AKPIA@MIT

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Post-Doctoral Fellows

2023-2024

Roberto Fabbri

In MIT Residence 2/1/2024-5/31/2024

Topic: 

“Nomadic Narratives: Architectural Transplants”

2022-2023

Lydia Harrington 

PhD Boston University
In MIT residence 09/01/2022 – 5/31/2023

Topic: 
Vocational Schools and Shifting Arts and Crafts Pedagogy in the Late Ottoman Empire

Semra Horuz

In MIT residence 09/01/2023 – 5/31/2023

Topic: 
Ottoman Tour d’Europe: Architecture, Urbanism, and Late Ottoman Travelogues

G M A Balayet Hossain

In MIT residence 9/1/2023-12/31/2023

Topic:A Lost Image of the ancient city of Old  Dhaka that integrates Islamic Urbanism with water.

2021-2022

Nadi Abusaada 

University of Cambridge
In MIT residence 09/01/2021 – 5/31/2022

Topic: 
Founding the Profession: Arab Architects and the Making of the Modern Arab World

Hakim Sameer Hamdani  

School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi
In MIT residence 09/01/2021 – 5/31/2022

Topic: 
Constructing Spaces of Worship:
Understanding Muslim Places of Faith in 19th Century Kashmir as Representatives of a Native Identity

2020-2021 Fellowship suspended because of COVID19

2019-2020

Majdi Faleh

University of Melbourne
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 12/31/2019

Topic: 
Reconstructing National Identity
in the Context of Colonialism, Dictatorship, and Globalization

Atri Hatef Naiemi

University of Victoria
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 12/31/2019

Topic: 
The Mongol City of Ghazaniyya: Destruction, Spatial Reconstruction,
and Conservation of the Urban Heritage

Article

Nada Moumtaz

University of Toronto
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 05/31/2020

Topic: 
Horizons of Trust: Islamic Endowments and Postwar Reconstruction in Beirut

Ahmad Sukkar

Orient-Institut Beirut / Arab Reform Initiative
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 05/31/2020

Topic: 
Post-secular Syrian Space? Madani (Civil) vs Islami (Islamic) vs ‘Ilmani (Secular)

2018-2019

Al Kindi al-Jawabra

Barker Langham Cultural Consultancy
MIT Residency not fulfilled
02/01/2019 – 05/31/2019

Topic:
Heritage, Conflict and Reconstructions: From Reconstructing Monuments to Reconstructing Societies

Allison Cuneo

Cultural Property Consultants, LLC
In MIT residence 09/02/2018 – 05/31/2019

Topic: 
Disentangling the political constraints and societal consequences of post-conflict archaeological heritage management in Iraq

Deen Sharp

CUNY
In MIT residence 09/03/2018 – 06/01/2019

Topic: 
Reconstructing Violence

2017-2018

Amine Kasmi

University of Tlemcen
In MIT residence 02/01/2018-05/31/2018

Topic:
Rebuilding Abd al-Qadir’s Former Cities under French Colonial Administration: From Regulation to Renewal

Eisa Esfanjary Kenari

Isfahan University of Art, Iran
MIT Residency not fulfilled
01/01/2018-05/31/2018

Topic:
The Medieval Houses of Yazd

Aleksandar Stanicic

The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University
In MIT residence 09/01/2017-05/31/2018

Topic:
Post-conflict reconstruction of Balkan and lessons for Middle East.
Article

2016-2017

Angela Andersen

The Ohio State University
In MIT residence 09/05/2016-01/04/2017

Topic:
Cem Evleri: An Examination of the Historical Roots and Contemporary Meanings of Alevi Architecture and Iconography
Keller Gallery Exhibition Review
Empathy and the Creation 
of Virtual Space

Julia Gonnella

Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin
Residency not fulfilled

Topic:
Friedrich Sarre, the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art and Oriental Taste in Berlin

Burak Erdim

North Carolina State University
In MIT residence 02/01/17-05/31/17

Topic:
The Valley and the State: Situating Planning Cultures in the Cold War Middle East

