24 Hours With Ultra-Architect Militza Ashmore

The Executive Director at Anarchitect enjoys a slow morning, avoids coffee and devours the news amidst a day filled with creative meetings and exciting site visits

7.00AM My WHOOP health band wakes me up with gentle vibrations every morning. A big glass of water to hydrate is a must, whilst checking what this wellness monitor is saying about my rest and recovery. My husband and I have different routines but we both appreciate slow mornings. I do a 15-minute full-body stretch and a 20-minute walk by the water in Dubai Marina. I have been stretching every morning consistently for the last 20 years and I swear by these 15 minutes a day having a superb effect on my overall health.

8.00AM I always have a salty breakfast based on eggs, smoked salmon, avocado or homemade mixed muesli with Greek yoghurt. I sometimes feel like breakfast is stealing my precious morning time, but I never skip it. I love looking ready for the day ahead, my make-up and outfit are my additional armour and it makes me feel more prepared for whatever is to come. I opt for United Nude’s Delta Run sandals with Rains Silver Nyssa Puffer Duffel Crossbody Mini when looking for comfort with a clear sartorial statement, whilst for more business formal occasions popping Gia Borghini x Pernille Teisbaek Perni 03 mules and my beloved JW Anderson Bumper bag communicates a more minimalistic but well curated choice. With a pair of vintage earrings and my Tiffany & Co. staple pieces, I’m ready.

9.00AM Morning is my sacred, creative focus time. As an Executive Director of architecture and interior design practice Anarchitect, all my business strategies, brand analysis or communication writeups are done in the morning when I work, undistracted, from our home office. I don’t drink coffee and have never tried it, so the only mini-break I have is to make an energyboosting smoothie with vegetable milk, banana, almonds, seeds, berries, coconut oil, cacao powder and whey protein.

1.00PM Lunch is usually homecooked in advance, such as protein (chicken, turkey, meat, fish) with rice or quinoa or sweet potato with any vegetable. I am not a big gourmand, but I always eat healthily and love nourishing my body. I also use lunch breaks to connect with my mum or sister who live overseas and catch up on their lives.

2.00PM Our Anarchitect studio is just a 10-minute walk from home and I work there in the afternoons. My husband and I run the practice; our team is one vibrant bunch of passionate architects and interior designers and I enjoy listening about the latest design they’re working on and getting the pulse on the business and assessing potential opportunities. Afternoons are typically reserved for meetings – at the studio, on an exciting site visit with a client to check on the progress of a luxury newbuild villa project we are creating for them, or we could be presenting our latest design and lifestyle concept to an ambitious hotelier.

5.00PM One of the best investments I made is time with my Serbian personal trainer, who is a former athlete and under whose command I devotedly train each day. Depending on his inspiration, it could be a functional training session consisting of lots of repetition mostly with my own body weight, or different circuit exercises for a full body workout. During our training the phones are off, my brain is switched off, chatter is minimal and there is an unflavoured natural pure whey protein shake waiting for me as soon as I finish.

6.30PM My husband and I are quite sociable and enjoy meeting people and having invigorating conversations. In the evenings we could be going to a design event for new product launch or attending the latest gallery exhibition. A recent favourite was The Collectional Gallery in Satwa. Equally, it could be just a soul nurturing dinner with close friends somewhere locally to us, such as The Maine Oyster Bar & Grill or Ristorante Lauren on Palm Jumeirah.

9.30PM This is the time I sit on my balcony overlooking the Marina with some indulgent extra dark chocolate with nuts and check social media, listen to podcasts like The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett or Gary’s Economics by Gary Stevenson, and pour over the international news.

11.00PM I take a good hour to get ready for the next day and to wind down simultaneously. I prepare basics for our lunches, pull out my outfit base and do my beauty routine. As part of my beauty regimen, I use The Ordinary brand, particularly its Niacinamide brightening serum. I also often add a drop of fully natural Castor oil when applying my face moisturiser. We usually go to sleep around midnight, and I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I went to bed much earlier and joined the infamous ‘5am wake-up club’, but I quickly realise that for now, I spend my days in a way that perfectly suits my own sensibilities.

Militza’s Edits

Images Supplied.

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Interiors’ Spring 2025 Issue.