Sahar Basil Mahmood Al-Qaisi

Koya University

Keeping memory: vernacular architecture in Iraqi Kurdistan

2018-2019: Fall

Weinberg Fellow in Architectural History and Preservation

An assistant professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at Koya University in Iraqi Kurdistan, Sahar has worked in this department since 2008, teaching classes in the history of architecture and conservation & rehabilitation as well as the Urban Design Studio.
She received her B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering (1997) and M.Sc. in Urban Design (2005) from the University of Technology - Iraq, and her Ph.D. in Urban Conservation (2011) from the University of Baghdad - Iraq.
She has since 2012 led a campaign to document the surviving heritage architectural features of Koya and of other nearby Iraqi Kurdish old towns, with her colleagues and students.
In 2009 she had a 3-month scholarship at the Brandenburg University of Technology in Germany, via the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); in 2016 she was an awardee of the 2016 SAH-Getty international program grant (presented by the Society of Architectural Historians and the Getty Foundation).
She has been a member of the Iraqi Engineers Union (IEU) since 1997; a consultant architect since 2014; and a member of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) since 2015.
Her participation in conferences and publications reflects her research interests in conservation, urban design, and the history of architecture.

Web page: https://sites.google.com/a/koyauniversity.org/sahar-basil/