El Hadi Jazairy

The University of Michigan
In MIT residence 09/01/2016-05/31/2017

Topic:
Urbanism and Energy Systems

Eisa Esfanjary Kenari

Isfahan University of Art, Iran
Residency postponed to
01/01/2018-05/31/2018

Topic:
The Medieval Houses of Yazd

2015-2016

Filippo​ De Dominicis

University IUAV of Venice
In MIT residence 01/16- 05/16

Topic:
Islamic sub-Saharan Africa and Post-War Modern Urbanism. The Khartoum, Fort-Lamy and Dakar testing-ground experiences (1958-1968)

Jan Haenraets

Director, Atelier Anonymous, Vancouver
In MIT residence 09/15- 02/15

Topic:
The Mughal Terrace Gardens of Kashmir, India: A comparative inquiry into the origins, typology and horticulture

Mika​ Natif

The George Washington University
In MIT residence 09/15- 11/15

Topic:
Concepts of city-scape architecture, landscape and perspective in early Mughal painting

Anas Soufan

University of Geneva
Maison des Artistes de Paris
In MIT residence 09/15-02/16

Topic:
The appropriation of Syrian urban space by an Islamic art in the era of modernity: Case of Damascus 1839-1963

2014-2015

Farhan Karim

The University of Kansas
In MIT residence 3/15- 05/15

Topic:
The broken wings of postcolonial self: 
Muslim nationalism and the Western Architects in Pakistan, 1947-71

Dana Sajdi

Boston College
In MIT residence 9/14- 06/15

Topic:
Visualizing Damascus:
Arabic Textual Representations from the 12th to the 20th 

Anas Soufan

University of Geneva
Maison des Artistes de Paris
MIT Residence postponed until the Fall of 2015

Topic:
The appropriation of Syrian urban space by an Islamic art in the era of modernity: Case of Damascus 1839-1963

2013-2014

Zeynep Kezer

Newcastle University  School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
In MIT residence 9/13- 05/14

Topic:
The Limits of State: Borders, Belonging and Geography in Early Republican Elazi

Antonio Rotolo

University of Granada
In MIT residence 9/13- 03/14

Topic:
Collective Fortified Granaries and Strategies for Preserving Means of Subsistence in the Islamic Social Formation. From a Sicilian Case Study to a Global Approach

Sumayah Al-Solaiman

University of Dammam
In MIT residence 11/13-11/14

Topic:
Architectural precedents and the exploitation of terminology in the contemporary architectural design of Saudi Arabia

Elodie Vigouroux

French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) Beirut
In MIT residence 10/13- 03/14

Topic:
The Economic Topography of Damascus in the Middle Ages

2012-2013

Suna Cagaptay

Bahcesehir University, Turkey
In MIT residence 9/12- 05/13

Topic:
States Fall, Buildings Stand: Reading Buildings for a Mixed Cultural Past in Medieval and Early Modern Anatolia (1240-1460)

Beniamino Polimeni

Universita Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria
In MIT residence 1/13- 04/13

Topic:
The Ibadi Regions of the Mediterranean Maghreb: A Study on Settlements and Architectural Forms

Cinzia Tavernari

University of Urbino
In MIT residence 10/12- 03/13

Topic:
Architecture and archaeology of travel in Islamic countries (12th -16th century

2011-2012

Luis Jose García Pulido

Spanish Research Group HUM-104: Laboratory of City Archaeology and Architecture
In MIT residence 11/11- 02/12

Topic:
Adaptation Of Architecture Of Al-Andalus to the Climatic Change Produced from the “Medieval Warm Period” (10th To 14th Centuries) to the “Little Ice Age” (15th – 19th Centuries)
 
Article

Riyaz Latif

Ph.D from University of Minnesota
In MIT residence 9/11-5/12

Topic:
Anchoring the Fez Medina: Architectural Markers and European Interactions 

Samir Mahmoud

Jesus College PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Divinity
In MIT residence 2/12-4/12

Topic:
‘The Abstract’ and ‘The Geometric’ as a Visual System of Knowledge: 
The ‘Islamic’ Art of the Alhambra (Granada) & the Ince Minare Medresse (Konya)

Ipek Tureli

Ph.D., University of California Berkeley
In MIT residence 9/11-12/11

Topic:
Istanbul, Open City: Exhibiting Anxieties of Urban Modernity 

2010-2011

Benjamin Michaudel

Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Syria
In MIT residence 01/11 -05/11

Topic:
The Golden Age of Medieval Military Architecture 
under the Ayyubids and the Mamluks (12th – 15th c.)

