About Me

I am an architect and a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Architectural Humanities at the Sheffield School of Architecture in the UK. My work examines the intersections of colonial and imperial histories with the production of the built environment, focusing in particular on informal/covert imperial actors in the nineteenth century. My current book project traces the construction of competing missionary institutions in Ottoman Lebanon, questioning their influence and role in the construction of the city and the larger territory. This year I am participating as an Emerging Scholar in the Global Urban History Project. I am also an Editor for Architectural Histories, the EAHN Journal.

I completed my PhD in 2022 at the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research at the University of Cambridge, funded by the Cambridge International Scholarship (2017–20), a Scouloudi Junior Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research in London (2020-21) and a Funds for Women Graduates Doctoral Completion Grant (2020-21). Prior to this, I was a practicing architect and worked in various international and Lebanese architecture studios including Rafael Vinoly Architects & Planners (NY), Bernard Khoury/DW5, Hala Younes/AetA, and MARIAGROUP. Since 2013 I have taught at the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University, the University of Cambridge, the Manchester School of Architecture, De Monfort University’s Leicester School of Architecture, and Anglia Ruskin University.

My research and design work have been recognised by several awards, including the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain’s Hawksmoor Essay Medal (2020), the Presbyterian Historical Society’s Annual Research Fellowship (2020), and the Omrania CSBE, Chadirji, and Areen awards for excellence in architecture (2010). My writings have been published in the Architectural Theory Review and ABE Journal: Architecture Beyond Europe, as well as in edited volumes and design journals. Besides my architecture research and practice, I am also interested in photography and have published and exhibited my photographs in Cambridge, Beirut, and Venice.

CONTACT ME 

I can be reached at yce22@cantab.ac.uk or y.el.chami@sheffield.ac.uk. Please note these are my only current email addresses.

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