Yale Architecture Forum
Ziad Jamaleddine
On Translation and Contemporary Islamic Architectural Practice
Drawing on Jamaleddine’s academic research into Islamic building practices and architecture office L.E.FT’s experimentation with religious architecture, At the Edge of Where God Built (Akhir ma ‘Ammar Allah) (Actar, 2026) proposes an alternative framework for understanding contemporary manifestations of Islamic architecture beyond established typological models. The book conceptualizes architecture through spatial practices grounded in Arabic linguistic concepts and cultural histories. It groups L.E.FT’s work around five Arabic spatial terms: al-mataf, al-jami, al-riwaq, al-dar, and al-khirba. This approach highlights how the ambiguities of translation might be instrumentalized to interrogate the geographic boundaries and historical periodization through which Islamic architecture has been typologically classified.
Ziad Jamaleddine is a co-founder of L.E.FT Architects (New York/Beirut) and an assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. L.E.FT’s work includes the Amir Shakib Arslan Mosque in Lebanon (2017), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners for Sacred Places Award (2018) and the Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture (2022). It also includes the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices at Vassar College (2023), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners for Sacred Places Award in Religious Architecture: Adaptive Re-Use (2024). The office’s research and design work has been exhibited at several cultural venues, including the Oslo Architecture Triennale (2016), Milan Triennale (2019), Sharjah Architecture Triennale (2019), Jeddah Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), Amman Design Week (2026), and Sharjah Architecture Triennale (2026). Jamaleddine’s writings have been published in Places Journal (2020), Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World (2024), International Journal of Islamic Architecture (2025), KoozArch (2025), Platform (2026), and Thresholds #54 (2026). He received the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York (2010). In 2024, the AIA selected Jamaleddine as one of the Nine Arab American Architects You Should Know.
Architecture Forum is a PhD-led symposium jointly organized by the Departments of Architecture and History of Art, providing an inclusive platform for scholars to present and debate new research on the history of the built environment. This year’ forum is co-convened by Benjy Akhavan, Anas Alkhatib, and Marlene Schwemer.
Generous funding for this event is provided by the School of Architecture, History of Art Department, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Middle East Studies.