Not every child is fortunate enough to see her childhood dreams come true. However, this applies to me. From my childhood, I remember myself drawing houses, creating their Lego replicas, and using every single piece of furniture and fixture to create a safe shelter to work on my next design project. Years passed, my passions and talents led me to pursue my childhood aspirations at architectural school.

My name is Saba Mohammadirad. I was born on October 6th, 1994 in Iran. I got my BEng. in Architectural Engineering, with a cumulative GPA of 3.95/4.00, in 2017, from Soore University.

I first became interested in green architecture and energy efficiency during my internship at the end of the first year of my undergraduate studies. Working at Mahd-E-Kavosh, while provided me with a window of opportunity to gain practical experience, it provided me with a chance to work on “Passive and Active Solar Design of DePoint Refrigeration Factory”.

Since the existing factory building had high costs, energy consumption, and negative environmental impacts, to compensate for these, we suggested design-based solutions for the new administrative building. According to the current building's optimal location and orientation, we found it has a high potential in using sunlight for illumination. However, the turning point of our work was the calculated design of the main façade elements to install solar cells. While placing the panels on the roof was the conventional method, it reduced their productivity due to the shading effects. To resolve this, we rotated the entrance overhang to the optimal 45-degree orientation and allocated sufficient width to the windows and cells to make the best use of sunlight. This able the factory not only to reduce energy usage, pollutions, and expenses but generate the required electricity for this section.

This successful approach motivated me to expand my knowledge in environmental issues and sustainability principles in order to apply them in my projects that the trace of which can be seen in my projects and studies. Therefore, I researched the environmental crisis and identified the buildings responsible for a substantial amount of energy consumptions and greenhouse emissions. Thus, I realized that Sustainability is no longer an option but an imperative, and as an architect, the onus is on me to find holistic solutions for this matter.

My ultimate goal is to fulfill my commitments as an architect toward the world's environment by integrating my knowledge. And I believe, all of us wherever we are and whatever we do can play a role in creating a sustainable society, and help with the preservation of the world. I believe we must value and protect what we have, as there is no planet B! We must not underestimate our abilities, since many successful movements in this direction began with small steps of a single person.