Laura Parodi

University College Dublin
In MIT residence 02/11 -05/11

Topic:
The Chaharbagh Reconsidered: A Comparative Inquiry 
on Late Timurid, Early Safavid and Early Mughal Sources

Saleema Waraich

Smith College
In MIT residence 09/10 -02/11

Topic:
Contesting Muslim Spaces: 
Power, Place, and Representation in South Asia

2009-2010

Nicolas Prouteau

University of Nantes
In MIT residence 02-10 – 06/10

Topic:
The Building of Urban Walls in Islamic Cities (XIIth-XIIIth c.)

Mrinalini Rajagopalan

New York University
In MIT residence 01-10 – 04/10

Topic:
Islamic Monuments in Post-Colonial India

Martina Rugiadi

Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Düsseldorf)
In MIT residence 09-09 – 11/09

Topic:
The Significance Of Ghaznavid Marble Architectural Decoration (11th-13th Centurires)
Article

Imran Bin Tajudeen

National University of Singapore
In MIT residence 11/09 – 03/10

Topic:
A Typological and Stylistic Study of Tamil, Hadhrami and Chinese
Peranakan Mosques in Western Nusantara, c.1550-1850

2008-2009

Ahmed Zaib Khan Mahsud

Katholic University, Leuven
In MIT residence 09/08 – 05/09

Topic:
Making of Islamabad 1959-63

Adriana de Miranda

University of Bergamo
In MIT residence 09/08 – 11/08

Topic:
Renovation of Syrian Water Wheels in the Orontes Valley

Sarah Moser

University of Singapore
In MIT residence 11/08 – 05/09

Topic:
Emerging Middle Eastern Influences in Indonesian and Malaysian Seats of Political Power

Abdul Rehman (Affiliation)

Lahore University of Engineering and Technology
In MIT residence 07/08 – 09/08

Topic:
Islamic Garden Heritage of Pakistan

Salim Tamari

Birzeit University
In MIT residence 01/09 – 05/09

Topic:
Jerusalem: Late Ottoman & Colonial Modernity

2007-2008

Hanaa Mohamed Adly Hassan

Helwan University, Egypt
In MIT residence 10/07 – 12/07

Topic:
Human Figures in Metalwork in Iran and Central Asia (11-13th C)
Article

Stefan Heidemann

Friederich Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany
In MIT residence 09/07 – 02/08

Topic:
Transformation of Middle Eastern Cities (11-12th C)
Article

Nadeem Omar Tarar

National College of Art, Lahore
In MIT residence 12/07 – 05/08

Topic:
De-Scribing Miniature Pianting in Illuminated Manuscripts: The Transformation of a Genre
(Published by Third Text)

2006-2007

Nadia M. Alhasani

American University of Sharjah, UAE
In MIT residence 9/06 – 05/07

Topic:
Case Studies on the Making of Cultural Identity in the Contemporary Architecture of the Arabian Gulf

Ralph Bodenstein

German Orient Institute, Damascus, Syria
In MIT residence 03/06 – 06/07

Topic:
Dwelling at Distance: Rise and Social Implications of “Garden Suburb” Residential Patterns in Beirut, 1800-1900

Sibel Zandi-Sayek

College of William and Mary
In MIT residence 09/06 – 06/07

Topic:
Competing Modernities: Urban Transformations of a Late Ottoman City 1830s-1890s

2005-2006

Paolo Girardelli

Bogazici University, Istanbul
In MIT residence 04/06 – 07/06

Topic:
The Architecture of the Eastern Question: Diplomacy and Urban Space in 19th Century Istanbul

