Personal Info
- Country of residence: Syria
Information
Wael Al-Samhouri was born in 1958 in Damascus . He is a Syrian-Palestinian architect and university professor in architecture and urban design . He is currently the Head of the Department of Theory and History of Architecture at the University of Damascus , and was previously the founding Head of two other private architecture departments. His architectural practice, Wael Samhouri Architecture and Urban Design (first established in 1992) in Syria, has produced award-winning designs. His current research and writing interests lie in sacred architecture and its representation in the modern world and the philosophy of post-war reconstruction architecture.
Previous life
Wael Al-Samhouri comes from an academic family. His mother (Qamar Al-Daaji) and his father were university professors. His father (M. Zuhair Al-Samhouri) is a prominent linguist and translator who worked at the United Nations in Geneva . Wael traveled with his family a lot between Europe and the Gulf , and lived for years in England and Kuwait before settling in Syria.
Education and profession
Al-Samhouri graduated from the University of Damascus with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1983, then continued his graduate studies in architecture and urban design between New York and London . In 1987 he received a master's degree in urban design from Pratt Institute, New York. Later in 1990, he obtained a PhD in Architecture and Urban Design from the Royal College of Art in London. Later in 1992, he founded his own firm Wael Al Samhouri Architecture and Urban Design in Damascus, Syria. He was a member of many committees and non-governmental organizations . [4] From 2007 to 2010, he was a member of the technical review team for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture . He was a technical reviewer for the Al-Fawzan Award for Modern Mosque Architecture.
In 2008, he joined the Board of Trustees of the Aga Khan Development Network in Syria. In addition to practicing architecture, Al-Samhouri has been a professor and head of the Department of Theory and History of Architecture at the University of Damascus since 2004.
He was also the founding head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Qalamoun in Syria (2004-2006). And at the International University of Science and Technology IUST, Syria (2006-2010). Al-Samhouri is active in academic discourse in the region. He founded Apollodorus of Damascus, a platform for architectural discourse, connecting architects, artists, musicians and intellectuals globally. The platform promotes intellectual discourse in architecture, art, music and history in the region.
Awards
Wael Al-Samhouri won first prize in the Urban Planning category at the 2004 Cityscape Architectural Review Awards - Dubai and London, for his project “Eastern Park in Damascus”. And again in 2005, he won the first Cityscape Award in the Islamic Architecture category for his Hasani Madrasah and Mosque in Old Damascus , Syria.
He also received the Cityscape Special Award (High Commendation – Master Planning) in 2010 for his latest project, the new campus for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Damascus, which is currently in the final stages of construction. In 2008, he received the design award for the SIRA Museum and Research Center in Kuwait from Gulf Consult.
Works
Al-Samhouri's work can be considered to belong to a regional (or rather critical regional) structure - although it has now evolved to adopt a different approach. He designed the Hasani Religious Center in Damascus, which combines traditional and modern religious offices and educational space. By treating tradition as more than just an ancient book, the Samhouri Building shows that cultural awareness in architecture can mean something deeper than decorative monoliths. List of works:
Sheikh Badr al-Din al-Hasani Islamic Center and Mosque (completed in 1998).
Headquarters of the Syrian Computer and Informatics Society (completed).
Faculty of Medicine Library (completed in 2000).
The new complex of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Damascus University.
Center for Biography and Noble Hadith, Kuwait, with GC Gulf Consult.
Publications
Al-Samhouri had recently co-authored a book entitled (Global Acquaintance: Towards a Contemporary Vision for Mosque Architecture). The publication critically discusses the idea of the mosque of the future.
Vitruvius' Trilogy as an Introduction to Architectural Theory: An Educational Approach.
The rising manifesto for post-war reconstruction in Syria.
The five envelopes of architecture in the art of Chazli Khan.
Beyond morphology, in Mediterranean housing cultures.
Architecture and the Middle East: an international panel discussion.
Global dating; Towards a contemporary vision of mosque architecture.
Interviews
Mishari Abdullah Al-Naim , the famous Arab architectural critic, wrote : “Wael Al-Samhouri’s architecture raises many questions about identity. It is an architecture that escapes the prison of narrow traditions and opens up to a development that embodies the spirit of the age.” “His architecture deserves consideration and study, as it does not leave itself to the whims of the world.” “Prevalent” and “required” that many Arab architects fell into. Therefore we see what is there [in his work] that we can see, within and around, to establish a contemporary Arabic language in architecture.”
“By treating tradition as more than just an ancient book, the Samhouri Building [the Hassanian religious centre] shows that cultural awareness in architecture can mean something deeper than decorative monoliths.”
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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