Origins of the Architectural Identity of Old Amman: Jabal al-Luweibdeh, 1933–1959 traces the architectural history of Amman through the urban and social transformations that shaped Jabal al-Luweibdeh. Drawing on rare archival documents, building plans, and historical photographs from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the book pieces together the architectural story of one of Amman’s oldest and most significant neighborhoods.
Focusing on the formation of Jabal al-Luweibdeh, its houses and buildings, including the buildings of Darat al Funun, the book situates the neighborhood within the wider history of modern Amman.
The conversation will be held in Arabic. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Mohammad Rafi' is a civil engineer and researcher in architectural heritage, with more than thirty-five years of experience in civil engineering and the documentation of built heritage. He graduated from the University of Damascus in 1985 and is among the leading researchers concerned with the architectural identity of the Arab city and the preservation of its urban heritage. He has published ten books across documentation, research, and fiction, including the series Memory of the City: Papers from Old Amman, The Urban Fabric of Old Amman, and the novels Deir Waraq and Maps of Forgetting. His book Origins of the Architectural Identity of Old Amman: Jabal al-Luweibdeh (2026) brings together years of research into the identity and development of the city.
For eighteen years, Mohammad worked as a writer and specialized editor at the Jordanian newspaper Al Rai. He has also produced and directed documentary works, including the series Ammar al-Bilad and Umran. He has worked at the Greater Amman Municipality since 1998, where he currently leads a project documenting the architectural heritage of Old Amman. He has received royal recognition from His Majesty King Abdullah II, as well as the Best Book Award from Philadelphia University.
Dr. Mohammad al-Asad is an architect and architectural historian specializing in architecture, planning, and their histories. He is the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment, a non-profit research institution established in 1999. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois and architectural history at Harvard University, and held postdoctoral research positions at Harvard University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
He has taught at several leading universities, including Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, the University of Illinois, the University of Jordan, and the German Jordanian University. His research has been widely published in Arabic and English. He is the author of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East, has co-edited reference publications on architecture and planning, and contributed a chapter to the twenty-first edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture. He has also contributed to and appeared in specialized documentary films, and has held several advisory and cultural positions, including serving on the Board of Trustees of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and on the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Dr. Salim Moqbel Dahabreh is a professor of architecture at the University of Jordan, and an architectural researcher and practitioner whose work brings together academic and professional experience. He received his PhD in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006, as well as two master’s degrees: one in Architecture and Human Settlements from KU Leuven in Belgium in 1996, and another in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Jordan in 1998. His research focuses on architectural identity and the relationship between architecture and human behavior.
He has served as Chair of the Department of Architecture and as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Engineering at the University of Jordan. Through teaching, academic supervision, and participation in accreditation and jury committees, he has contributed significantly to the development of architectural education. His research interests include architectural morphology, the logic of architectural composition, and questions of identity, tradition, and modernity. Professionally, he heads 90 Degrees Design Studio and has participated in numerous architectural projects, consultancies, and competitions. He has received international design awards, while his students, under his supervision, have received more than twenty-five local and international awards and recognitions.