My research interests include architectural history, theory and design, modern architecture of the Islamic world, public space and power relations, and socio-political transformation of space in post-conflict societies. Originally trained as an architect, I am specifically committed to studying the modern and contemporary Middle East through buildings and cities as critical lenses, using a careful, critically informed, and layered approach to understanding historical change, the accretion of memory, and the impact of trauma and war on modern Middle Eastern landscapes.
My current research focuses on certain public spaces of post-revolutionary Tehran, in which the revolutionary goals of 1979 are either highlighted, negotiated, or shrouded. For this research I have used diverse bodies of evidence—from images provided in and produced through governmental plans to modern film, literature, poetry, posters, governmental correspondence, newspapers, and interviews—that enable a symptomatic reading of space that goes beyond the classic interpretations of monumental form in the service of state agendas.
Course Taught:
ARTH 30100: Architectural Studio I (Fundamentals of Architectural Design and Drawing)
ARTH 11300: The Elements of Architecture
ARTH 24000: Architecture Since 1800
ARTH 27590: Modern Architecture of Muslim Cities
ARTH 38000: Architectural History and Theory: The Modern Mosque
ARTH 2000 Islamic Art 650-1250 (Temple University)