Updated Aug 2023
Current position
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Architectural Humanities, 2022–
Sheffield School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, UK
EDUCATION
PhD in Architecture, 2017–22
Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, UK
Title: ‘The Project of the City in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon: Missionary Competition and Collective Colonialism in Beirut, 1820–1914’
MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Projective Cities Programme), 2011–13
Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, UK
With Distinction
BArch in Architecture, 2005–10
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
With Distinction
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Architecture, 2021–22
Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Associate Lecturer in Architectural Humanities, 2021
Leicester School of Architecture, De Monfort University, UK
Associate Lecturer in Architecture, 2020–21
Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Part-time Lecturer, 2014–15
Department of Architecture and Design, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Part-time Lecturer, 2013–15
Department of Architecture and Interior Design, Lebanese American University, Lebanon
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed Articles and book chapters
(Forthcoming) ‘A Mutual Project: Architecture and the Imperial Foundations of American Missionaries in Nineteenth-Century Beirut’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH)
(Forthcoming) ‘Inventing a “Lebanese” Architectural Tradition: Friedrich Ragette at the American University of Beirut’, in The Making of a Field: Architectural Education in the Middle East and North Africa, eds. Farhan Karim and Mohammad Gharipour (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023).
Honarmand Ebrahimi, S., Milford, I., Bond, J., Deb Lal, N., El Chami, Y., Elsisi, H., Ganneri, N., Kamphuis, K., Tizzoni, M., Tunç, U., Wallace, C., Wang, Z., Weber, A., & Zarkar, R., ‘Roundtable: the archives of global history in a time of international immobility’, Historical Research (2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htac015.
El Chami, Y., ‘A Supranational Jesuit Project in Nineteenth-Century Beirut: Multiplicities of the Local and Global at the Université Saint-Joseph’, ABE Journal: Architecture Beyond Europe 19 (2021): 1–37, https://doi.org/10.4000/abe.12690.
El Chami, Y., ‘An American “Garden” in an Oriental “Desert”: The Modernity of Timber at the Syrian Protestant College’, Architectural Theory Review 25, nos. 1-2 (2021): 199–215, https://doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2021.1958354.
El Chami, Y., ‘The Place Beyond the Coast: A Spatio-Political History of Mount Lebanon’s Interior’, in The Place that Remains: Recounting the Un-built Territory, ed. Hala Younes (Milano: Skira, 2018), 176–183.
El Chami, Y., ‘Beirut: From City of Capital to Capital City’, Urban Flux 45, no. 5 (2015): 70–79.
EDITED JOURNAL
El Chami, Y., and Palate, S., eds., Scroope: The Cambridge Architecture Journal 28 (2019) [with editorial introduction: ‘Introducing Concinnitas’].
DESIGN JOURNAL ARTICLES
El Chami, Y., and Palate, S., ‘It All Starts with the Ground: Interview with Amanda Levete’, Scroope: The Cambridge Architecture Journal 28 (2019): 8–21.
El Chami, Y., ‘Inhabiting Territory: Nature, Conflict, and Capital’, visual essay, Ground-Up: Journal of the Department of Landscape Architecture at UC Berkeley 8 (2019): 29–34.
ONLINE ESSAYS
El Chami, Y., ‘The Crisis of Heritage in Beirut: Conflict, Capital, and Reconstruction’, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Features (2020), online: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/features/beirut
El Chami, Y., Beirut, From City of Capital to Capital City: Reconstructing a Lebanese State Identity Within Neoliberal Economy, AA Projective Cities Publications (2013), online: http://projectivecities.aaschool.ac.uk/portfolio/yasmina-el-chami-beirut-from-city-of-capital-to-capital-city/
El Chami, Y., From Multipli-city to Corporate City in Beirut’s Central District, AAProjective Cities Publications (2012), online: http://projectivecities.aaschool.ac.uk/portfolio/yasmina-el-chami-from-multipli-city-to-corporate-city/
FELLOWSHIPS, grants & AWARDS
Graham Foundation Individual Research Development Grant, 2023
Faculty of Social Sciences Education Project Grant, University of Sheffield, 2023
Scott Opler Emerging Scholar Conference Fellowship, Society of Architectural Historians, 2023
Global Urban History Project Emerging Scholar, GUHP, 2022–23
Histories of Urban Design Conference Fellowship, ETH Zurich, 2021
Annual Conference Graduate Student Fellowship, Society of Architectural Historians, 2021
Institute of Historical Research Scouloudi Junior Research Fellowship, 2020–21
Funds for Women Graduates Doctoral Completion Grant, 2020–21
Hawksmoor Medal, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, 2020
Presbyterian Historical Society Annual Research Fellowship, 2019
