Sara Alqataa, lauréate du programme PAUSE
Interior designer and collaborator of the late Palestinian architect Ahmed Shamia, her husband, she will be welcomed at the school for the year 2025-2026.
Du 09.09.2025au 01.07.2026
Accueil international
Carried since 2017 by the Collège de France with the support of the Ministries of Higher Education and Research, the Interior, Europe and Foreign Affairs, and Culture, the national PAUSE program (Programme d'accueil en urgence des scientifiques et artistes en exil), protects and welcomes researchers and artists who can no longer pursue their activities in their home countries due to war, political persecution, censorship.... It helps them to stay for sufficiently long periods to enable them to find employment, continue their work and provide shelter for their families.
As part of this program, Ensa Paris-Est, in partnership with Ensa Paris-Val de Seine, submitted an initial application in January 2025 to host Ahmed Shamia, an architect working in the Gaza Strip. Sadly, he died on May 13 as a result of bombardments in the region.
Following this tragic event, the two schools submitted a new application for his wife, Sara Alqataa, an interior designer and collaborator in her husband's agency, which was successful and enabled Sara Alqataa to leave the Gaza Strip as a winner of the PAUSE program. She will therefore be taking part in the 2025-26 academic year and in the life of Ensa Paris-Val de Seine and our school, which will have the pleasure of welcoming her on September 9, during the teaching seminar.
In parallel with her missions, Sara Alqataa wishes to showcase Ahmed Shamia's architectural thinking through a traveling exhibition featuring drawings, photos, reflective notebooks, videos and immersive installations, thus highlighting the cultural and humanist dimension of his work. Her aim is to create a sensitive bridge between Gaza, her husband's productions and the rest of the world. Aimed at the general public as well as architecture students, this touring exhibition will be presented at various French architecture schools.
