Since its inception in 2005, Eleena Jamil Architect (EJA) has established itself as one of Malaysia’s leading architectural practices. Through a series of expanding portfolios, it successfully engages with Asian cities and their nuances, bringing an accumulated richness of expression to the work produced. Projects by EJA studio are informed by a desire to root them in place through exploring the experiential potential of form, material, and construction, and by a concern for the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. As it continues to grow, EJA aspires to create more research-based, design-led architecture that is contemporary and rooted to its context, at all scales.
The studio is led by Eleena Jamil, who trained at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. She continued working in the UK after her training, joining the architecture faculty at the Welsh School as a teaching assistant while completing her MPhil and PhD. Her PhD thesis, titled Rethinking Modernism: The Sugden House and the Mother’s House, examined the idea of ‘ordinariness’ and ‘vernacular’ as an alternative to the reductive limitations of modern architecture. She was shortlisted for Dezeen Architect of the Year 2018 and featured in 100 Women: Architects in Practice, published by RIBA in 2023. In 2021-22, Eleena won the ‘Connections through Culture’ grant from the British Council Malaysia to carry out the ‘About Making’ project, which explores different aspects of ‘making’ in art and architecture while advancing the materials and processes of traditional and modern craft in a cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary context. She has lectured widely, including at GSAPP Columbia University, New York, for the Fall 2018 Lecture Series and North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Spring 2022 for the Architecture Lecture Series: A Tesar Endowed Lecture on Architecture and Culture. Eleena is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment, National University of Malaysia (UKM) and the School of Architecture and Building Design, Taylor’s University Malaysia.
EJA is registered with Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM) and the Architects Registration Board (ARB UK). She is a member Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) and a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) since 1999.
Current Studio Members: Eleena Jamil, Yow Pei San, Bahirah Rahman, Adam Aziz Marzuki, Lina Izzati Muhammad, Elisa Saffiya Syaharuddin
Past Studio Members: Bahirah Rahman, Ros Adilla Roslan, Ishak Sukran, Anise Kaz Ahmad Kamal, Cheah Zhi Bin, Dalia Qistina Nasaruddin, Nur Izzati Narozi, Yusri Amri Yussoff, Nurhidayah Ab Razak, Nurnajdah Najib, Barbara Chang Huey Yi, Amos Tan Chi Yi, Dzaleha Mohd Khairi, Noor Lydia Sabrina Noor Zilan, Dyone Tham Chui Wei, Nur Azreen Mohd Ramli, Zamrina Embong, Sufiah Muhadzir, Mohd Shahril Ramli, Arif Zakwan Abdul Hamid, Nur Amalina Hanapi, Rashida Rashid, Reham Alwakil, Olwyn Roche, Rameeja Mohd Hussain, Rudi Hakimi Mohd Nasrumi, Norhasliza Mohamed, Mohd Nur Husaini Jailani, Muhammad Haziq Rosli, Hariani Md Yunus, Muhamad Fathi Mustafa, Anis Fatini Murhan, Farhatun Nada Sulaimi, Ervena Ela Suzeana Mohamed Affandi, Nurhasnadira Ha