1st Prize, Lady Margaret Beaufort Portrait Prize, Christ’s College, Cambridge, 2018
Graduate Research Funds Grants (multiple), Christ’s College, Cambridge, 2018–20
Faculty Fieldwork Grants (multiple), Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 2018–19
Martin Centre Conference Organisation Grant, Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 2018
School of Arts & Humanities Conference Organisation Competition Grant, University of Cambridge, 2018
Kettle’s Yard Travel Grant, Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 2018
Cambridge International Scholarship (Full fees and maintenance, 3 years), 2017–20
Centre for Mediterranean Architecture AUB Scholar-elect, Chania, Greece, 2013
1st Prize, Omrania CSBE Award for Best Final Year Project in the Arab World, 2010
Chadirji Award for Best Thesis Project in Lebanon, Lebanese Order of Engineers and Architects, 2010
1st Prize, Areen Award for Best Final Year Project in Architecture, American University of Beirut, 2010
Dean’s Creative Achievement Award for Architecture, American University of Beirut, 2010
TALKS, EVENTS & PAPERS
PODCAST
‘Architecture and Empire’, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Podcasts (2021), with Elsie Owusu, Tania Sengupta, and Shahmima Akhtar, hosted by Matthew Roberts & Jessica Kelly
INVITED TALKS
‘Enduring Legacies of Empire in the Built Environment’, Cambridge City Seminar, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, 25 October 2022
‘Heritage as Value in Crisis Situations’, Cambridge Disaster Research Network, University of Cambridge, with Ammar Azzouz and Dena Qaddumi, 15 June 2021 (online)
‘Missionary Competition and the Project of the City in Nineteenth-Century Beirut’, IHR Fellows’ Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London, 24 March 2021 (online)
‘Industrialism, Philanthropy, Architecture: The Political Project of American Missionaries in Beirut’, Architectural History Seminar, SAHGB/Institute of Historical Research, London, 21 September 2021 (online)
‘From Territory to City: Missionary Education in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon’, Sharjah Triennial Forum: The Rights of Future Generations, Sharjah Inaugural Architecture Triennial, Al-Qassimiyah School, Sharjah, 8 February 2019
‘Typological Urbanism as Alternative to Neo-Liberal Planning: A Case Study on the Reconstruction of Beirut’, Keynote Lecture, MArch Urban Design Jury, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 14 December 2015
‘Typological Urbanism: Shifting Paradigms in Thinking and Shaping City Space’, Guest Seminar, Master in Urban Design, American University of Beirut, 12 November 2015
ORGANISED EVENTS
Decolonial Architecture Network workshop series, University of Sheffield School of Architecture, 10 May, 12 June, 11-12 July, 2023
‘Conflicted Narratives, Future Trajectories’ International Conference (with Nadi Abusaada), Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 28 September 2019
‘Changing Health Seminar 2019: Architecture and Wellbeing’ (with Theresa Marteau DBE and Sarah Franklin FBA), Christ’s College, Cambridge, 12 November 2019
Scroope Annual Lecture & Issue 28 Launch (with Savia Palate), Invited Speaker: Amanda Levete CBE/AL_A, Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 28 June 2019
‘Locating Architecture in the Urban’ Conference, Convened by Maximilian Sternberg, Department of Architecture, 2 November 2019
CONFERENCE PAPERS
‘Architecture and the Imperial Foundations of American Evangelical Philanthropy’, Society of Architectural Historians 2023 Annual Conference, Montreal, 12–16 April 2023
‘Evangelization, Industrialism, and Architecture: The Moral-Material Project of American Missionaries in the Middle East’, International Congress on Colonial and Postcolonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism and War, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 17–19 January 2023
‘Collective Colonialism: Missionary Competition as Sectarian Project in Nineteenth-Century Beirut’, Uneasy Neighbours International Conference (postponed from 2021), Bremen University, Bremen, 21–22 July 2022
‘Jesuit and French Colonial Networks of Expertise in Beirut, 1875–1914’, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies 2022 Annual Conference, St. Andrews, Scotland, 4–6 July 2022
‘Foreclosing Reconstruction: The Agency and Failure of Urban Design in Beirut’s City Centre’, Histories of Urban Design Conference: Global Trajectories and Local Realities, ETH Zurich, Zurich, 15–17 November 2021
‘Inventing a “Lebanese” Architectural Tradition: Friedrich Ragette and the American University of Beirut’, Society of Architectural Historians 2021 Annual Conference, 14 April 2021 (online)
‘The Archive as Project: Recovering Colonial Histories of the Built Environment’ Architecture/Archives, SAHGB /AA Annual Symposium, Architectural Association School of Architecture, 23 October 2020 (online)
‘Divide and Educate: The Enduring Projects of Foreign Missionaries in Beirut’, Architectural Humanities Research Association 16th Annual Conference, University of Dundee, Scotland, 21-23 November 2020
