Designer / Researcher / Educator

Zahra’a Nasralla is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in Queens. With a background in architecture and industrial design, their practice weaves together cultural storytelling, communal care, and hands-on making. Teaching is an important part of their work, guided by a decolonial pedagogy that challenges dominant narratives, values reflection and multiple ways of knowing, and treats process as just as important as the final result. From teaching to building spaces for belonging, Zahra’a approaches design as a way to create, connect, reflect, and learn. They have taught at Pratt Institute and currently serve as Studio Coordinator at Mariam Issoufou Architects.

Work Experience

Mariam Issoufou Architects,
May 2025 - Present

Studio Coordinator

Pratt Institute, Foundation Department,
August 2024 - May 2025

Visiting Instructor

Teaching Assistant - Exhibit/Experience Capstone Studio with Professor Kate Hixon

Pratt Institute, Industrial Design Department,
January - May 2024

Pratt Institute, Industrial Design Department,
September 2023 - May 2024

Teaching Assistant - Senior Industrial Design Studio with Professor Karol Murlak

Graduate Research Assistant - MAKEwild with Leslie Mutchler and Jason Urban of JULMstudios

Pratt Institute, JULMstudios
September - December 2023

Pratt Institute,
January 2022 - May 2023

Graduate Assistant - Laser Lab Specialist

Pratt Institute,
January - May 2023

Graduate Assistant - CNC Lab Specialist

Pratt Institute,
January - May 2023

Teaching Assistant - Art of the Book with Professor Miriam Schaer

Pratt Institute,
September - December 2022

Teaching Assistant - Sophomore 3D Form with Professor Alvaro Uribe

Fikra Design Studio,
February 2019 - May 2021

Community Outreach Executive - Fikra Campus

Fikra Design Studio,
December 2019

Exhibition Production Manager - Fikra Designer-in-Residence 2019 Exhibition

Fikra Design Studio,
November 2018

On-site Project Manager - Fikra Graphic Design Biennial 01

The American University of Sharjah,
February - December 2019

Shading Structure Fabricator - Neonomads 2.0

Sharjah Gateway to Trucial States,
July - August 2018

Intern Architect - UNESCO nomination file for Sharjah, U.A.E.

American University of Sharjah, The College of Architecture, Art, and Design,
September 2017 - May 2018

Teaching Assistant - Art and Architectural History with Professor John Montague

Dewan Architects and Engineers,
July - August 2016

Intern Architect