‘In Focus’ – An Interview with Safoura Zahedi
Safoura Zahedi (she/her) OAA, BID, M.Arch, is a Toronto-based, award-winning architect, artist, and design educator with extensive experience on diverse projects, in Canada and internationally.
With both an interior design and architecture background, Safoura brings an integrated approach to projects at all scales from inception through to construction. Her independent work sits at the intersection of art and architecture, where she explores geometry as a universal design language through contemporary technology and digital fabrication.
Safoura’s independent work has been featured in publications such as Azure magazine, DesignLines, and BlogTO, and showcased at galleries and festivals including the Design Exchange 3DXL exhibition, DesignTO Festival, and Gladstone Hotel's Come Up To My Room.
Safoura is highly committed to Toronto’s design community and is a Programs Coordinator for the DesignTO Festival, and an Executive Committee member at BEAT, Building Equality in Architecture Toronto, where she co-founded an annual forum devoted to addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in the design and architecture industry. Safoura is also a sessional lecturer at the School of Interior Design at X University, formerly Ryerson University.
Safoura Zahedi |
Architect, artist, design educator
“My faith as a Muslim woman teaches me to share my wealth. I am deeply committed to this act of sharing and have seen over the years how my positionality as a lecturer, in what are often very white and male spaces, breaks barriers for my marginalized students.”
Tell us about yourself and your work.
I hold a Bachelor of Interior Design from X University and a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Toronto. I have worked with several award-winning architecture offices in Toronto, on a number of high-profile national and international projects. I juggle many roles and passions, both in my career and personal life. Currently, I am a Project Architect at Superkul Architects, I am actively involved in the renovation of the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library Reading Room and the CN Tower’s Observation Deck.
Beyond working towards design excellence, what I have loved most about my architectural practice to date is the opportunity to create public spaces that will serve people for years to come. It gives me joy to know that my hard work goes towards creating spaces that best serve its users, with design, aesthetics, accessibility, and inclusivity in mind.
“It gives me joy to know that my hard work goes towards creating spaces that best serve its users, with design, aesthetics, accessibility, and inclusivity in mind.”
This approach is integral to my personal art and installation work too. My independent work as an artist and designer is based on the study of geometry as a universal language of unity. My inspiration is deeply rooted in Islamic Architecture and Geometry, and this work is ongoing and speculative, and a way for me to learn about areas of design and architecture that had no space in my Western education. This has also become a tool for me to reconnect with my heritage.
‘Connect’ Installation, commissioned by the Gladstone Hotel
Over the years, I have been involved in Toronto’s architecture and design scene. I am currently co-organizing the DesignTO Symposium program, which runs annually. Last year, the symposium was on ‘Inclusive Design’, and this year’s topic seeks to challenge the long-accepted idea of ‘normal’ in order to design for diversity. The goal here is to create and foster a platform where we can discuss critical issues in the design industry and make space for emerging voices.
“My inspiration is deeply rooted in Islamic Architecture and Geometry, and this work is ongoing and speculative, and a way for me to learn about areas of design and architecture that had no space in my Western education. This has also become a tool for me to reconnect with my heritage.”
Finally, my teaching experience is very close to my heart. My faith as a Muslim woman teaches me to share my wealth, intellectual and financial. I am deeply committed to this act of sharing and have seen over the years how my positionality as a lecturer, in what are often very white and male spaces, breaks barriers for my marginalized students. I want them to know and realize that there is a place for them in this profession.
What challenges or barriers have you faced in your industry as a woman of colour?
As a visible minority (brown + female + headscarf-wearing Muslim = triple threat), I have faced a combination of sexism and racism, not just in the design and architectural profession but throughout my education. I recognize this experience is not unique to me, but unfortunately shared by the majority of racialized women. It has also not been easy growing up post 9/11, in a western society as a practicing Muslim woman; this has come with Islamaphobic incidents and micro-aggressions on a daily basis.