‘A “Total” Project of Architecture: Missionaries and Collective Colonialism’, Conflicted Narratives, Future Trajectories International Symposium, Department of Architecture, Cambridge, 28 September 2019
‘The Limits of the “Nation”: Missionaries Within and Beyond Empire in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon’, Through the Nation Symposium, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, 24 June 2019
‘The Politics of American Missionary Education in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon’, Buell Center Biennial Dissertation Colloquium, Temple Hoyne Buell Center, GSAPP, Columbia University, New York, 3-4 May 2019
‘Constructing Beirut: Missionary Education and the Project of the City’, Architectural History Annual Workshop, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, London, 23 March 2019
‘Morphologies of Neoliberal Development: The Failed Project of (the) Capital in Beirut’, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference, King’s College London, 25-28 June 2018
‘The Place Beyond the Coast: A Spatio-Political History of Mount Lebanon’s Interior’, The Place that Remains: Recounting the Un-built Territory International Conference, Lebanese American University, Beirut, 23-24 March 2018
SERVICE
Editor, Architectural Histories, EAHN Journal
Jury Member, MA Dissertation Prize 2022, MA Dissertation Prize 2023, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
Design Juror
University of Technology Sydney, MArch final juries (2020–21)
Lebanese American University, BArch juries, Studios V–X, (2013–20)
American University of Beirut, BArch final-year juries (2013–17)
University of Cyprus, MArch final jury (2015)
Bartlett UCL, MArch UDII interim and final juries (2012–13)
President, Christ’s College Graduate Society (MCR), Cambridge, 2019–20
Academic Officer, Christ’s College Graduate Society (MCR), Cambridge, 2018–19
Member, Modern Middle East History Seminar, FAMES, Cambridge, 2018–2021
Member, Visual Arts Committee, Christ’s College, Cambridge, 2018–20
Member, Urbanism in the Global South Working Group, Cambridge, 2018–20
TEACHING
Anglia Ruskin University
H/T Modernism & Beyond, Y2, Spring 2022
Architectural Design Studio B2, Y2 , Spring 2022
Site Studies & Design, Y2, Spring 2022
Leicester School of Architecture, De Monfort University
ARCH 3052 Cultural and Contextual Studies: Y3 Thematic Seminar, ‘Legacies of Empire in the City’ (Self-designed), Fall 2021
Manchester School of Architecture
MArch I Design Studio (Y5): Infrastructure Space Vertical Atelier, AY 2020–21
University of Cambridge
H/T, Optional Seminar Y3: Medieval Modernism, Fall 2020
H/T, Core Y3: Islamic Architecture, Fall 2019
H/T, Core Y2: Housing in Britain and Europe, Fall 2018, Spring 2019
Undergraduate Dissertations, Y3: AY 2018/19, AY 2020/21
Lebanese American University
Final Year Thesis & Project (Y5): The Univer-City, AY 2014/15 (Self-designed)
Final Year Thesis & Project (Y5): Architecture in the Landscape, AY 2013/14
Architecture Theory I, Core Y1, Fall 2014 (Self-designed)
Traveling Studio, Elective Y3: Nordic Modernism, Summer 2014 (Self-designed)
American University of Beirut
Surveying Regional Architecture, Core Y1, Summer 2015
Architecture Design Studio I, Core Y1, Spring 2015
The Bartlett, University College London
Visiting Seminars/Tutorials, Urban Design Studio II: Beirut, AY 2012–13
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Senior Architect / Project Manager, MARIAGROUP Architects, Beirut, 2015–2017
Lead Architect, AETA/Hala Younes Architects, Beirut, 2015
Project Architect, DW5/Bernard Khoury Architects, Beirut, 2014–2015
Junior Architect / Urban Designer, SOLIDERE, Beirut, 2010–2011
Intern / Part I Assistant, Rafael Vinoly Architects & Planners, New York, 2008
EXHIBITIONS
‘City of Capital’ in Omran ’19: Architecture of the Territory, Collective for Architecture Lebanon, Beit Beirut, 21 August–11 September 2019
Current work, representing class of 2010, 50 years of the AUB Department of Architecture Commemorative Exhibition, AUB Beirut, 5 October–30 November 2018
‘A Window on the Horizon’, Revisiting Dalieh landscape competition, shortlisted and winning entries exhibition, Alt-City Hamra, Beirut, 5–12 June 2015
‘Viva la Vida’ in CMA|EDU 2013: Celebrating Design Talent in Mediterranean Schools, Center for Mediterranean Architecture, Chania Greece, 8 September–6 October 2013
‘Building on Ruins’ in Stable States, 6 artists group exhibition, Cultivate gallery, Vyner Street, London, 16 February–2 March 2012
‘Viva la Vida’, in Omrania CSBE winning projects exhibition and awards ceremony, Bahrain, 28 November–2 December 2010
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Society of Architectural Historians
European Architectural History Network
Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
Architectural Humanities Research Association
Middle East Studies Association
Global Urban History Project
Institute of Historical Research
Lebanese Order of Architects and Engineers, Registered Architect (2010)