Mahmoud Hawari

Oriental Institute Oxford, England
In MIT residence 10/05 – 04/06

Topic:
Citadel of Jerusalem: 
A comprehensive Architectural and Archeological Study

Marcus Millwright

University of Victoria
In MIT residence 04/06 – 05/06

Topic:
The Archeology of the Islamic World: An Introduction

Article

2004-2005

Giulia Annalinda Neglia

Politecnico di Bari, Italy
In MIT residence 9/04 – 11/04

Topic:
Tartus: Local dialectical process of transformation of the building fabric of a Crusader Castle during the Ayyubid and Mamluk Periods

Article

Yosef Jabareen

Ben Gurion University & Technion-Israel Institue of Technology
In MIT residence 9/04 – 05/05

Topic:
“Space of Trust”: A New Socio-Cultural Approach for Understanding the Traditional Islamic Built Environment

Munir Jiwa

Eugene Lang College
In MIT residence 9/04 – 01/05

Topic:
Contemporary Muslim Artists in NY

Abier Shamma

Independent researcher
In MIT residence 01/05 – 05/05

Topic:

Epigraphy on the Dome of the Rock

2003-2004

Vlad Atanasiu

Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, Paris France
In MIT residence 10/03 – 7/04

Topic:
How Art Pleases: A Study of Regularity and Tension as Aesthetic Attributes in Arabic Calligraphy and Beyond
Article

Hussein Keshani

University of Victoria, Canada
In MIT residence 01/04 – 04/04

Topic:
Gender and Architecture in 18th and 19th Century North India
Article

Setrag Manoukian

Università di Milano-Bicocca
In MIT residence 01/04 – 03/04

Topic:
Urban Space and the Production of the Past in Contemporary Shiraz
Article

Cristina Pallini

Milan Polytechnic, Italy
In MIT residence 10/03 – 07/04

Topic:
The Continuing Presence, influencing later Expressions of Tradition Architecture in the Modernization (1850-1920) of Eastern Mediterranean Ports: Alexandria, Izmir, Istanbul and Salonika
Article

2002-2003

Samer Akkach

University of Adelaide, Australia
In MIT residence 09/02 – 11/02

Topic:
The Poetics of Concealment: 
Al-Nabulusiís Encounter with the Dome of the Rock 

Article

Kimiyo Yamashita

Kokushikan University & Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
In MIT residence 03/02 – 09/02

Topic:
Ottoman Water Systems in Istanbul

2001-2002

Bulent Tanju

Yildiz University, Istanbul, Turkey
In MIT residence 01/02 – 05-02

Topic:
Turkish Modernity

1998-1999

Mustafa Pultar

Bilkent University, Turkey 

1997-1998

Francoise Choay

Sorbonne

Valerie Gonzalez-Hanany

Univ. of Marseille-Luminy

Topic:
Aesthetics and Artistic Creation in Islam: 
The Example of the Alhambra Palaces in Granada

Shakeel Hossain

1997-1996

Khalil Pirani

American Institute of Architects, GGA Associates

Topic:
Mosque Architecture in North America

Shakeel Hossain

1995-1996

Khalil Pirani

American Institute of Architects, GGA Associates

Topic:
Mosque Architecture in North America

Shakeel Hossain

1994-1995

Maurice Munir Cerasi

Faculty of Architecture of Genoa
3 Month Spring Appointment

Topic:
Research on language, culture, and typological concepts in the genesis of housing types in the Ottoman regions with comparison to western Slav, Syrian and Caucasian neighbors

Charles Hafez Chehab

University of New York, College at Brockport
Visiting scholar with the Program since 1991 and completed his term in December 1994. During his final semester, he completed an article on the “Lion of Baibars” at `Akkar al `Atiqa (North Lebanon).

Shakeel Hossain

1993-1994

Z. A. Desai

Archicrafts, Ahmedabad, India

Topic:
The Traditional Houseform of Bohras in Gujarat: Architectural Response to Cultural Ethos

Shakeel Hossain

Abd Al-Razzaq Moaz

Ministry of Culture, Syria

Amir Pasic

Yildiz University, Istanbu