Briah Afzal Chowdhri

SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Graduates

SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Master of Architecture with an Emphasis in Interior Architecture

Pakistani Architect and Interior Designer aiming to develop sustainable solutions geared towards community-building through architectural storytelling. My designs employ deeper contextual values to construct humanizing relationships between man, nature and the proposed typology. I aim to explore the influence of vernacular values in narrative architecture for the regeneration of life in developing countries and the ultimate creation of self-sustainable and resilient communities. Representing and improving conditions in the architectural fabric of underprivileged areas.

Briah Afzal Chowdhri - Fractured Realities and the Mosque in Between

Fractured Realities and the Mosque in Between, An adaptive reuse of the Skokie Federal Savings Building to a Mosque

My thesis, Fractured Realities and the Mosque in Between, focuses on understanding the tensions between the major religious communities in Skokie—Christians, Jews, and Muslims—and explores strategies to mitigate these tensions through the creation of Masjid Al-Hayat, a learning center and space for interfaith dialogue within the SOM building. Through this project, I aim to study the intersection of historic preservation and religious coexistence through the adaptive reuse of the Skokie Federal Savings Building at 4747 Dempster Street. Through my thesis work, I seek to contribute to efforts to prevent the demolition of this important building and to advocate for its landmark designation. The mosque is envisioned as a space for communal safety and the preservation of local heritage.

The Century Hall, An Adaptive Reuse of the Century Building into SAIC Dormitory

The Century Hall reimagines student housing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a living extension of creative life. Conceived as more than a dormitory, the project frames residence as a site of exchange, experimentation, and collective identity. Through spatial storytelling and contextual engagement, Century Hall responds to SAIC’s interdisciplinary culture by blurring boundaries between living, making, and community. Its form follows the wild logic of SAIC’s artistic imagination, bending, colliding, and unfolding as an architecture shaped by creative excess rather than restraint.

Briah Afzal Chowdhri - The Green Circuit

The Green Circuit, A Hydronic Garden Centre Inspired by Chicago's Marshlands and Heritage

The project is conceptualized on the idea of Remembrance, allowing residents to connect back to their roots: Chicago as a marshy swamp. Inspired by the city of rivers with elements of a vernacular Pakistani canal system, I have run an organisation of canals or channels through the site that defines its irrigation system. The garden center consists of a system of ramps and platforms responding to the major axis (S Wabash and Van Buren), while their intersections form major nodes as points of entrance into the building. The building is connected to the CTA on the first floor allowing visitors to enter directly. Customers are allowed to view elements displayed on the ground and basement floor through a series of atriums that bring in light. Rainwater is harvested through slanted roof canopies and distributed to hydroponic shelves that allow different herb species to be grown in cup-like growing media.

Enso Studio, Horto in Urbs - Tranquility, Reflection & Movement

As the stream dissolves into still lake-like water, time lingers, reflections deepen, and the hush of rippling silence invites introspection, grounding the soul in nature’s rhythm.

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