AUC Student Aspires to Use Architecture to Solve Global Challenges

With the support of the new Kerr Family Scholarship, AUC freshman Malak Hashem is on her path to becoming an architect whose buildings will address challenges to sustainability faced by communities worldwide. 

“We have a lot of global challenges, like pollution and the use of nonrenewable resources,  so I chose architecture in order to solve these global issues. My current interest is in sustainability and net-zero building. I hope, with my knowledge, that I can help a lot of people and communities in installing these methods so that we can maintain a stable and sustainable environment,” Hashem says.

Hashem’s studies at AUC were made possible through the newly founded Kerr Family Scholarship, which partially supports an undergraduate student from freshman year until graduation based on their academic merit and financial need. 

A lifelong passion for drawing, crafting and sculpting led Hashem to study historical art, where she discovered the beauty of geometric Islamic architecture and the grandeur of ornamented Baroque ceilings. This blend of beauty and function inspired Hashem to major in architecture, a discipline she says “can’t be replaced with AI because humans are the only ones capable of being creative.” 

 "I became interested in architecture because it's a mix of both worlds, art and also practicality. It's something that can help people around the world with."

The University’s New Cairo campus is the perfect place for an aspiring architect to study. The low-lying Andalusian-inspired campus gardens provide crucial greenery and shade, recirculating water to minimize waste amid Egypt’s water shortage. Summer winds usher its cool moist air into the heart of campus, which spreads through internal courtyards and windcatchers, reducing the need for air conditioning. Hashem’s dream is to use sustainable energy in her future buildings to dull the blow of the water crisis. 

“I hope with my knowledge that I can support a lot of people and help communities in installing these methods so that we can maintain a stable and sustainable environment,” Hashem says.

On a campus built brick by brick to encourage connection and prioritize sustainability, Hashem has found a likeminded community. Conversations with seniors in her major have made her excited to take an architecture theory class, which analyzes the historical purposes behind structures and offers new opportunities to explore the architecture that inspires her. 

AUC’s Core Curriculum has also exposed her to new topics at a deeper level, such as the study of beauty in the rhetoric and composition department. “I got to learn about beauty as a really important concept that is deeply rooted in every aspect of our life, and it doesn’t have to do with appearances or social media trends,” Hashem says.

With opportunities to address the world’s greatest challenges, Hashem is taking classes across disciplines— business, psychology, sociology— to develop as an architect and person, in preparation to create a more beautiful and sustainable world.

“I won’t just stop at undergraduate. I will also do my best in order to attain more knowledge through my graduate studies, so that one day I could achieve my dream to build communities that are sustainable,” she affirms.