Hamdi Lecture: Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni

The annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture is in the honour of Emeritus Professor Nabeel Hamdi, who is the founder of the DEP Masters programme, past director of CENDEP, and one of the most distinguished academics in our field. He has a long career of inspiring people to bring out their potential in making changes. The annual lecture celebrates this spirit with discussions around humanitarian and development issues that are relevant to CENDEP.

Marwa Al-Sabouni will be talking on “Reflections from Syria: The role of architecture in conflict” at the annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture that will take place on 30 October. The lecture will be followed by book signing and reception. The event is free and booking is essential.

Where: The Main Lecture Theatre, John Henry Brookes Building, Headington campus, Oxford Brookes University

When: 30 October (Tuesday) 18.30

Further details:

http://cendep.blogspot.com/2018/10/meet-our-speaker-for-this-years-annual.html

https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/events/ols-18-19---reflections-from-syria--the-role-of-architecture-in-conflict/

Booking details:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marwa-al-sabouni-role-of-architecture-in-conflict-reflections-from-syria-tickets-47942957677

Meet our speaker for this year’s annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture: Marwa al-Sabouni

Aparna Maladkar writes:

The annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture this year will feature the Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni,  the author of the famous book The Battle for Home: The Memoir of a Syrian Architect. The book has been widely covered by the international media, and in 2016, was selected by the Guardian as one of the best architectural books.

Marwa has a PhD in Islamic Architecture and co-runs a private architectural studio in her hometown, Homs in Syria. When the civil war broke out in 2011 in Syria, Marwa made the difficult choice of staying in her city, Homs, which saw some of the most ferocious fighting. Despite danger, Marwa with her husband and two children stayed in Homs throughout the three-year siege of the city in which she was born and raised.

In 2014, Marwa opened a bookshop and co-founded world’s first and only Arabic-speaking architectural news website, Arch-News.net. Arch-News is dedicated to the empowerment of the Arabic speaking people by encouraging architectural dialogue. Arch-News was the winner in 2010 of the Royal Kuwaiti award for best media project in the Arab World. Marwa believes that the architecture in Homs has helped facilitate conflict and the role of architecture in creating peace and identity, stating, “…architecture…can either create the conditions to help end a conflict or enhance it. It’s the arena and the channel for such social dynamics.”

Marwa Al-Sabouni has been invited and has participated in number of United Nations organised conferences and workshops, and has also done a TED Talk for the TED Summit 2016, which has been viewed online over 900K times since its release. In 2014, Marwa won the first place at national level for the UN-Habitat Competition for her design proposal to rebuild Baba Amr, Homs, that encourages rehabilitation of mass housing. Marwa also teaches architectural design in a private university in Hama, Syria.

The annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture is in the honour of Emeritus Professor Nabeel Hamdi, who is the founder of the DEP Masters programme, past director of CENDEP, and one of the most distinguished academics in our field. He has a long career of inspiring people to bring out their potential in making changes. The annual lecture celebrates this spirit with discussions around humanitarian and development issues that are relevant to CENDEP.

Marwa Al-Sabouni will be talking on “Reflections from Syria: The role of architecture in Conflict” at the annual Nabeel Hamdi Lecture that will take place on 30 October. The lecture will be followed by book signing and reception. The event is free and booking is essential.

Where: The Main Lecture Theatre, John Henry Brookes Building, Headington campus, Oxford Brookes University

When: 30 October (Tuesday) 18.30

Further details:
https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/events/ols-18-19---reflections-from-syria--the-role-of-architecture-in-conflict/

Booking details:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marwa-al-sabouni-role-of-architecture-in-conflict-reflections-from-syria-tickets-47942957677

References:
www.arch-news.net

http://skoll.org/contributor/marwa-al-sabouni/

https://www.archdaily.com/500053/un-habitat-announces-winners-of-mass-housing-competition

https://architectureau.com/articles/architecture-is-the-arena-and-the-channel-for-social-dynamic-says-syrian-architect-marwa-al-sabouni/

https://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/syrian-architect-marwa-al-sabouni-architectures-role-preserving-peace/

https://thamesandhudson.com/authors/marwa-al-sabouni-63009

Work in Progress seminars for the new semester

The blog has awoken from its midsummer slumber and our first task is to tell you about the new series of Work in Progress seminars that will start next week.

For those who are new to CENDEP, this seminar series is pretty much what the name suggests. Researchers from both within CENDEP and outside introduce their work, which often includes ideas that are still in the course of being researched and developed. The range of topics is wide, reflecting the multidisciplinary character of our centre and the range of research interests. This semester almost that full range is on view: conflict, humanitarianism, architecture and shelter, refugees, and human rights.

The seminars are held in the student hub on the third floor of the Abercrombie building (Headington campus). The exception is the third annual Nabeel Hamdi lecture, held in honour of CENDEP's founder, which is in the main lecture theatre of the John Henry Brookes building on 30 October. This year's lecturer is the Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni. More details about that fascinating event nearer the time.

Seminars are at 4.30 on Thursday afternoons (except from the Hamdi lecture, which is at 6.30 on a Tuesday). All are very welcome.

Peter Tatchell on Syria and the failure of the international community

Angela Hatherell writes:

In December we welcomed human rights campaigner and activist Peter Tatchell to the university to give the second Nabeel Hamdi lecture: The international community has failed Syria. In it he discussed the flaws and limits of international human rights law in relation to the conflict in Syria and looked at some of the options that could have been used to defuse the war and save lives, but were not actioned by the UN or any countries.

The Nabeel Hamdi Lecture series is presented jointly by the Oxford Human Rights Festival and CENDEP, the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice. Emeritus Professor Nabeel Hamdi was the founder of the MA in Development and Emergency Practice and long term director of CENDEP and one of the most distinguished academics in our field. On his retirement from Oxford Brookes, this lecture series was initiated in his honour.