Meriem Chabani (DZ/FR) is the founder and principal of NEW SOUTH, an award-winning architecture, urban planning, and anthropology practice focused on designing for vulnerable bodies in contested territories. Her work spans complex sites around the world, including the Swann Arr Cultural Center in Myanmar, the Globe Aroma refugee art center in Brussels, and the upcoming Mosque Zero in Paris. She was a finalist for the Grenfell Memorial project in London.

Her speculative and built work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale, the Biennale de Versailles, the Istanbul Design Biennial, and the Oslo Architecture Triennale. Her projects are held in the permanent collections of the MAXXI in Rome and Qatar Museums. Meriem has served as the Aga Khan Design Critic in Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has previously taught at the African Futures Institute in Morocco, École d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais in France, Royal College of Arts in London, and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

She was awarded the Europe 40 Under 40 distinction and a Graham Foundation Grant in 2020. In 2025, Le Monde named her one of France’s leading creative voices.

Photo credit: Kaname Onoyama