I realized early on that I had to prove myself several times more than my white counterparts in any room I stepped into. I have experienced being stereotyped into working on certain types of projects only because it was perceived that it would ‘fit’ me better. There have also been instances where I have been replaced with white male counterparts who were deemed to be better suited for a leadership role.
I have had my work interrupted only to be questioned about my religious practices publicly in the middle of a workday by older white colleagues who seemed to think I am there to serve their curiosity. People always look to my white colleagues first in meetings before realizing I’m the one with the answers they seek, and then they finally start seeing me.
Even though I have learned to be resilient at pushing away these encounters, I have many experiences of being overlooked and underestimated, where others have not championed for me. The onus shouldn’t be on us as minority groups to be resilient. I do hope, however, that by pushing forward I am paving an easier path for those coming after me.
What are some strategies and approaches you use to cope with these challenges?
I had fierce, amazing, feminist women as role models in my life that embedded within me much of the strength I hold today. That said, I did not grow up with many examples of self-care. I had to learn what self-care means to me as an adult, after experiencing burn-out, a low point in my life that was a culmination of the psychological, emotional, physical pressure I had been putting on myself to continuously perform. I have since learned to love myself regardless of my “performance”.
I have learned to listen to myself. If a situation does not feel right, or I feel wronged, I choose to either address the situation or person or move on to a place that’s right for me. I also turn to the following daily self-care practices that I have found to be helpful in staying grounded:
Meditation or daily prayer, whatever format and time that feels right
Journaling or writing down my thoughts and feelings has given me a channel to process and release what I would have struggled with internally for a longer time
Learning to make space for my feelings, but also knowing that they don't define me
Connecting with dear friends who share similar experiences as WOC and making space for each other to talk and listen
‘Beyond the Surface’ Installation, exhibited as part of the 2018 DesignTO Festival
What advice would you give to younger women of colour in your industry?
Don’t drown in trying to be like others or trying to be what you think others want you to be. Embrace your authentic self and unique perspective. Trust it. Value it. Grow it. Find ways to share it with the rest of us.
Other tips that might help include:
Learn not to care about other people’s judgments and biases, they have no control over us unless we give them control.
You have to make space for yourself because no one will do it for you. Be resilient, persevere, and push yourself forward towards your goals, it will be worth it!
Get involved in your professional community beyond the 9-5 routine of work. At the end of the day, we are all human and networking and building relationships are vital to career growth.
Seek out good mentors, and then pay it forward!
How do you see the future of workplaces for women of colour?
In the last two years alone, the design and architecture profession and academic institutions have seen a surge in conversations on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion issues. Many of the leading architectural firms now have EDI committees and are actively seeking POC to join their teams. While this is a step forward, we have a long way to go to dismantle the embedded inequity that continues to exist in the workplace, which is an extension of our society. We all have a lot of learning to do.
I recently listened to a TEDx talk by Dori Tunstall, Dean at OCAD University, where she talks about the concept of a “Supertoken”, which she defines as “an individual from a structurally excluded group whose talents are so desired by institutions that those institutions are able to overcome their innate aversions to the individual's identities in order to have access to their talents.” While we need to dismantle the idea of a “Supertoken” in our institutions and professions, those who are put in that position also hold great power in breaking down barriers and identifying new paths for organizations to follow.
“By recognizing and voicing our individual needs, we can also inform and educate employers which can help in building more inclusive workplaces for the collective.”
I have experienced this first-hand, and while it is not our responsibility to educate others, as WOC we are inevitably part of this movement and I believe it is important for us to do what we can to pave a more equitable path for generations that come after us.
This includes actions as simple as speaking up about our needs from employers and our workplaces, such as demanding equal pay, flexible work hours, entry into leadership roles, and prayer and meditation spaces. By recognizing and voicing our individual needs, we can also inform and educate employers which can help in building more inclusive workplaces for the collective.
Connect with Safoura