FARAH ALKHOURY
Portrait courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
Farah Alkhoury is an Architect and researcher. She is currently a Master's student in the Advanced Architecture Design program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), Columbia University. She previously worked as an Architect at Sharjah Architecture Triennial and RSP Architects in Dubai, UAE. She gained a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the American University of Sharjah. Alkhoury is interested in researching issues pertaining to the MENASA region. She also co-founded Bites of Architecture, a platform for critical discussion on Architecture in the UAE in 2017.
Bites of Architecture: Urgency to Constantly Evolve through Learning
Bites of Architecture Sessions in Dubai and Sharjah. Images courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
Where are you from?
I was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and lived in Dubai, UAE.
What is your favorite dish?
Sour Kubba Soup_Shorba Kubba Hamud (ﺣﺎﻣﺾ ﻛﺒﺔ ﺷﻮرﺑﺔ)
Three additional fun facts about Farah
I carry my Dallah (coffee pot) wherever I travel
I watched Dubai grow as I grew (the ridiculously rapid rate at which the city developed felt like it was growing faster than I did).
I love listening to Lebanese artists Mashrou3 Leila and Jordanian artists El Morabba3
What inspired you to study architecture?
I don’t think there was one specific (aha) moment in my life that has provided me with the motivation to study architecture. I was quite interested in art and storytelling growing up, and at first, my father encouraged me to study architecture. But I think studying architecture is a process, and motivation to do it needs to come through every step of this lifelong journey of studying architecture, then unlearning or questioning what we studied at architecture school, and then attempting to learn and position ourselves within contemporary architectural practices. I say this because I have come to realize that our practice is constantly changing, and I am fascinated by the constant change and need to establish a position.
Bites of Architecture Artifact. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
Name a woman architect (preferably Arab or MENA) who most influenced you as an emerging professional? Why or how did they?
I think there are many architects who are extremely influential to the way I approach my work, regardless of their gender. I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with very strong and inspiring women and mentors during my professional and academic career in the middle east. I particularly enjoyed working with Lebanese architect Mona El Mousfy, who among her many work in Sharjah, is the architect for the SAF Art Spaces, and six editions of the Sharjah Biennial, and she is also leading the institutional team at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. She wears many hats; leading teams in both the Art and Architecture institutions in Sharjah, while leading her own practice. She has definitely been a mentor throughout my time working at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial and has always encouraged the team to approach design through its social and political implications.
Of course, there are also non-architects as well, whose work I admire and I think are quite relevant to architecture and design. In particular, the work of Queer theorist Jasbir K. Puar, who I got to work with briefly on setting up her exhibition at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. I highly recommend her book Terrorist Assemblages.
Name a favorite project completed by a Woman Architect (preferably Arab or MENA). Why is it your favorite?
It is difficult to point out one specific project because I am fascinated by many projects that have been done by female architects/academics. I am very intrigued by the work of Bangladeshi Architect Marina Tabassum, Architect Mariam Kamara from Niger, Palestinian architect Noura Al Sayeh Holtrop, and the incredible work of Rania Ghosn who is a professor at MIT and founding partner of Design Earth.
I admire the architecture of Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Bangladesh, by Marina Tabassum and her team; particularly because of the way in which the project looks at the specificity of the context and the politics of land ownership since the funding for the project was generated by the community that uses the building.
I find the work of Mariam Kamara, principal of atelier masomi in Niger, to be quite compelling, specifically the Regional Market in Dandaji, Niger, for the way in which the spatial configuration of the market formalizes an existing economy while also generating community spaces.
And a very different type of project, that I would also like to mention is the work of Rania Ghosn, particularly her dissertation on the trans-Arabian pipeline, which explored the geographic and spatial aspects of energy and oil extraction.
I could go on forever on work done by women architects which I absolutely love, but I will stop there.
How does your culture/ethnicity affect your studies and the way you design?
I have not begun a project before by reflecting on my culture and ethnicity, but perhaps this is a good moment to do that. Since I have been practicing mainly in the middle east, thinking of cultural practices within the region is inevitable. Dubai and Sharjah, are cities inhabited by people from many different parts of the world, hence I think that the architecture of these cities often reflects on the transient nature of their inhabitants.
Infrastructures, roads, buildings, and the network of the city are constructed by transient labor for transient labor, it's a strange and violent cycle in a way. But recently, I have come to realize that now it is up to our generation to study, analyze and dismantle this violence, that is very much entangled with colonial practices, even if we are not aware of it most of the time. I have not figured it out yet, but I am working on it.
Dubai Skyline. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
Are there any organizations that helped you grow in architecture? How did they help you grow?
