Akel Ismail Kahera | Hamad Bin Khalifa University
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Dr. Akel Ismail Kahera

Program Director and Professor of Islamic Architecture and Urbanism

Email

akahera@hbku.edu.qa

Office location

C.01.030

Dr. Akel Ismail Kahera

Program Director and Professor of Islamic Architecture and Urbanism

Educational Qualifications

Certificate: Heritage Preservation and Cultural Value

Certificate: Global Leadership

Entity

College of Islamic Studies

Program

Master of Science in Islamic Art, Architecture and Urbanism

Divison

Islamic Art, Architecture and Urbanism

Biography

Dr. Akel Kahera is a Professor of Islamic Architecture and Urbanism at CIS, HBKU. His research, teaching, and scholarly publications include architecture, sustainable urbanism, and design. With over 20 years as a professional practitioner, he has performed a vital role as designer and project manager primarily in the international arena, which has led to the construction of several major projects with a commensurate construction value of $500 million. He is a native of Brooklyn, New York, where he attended Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture and later completed graduate studies (M. Arch) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and obtained a PhD with honors from Princeton University. 

Dr. Kahera has held multiple teaching and senior positions, including professor and dean at Virgina Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Qatar; professor and senior associate dean of research and graduate studies at Clemson University, South Carolina; and professor and director at Prairie View A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas Tech University. Dr. Kahera has published over three dozen peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and three books: Deconstructing the American Mosque (University of Texas Press, 2002/2008), Reading the Islamic City: Discursive Practices & Legal Judgment (Rowan & Littlefield/ Lexington Press, Maryland; 2012), and Design Criteria for Mosques (Architectural Press, Oxford, UK; 2009). 

Certificate: Heritage Preservation and Cultural Value

University of Oxford

2017

Certificate: Global Leadership

Reed College, Portland, Oregon

2016

Certificate: Race and Reconciliation

Reed College, Portland, Oregon

2016

PhD (with Distinction)

Princeton University

1997

Master of Architecture

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1987

Bachelor of Architecture

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

1977

  • Sustainable Environments and Critical Regionalism
  • Revitalization and Historic Preservation
  • Typologies of Islamic Architecture
  • Hermeneutics and Ontology
  • Housing and Community Development

Professor of Architecture and Urbanism

CIS, HBKU

2019 – Present

Dean and Professor

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s School of the Arts

2015 – 2018

Associate Dean and Professor

College of Architecture, Art and Humanities, Clemson University, South Carolina

2012 – 2015

Associate Professor and Director

School of Architecture, Prairie View/Texas A & M University

2005 – 2012

BOOKS
  • Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield/Lexington Press.
  • Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. (Reissued in paperback edition, 2008).
  • Oxford, UK: The Architectural Press.
BOOK CHAPTERS
  • In Gharipour, M. (Ed.), Contemporary Urban Landscapes of the Middle East. UK: Routledge. 171–89.
  • In Brunn, S. (Ed.), The Changing World Map: Sacred Spaces, Identities, Practices and Politics. UK: Springer.
  • In Bell, C.J. (Ed.), Space Unveiled: Invisible Cultures in the Design Studio. UK: Routledge. 37–50.
  • In Hammer, J., & Safi, O. (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to American Islam. UK: Cambridge University Press. 228–245.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
  • The South Carolina Review, 46(2). 126–34.
  • Encounters: An International Journal for the Study of Culture and Society, 6. 151–68.
  • Journal of History & Culture, 1(3). 57–79.
  • Journal of History & Culture, 1(2). 39–52.
  • Journal of History & Culture, 1(1). 62–76.
  • Space and Culture, 10(4). 384–396.
  • Al-Shajarah: Journal of International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 4(1). 75–92.
  • Journal of Islamic Law and Society, 5(2). E.J. Brill. 131–64.
OTHERS
  • In Uddin-Khan, H., & Moore, K. (Eds.), The Religious Architecture of Islam, Vol 1. Brepols Publishers.
  • In McCloud, A.B. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of African American Islam. UK: Oxford University Press.
  • In Smith, J., & Haddad, Y. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American Islam. Oxford University Press NY (2014), 404–25.
  • In Encyclopedia of Urbanism. UK: Sage Publications. 401–405.
  • In Ciment, J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of American Immigration. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. 768–776.