Blog · Lifestyle
From Health to Design: My Longevity Journey
Published: February 22, 2026 · Updated: February 22, 2026
By Sabina Malikova, Sabina Malikova Design Office.
Some journeys begin before you even realize it. Mine started at the dinner table, listening to my mother — a physician who dedicated her life to understanding health and human longevity — talk about how the spaces we inhabit shape the way we feel, heal, and grow. A Foundation Built on Health Growing up as the daughter of a doctor, conversations about well-being, nutrition, and the science of aging were as natural as breathing. My mother never simply treated illness;
she studied the deeper question of how people could live longer, healthier, more purposeful lives. That curiosity became my inheritance. What fascinated me most was the intersection — the place where medical knowledge meets the physical environment. I began to understand that a room is never just walls and furniture. It is light, air, texture, and energy. It is the frequency that the people within it carry and share. Three Countries, One Vision My path has taken me through life,
work, and studio experience across three different countries. Each one taught me something irreplaceable: different approaches to space, different relationships between people and their environments, and different understandings of what it means to feel at home. Even now, I make it a point to travel internationally at least five to seven times a year — not as a luxury, but as a discipline. Every trip is a research opportunity. I visit clinics, wellness centers, senior housing communities, cultural institutions, and
private residences. I study how different cultures approach the idea of living well for longer. The Academic Path I am a graduate of Bilkent University — one of Turkey's most rigorous and respected institutions. The discipline, critical thinking, and precision that Bilkent demanded became the backbone of everything I do today. It was there that I learned to approach design…
Related reading
- Longevity design consultation service
- Documented outcomes (press release)
- Completed projects across four countries
- WHO 2016 — preventing disease through healthy environments
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