Yes, of course, Sharjah Architecture Triennial definitely introduced me to a range of architects and academics that expanded my definition of architecture and spatial practice. Also, I am very grateful to fikra, a design-led educational and graphic design institution in Sharjah, because they have encouraged my collaborators and me to host a public platform called Bites of Architecture, where we have come to discover the joy of discussing architecture theory and the power of debating ideas on architecture and its multidisciplinary interlocutors.
Tell us about Bites of Architecture. What inspired you to co-organize this platform?
Tigran Kostandyan, Khalid Al-Tamimi, who are both architects, and myself, co-organized Bites of Architecture in 2017. Bites of Architecture was a meeting held bi-weekly, to discuss critical readings and exchange ideas and positions on contemporary architectural theory and practice, from the Middle East and beyond. We used food as a social binder, where we gathered to have falafel while having a dialogue about the urgency for change within the way we practice architecture in the middle east. The notion that ideas can exist in a state of invigorating debate fuels this platform, and furthers the urgency to constantly evolve through learning. In order to be able to control what one designs one needs to be conscious of their process. Therefore, while the conversation revolves around architecture, the platform doesn’t necessarily limit itself and understands the need to embrace the social, cultural, and political discourse connected to the field. Only by being conscious of the process can one can claim responsibility for their own work. Every two weeks we selected a topic, an artifact, and an excerpt from a book to focus our discussion, and generate meaningful debates. As I mentioned in the previous question institutions like Fikra and Brownbook, in Sharjah and Dubai respectively generously allowed us to host these events.
Sharjah Architecture Triennial Venue. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
Sharjah Architecture Triennial Team. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
What is your favorite memory in architecture school or work? Why?
I think my recent experiences studying at GSAPP have been one of my favorite moments. I am particularly enjoying working on my studio project this semester. The advanced architecture studio is titled Detox USA, with professor Mark Wasiuta. We have attempted to construct analysis and descriptions of “chemical modernity” and its uneven distribution across territories and architecture. I am looking at the Gulf war in Iraq, as a site of chemical concentration, and in particular the use of the radioactive material- Depleted Uranium (a waste by-product of producing nuclear fuel) as the weapon of choice for imperial adventurism and military operations. I have been invested in looking at this invisible reminiscence of the war that remains today present within the ecosystem of Iraq. As an architecture intervention, I am focusing on designing what I am calling the Iraq Institute of War Archeology, located above the depleted oil fields of Iraq. I am quite excited to finalize this project within the next couple of weeks as we approach the end of the semester.
I have also enjoyed working on my project during last semester, the project was titled “Life Support Ecosystems”, and it was a pleasure having Professor Andrés Jaque as a crit.
If you were able to talk to your younger self, what would you say?
This is a very difficult question, I would probably have a list of things to say, but end up saying none of them, because the decisions I have made at each step have been what I have perceived to be the right decisions at that moment. Which then of course led me to where I am now.
But perhaps if it is one piece of advice to my younger self, I would probably say please don’t undermine your capacity and ability to do things as an Arab woman and don’t undermine anyone else’s capacity. It's our pre-notions of what people can and cannot do based on where they come from that is one of the factors that produce inequalities.
Sambosa. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
What would you want to say to the next generation of aspiring Arab women architects?
As I learned from the Female Arab Architects whom I consider to be my mentors; question the ideas that have been embedded into our culture through the ongoing uneven distribution of power and hierarchy. I think it's our role as Arab women to educate when we can. It is also our role to begin producing knowledge within our Arab context, let's tell our own narratives. And lastly, let's use other words to describe an architect within our context, the word “ﻣﻌﻤﺎري ﻣﮭﻨﺪس” which translates to “Architect-Engineer” (specifically a Male Architect) is quite problematic, let's figure out ways together to change it.
Bites of Architecture. Image courtesy of Farah Alkhoury.
In terms of rising concerns and problems (in the architectural profession) over the past year, what is one change that you wish saw would happen and still did not? This can be in an educational or work atmosphere.
This question of course prompts me to speak of the current pandemic and its effect on architecture practice. Like everything around us today the current pandemic has exacerbated many issues within our profession as architects and made them more visible. Among those issues, the one that comes to my mind now is that architecture practice is linked to capital gain and development, and therefore many architecture firms stopped functioning during the past year. Of course, this issue was present in many other professions. But I would have liked to see architects take a lead on non-commercial projects, and look at more innovative ways to deal with emergency spatial needs. For instance, I would like to see how architects can begin to design the new social, since we are not yet certain how long we would be maintaining this form of interaction we are dealing with right now, and certainly different parts of the world will deal with “getting back to business as usual” at different rates. I think what I am trying to say is, let's understand what we can contribute as architects.
