Media are filming a short film about Saira’s work starting in September 2017.
Saira Hussain ‘Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment. To a great extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income, education and our relationships with friends/family all have considerable impacts on our health …
For me the focus of discussion was built environment characteristics that support such progressive behaviour. One of the opportunities of architecture is that through the design of form, space and material, it can direct our relationships with each other and our
environment by creating co-operative settings for life. It can do this in such a way as to provide opportunities to improve our sense of well-being, enhance our lives, make our lives healthier and more enjoyable.’
The discussion will be followed up at the Houses of Parliament.
