Nadia Habash
Practice: Habash Consulting Engeneers
Established: 1997
City: Ramallah, West Bank
Country: Palestine
Nadia Habash was born in Jerusalem in 1959. She graduated from the University of Jordan's School of Architecture in 1982 and got her Masters degree from the School of Architecture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1986. She taught at Birzeit University from 1982 to 1997.
Currently Nadia is director of Habash Consulting Engineers, an award-winning practice formed in 1997 with her brother Ibrahim, and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Architecture, BZU. Nadia participated in several local and international conferences before she was forbidden to leave the country in 1988. She has published widely. She is the only woman to be elected as a member of the Engineers Association Council in Palestine and Jordan, headeing the Ramallah and El-Beireh Branch in 2000-04. She is a member of the Engineers Association Congress and one of the founders of the Association of Architects in Palestine and ICOMOS - Palestine Chapter.
Habash Consulting Engeneers
Archaeological Park at Hisham's Palace
The project was commissioned following the winning of the first prize in a conceptual design competition launched by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and UNESCO for a masterplan of the Archaeological Park of Qasr Hisham in Jericho. It includes protective shelters for the mosaic floors of the Grand Bath Hall and other sensitive areas. The design works are carried out by the office team under the supervision of Peter Zumthor.
| Who are your role models who inspire you? | To me, working as an architect is part of my national struggle against occupation. Architecture, being part of our cultural heritage and national identity, is subject to systematic destruction by the Israeli occupiers aiming at eliminating evidence of the existence of our grandfathers on this land. Preserving our cultural and natural heritage, keeping it alive and reflecting it in our new designs is what inspires me as an architect. |