Karmi-Melamede was born on December 24, 1936, in Tel Aviv, in Mandate Palestine (now Israel). She studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1956 to 1959 and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology from 1961 to 1962, being awarded her degree in 1963. She has taught at Columbia University (1969-1982), Yale University (1985, 1993), and the University of Pennsylvania (1991). She established Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects in 1985 in Tel Aviv. In 1986, she and her brother, Ram Karmi, won an international competition to design the Supreme Court of Israel compound, which opened in 1992. New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote that "the sharpness of the Mediterranean architectural tradition and the dignity of the law are here married with remarkable grace". She is the subject of the documentary film "Ada: My Mother, the Architect" (2024).