Salma Samar Damluji

Salma Samar Damluji (born in Beirut in 1954), is an Iraqi British architect, professor and author. She graduated from the AA School of Architecture in 1977 and from the Royal College of Art in London in 1987, where she did her doctorate. She worked with the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in Cairo, in 1975-6 and in 1984–5. She was appointed architectural advisor to HH Shaykh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2001–2004 on The Shaykh Zayed Grand Mosque project and other projects in Abu Dhabi. In 2008, she established with colleagues in Yemen, the Daw'an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation in Hadramut (Yemen) and has been working there on earth construction and rehabilitation projects.
Career.
Damluji's involvement with the architecture of Yemen began after a working visit for the UNESCWA in 1981. Her projects there include, ‘Aynat Mosque: Masjid al Faqih (2008-11), Masna‘at ‘Urah, Daw‘an (2008-12), Husn Qarn Majid, Daw‘an (2012-14), ‘Umar Ba Wazir Mosque, Wadi Sah (2008-10) and more recently (2017-19) the post-war rehabilitation of the Shibam Gateway, and the reconstruction of al-Habib Hamad bin Salih Dome’ Bin Isma‘il Domes, Shaklanza Mosque in Shihr and Shaykh Ya‘qub Dome in Mukalla These projects were funded by the Prince Claus Fund of the Netherlands and the Cultural Protection Fund of the British Council, United Kingdom.
In 2014, Damluji was the first woman architect invited to give the Leçon Inaugurale at the École de Chaillot in Paris, the tenth in the series. This was published in "The Other Architecture: Geometry, Earth and the Vernacular", (Paris, 2015) and formed an overview of her work and research.
She was elected Member of the Académie d’Architecture in Paris in 2017, and awarded the Académie d’Architecture's Restoration Award (silver medal) in 2015. In 2012 she received The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2012, from the Cité d'architecture & du Patrimoine and the Locus Foundation.
In 2013, she was appointed to the Mu‘allim Awad Binaldin Chair for Professor of Architecture in the Islamic World, at the American University of Beirut. Damluji was senior tutor at the Architectural Association (AA) Graduate School and at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London (UK). She has several titles published on earth and vernacular architecture of the Arab region. Her publications include "Hassan Fathy: Earth & Utopia" (2018), "The Architecture of Yemen" (2007) and "The Architecture of Oman" (1998).  A new edition of "The Architecture of Yemen and its Reconstruction" will be published in 2020. She has curated several exhibitions on her work in London (at the RCA and RIBA), in Paris, Venice and in Madrid.
Publications.
Interviews.
A coffee with Salma Samar Damluji: Attilio Petruccioli, Bibliotheca Orientalis, Fondazione S.E.C.A., 2019
A coffee with Salma Samar Damluji: Attilio Petruccioli, Bibliotheca Orientalis, Fondazione S.E.C.A., 2019
An interview with Prof. Salma Samar Damluji, Positive Magazine, 2016
Green Prophet Arwa Aburawa 11 June 2012
Sophie Landrin 16 April 2012
Video features.
Hadramout TV Feature
Daw‘an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation: Twelve years of work
Hadramut in a week, 16 March 2020
‘Retelling History …’, New Canonical Histories series, London, UK, January 2019
W.A.Ve. 2018 Italian Beauty: the video of the award ceremony
Salma Samar Damluji, Daw‘an Architecture Foundation, Entrevue diffusée dans l'exposition "Réenchanter le monde: architecture, ville, transitions" présentée à la Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine du mercredi 21 mai 2014 au lundi 6 octobre 2014
Earth Earth, with Roger Moukarzel, for Re-enchant the World Exhibition, Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine, 2014
Leçon Inaugurale de l’école de Chaillot, Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, 3 March 2014
Sun Dust: Shibam with Roger Moukarzel, 2013
Daw‘an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation.
Daw‘an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation was established in 2007-8 by Salma Samar Damluji and her colleagues in Yemen, Dr Abdullah BaGhumyan and Architect Ali Ba Saad. The foundation sets up projects and seeks funding to design and construct with Hadrami builders using earth materials and techniques of Yemeni architecture.
Projects completed.
Masna‘at ‘Urah
Location: Wadi Daw‘an
Date: 2006 – 2013
‘Aynat Mosque: Masjid al Faqih
Location: ‘Aynat- Wadi Hadramut
Date: 2008 – 2011
‘Umar Ba Wazir Mosque
Location: Ghayl ‘Umar- Sah, Wadi Hadramut
Date: 2008 – 2010
Wali Domes (Saint Shrines)
Location: Sah, Wadi Hadramut
Date: 2008 – 2010
Husn Qarn Majid
Location: Wadi Daw‘an
Date: 2012 – 2014
Shibam’s Housing
The BaSahi House
The BaSwatayn House
Location: Shibam, Wadi Hadramut
Date: 2012 – 2014
Post-War Shibam
Shibam Gateway
Shibam Palace Entrance
Location: Shibam, Wadi Hadramut
Date: 2017 – 2019
A grant was approved by the British Council, Cultural Protection Fund (CPF), for a project on ‘Post-war Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in Yemen’, directed by the CER-Net Prince Claus Fund. The Daw‘an Architecture Foundation was contracted to manage and implement the project in partnership with the Office of the Governor of Hadramut. The project concerns reconstructing cultural sites and landmarks in Hadramut that have been targeted in the war:
Shaykh Ya‘qub Dome
Location: Al Mukallah, Hadramut
Date: 2019 – 2020
Shaklanza Mosque
Location: Al Shihr, Hadramut
Date: 2019 – 2020
Al Habib Hamad Bin Salih Domes
Location: Al Shihr, Hadramut
Date: 2019 – 2020
Bin Isma‘il Domes
Location: Al Shihr, Hadramut
Date: 2019 – 2020