Research
My research concerns the architectural and urban history of the Gulf region and modernity in India and South Asia, with the broad aim to study cultural topographies. My approach combines physical and ethnographic fieldwork with archival research, and my outputs include government reports, research-by-design outputs and research exhibitions, and several invited public lectures, keynotes and presentations.
I am currently working on the monograph, Cosmopolitan Muscat, aimed at bringing together 500 years of urban development of this Indian Ocean port town. My book, Site and Composition (Routledge 2016), reviewed as a significant contribution to the understanding of the role of ‘sites’ in 20th century architectural design. My monograph on Oman’s settlement and architecture (Liverpool 2011) was reviewed as an “outstanding” “major work, erudite, and thorough” and “invaluable reference work for Islamic scholars for years to come” (Lewcock, former Aga Khan Professor at MIT). My design research work through ArCHIAM research centre has resulted in implemented buildings, and the creation of two virtual museums (Oman, India), as well as permanent installations at the two national museums in Oman.
My successful grants as PI and CoI totals over £2 million. More recently, the first phase of the world’s largest digital humanities project for Gulf architecture and urbanism – the Gulf Architecture Project (GAP, £736,900) – was completed in June 2020, funded by the Qatar National Library. Over 9,000 digital assets were created, supported by extensive technical and researched metadata records in English and Arabic.
In October 2021 I presented the “Doha Vision 2050: Sustainable Urbanism for the Gulf” – a strategic vision for Gulf coastal cities – with Harvard University, the UN Urban Economic Forum and Prof Nader Ardalan. I have been invited to deliver keynotes at several institutions and conferences internationally, including in Bangladesh, China, the EU, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia, UAE, UK and the USA. I am on the Steering Committee of the Encyclopaedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World (EVAW), several other international journal advisory committees and on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Peer Review Panel.
Research grants
A proposal from the ArCHIAM Research Centre, University of Liverpool: Season 3
AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE (SWITZERLAND)
May 2021 - September 2023
Indian Ocean Islamic Trade and its Impact on Architecture
AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE (SWITZERLAND)
October 2022 - September 2023
Development of teaching material based on AKHCP material with additional material from ArCHIAM
AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE (SWITZERLAND)
September 2017 - February 2018
The Hugli River of Cultures Pilot Project, from Bandel to Barrackpore
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY (BEIS) (UK)
February 2018 - January 2020
Rehabilitation and restoration proposal for Bayt as-Sail (Al Ghassanni family house)
PRIVATE BENEFACTOR (OTHER OVERSEAS)
March 2016 - July 2018
Architecture and Urban Development of the Deccan Sultanate
AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE (SWITZERLAND)
November 2018 - January 2020
Heritage Management and Development Plans for Omani Oasis Settlements, DHOFAR: Salahad, Oqad, Adaharize, Al hafah
MINISTRY OF HERITAGE AND CULTURE, SULTANATE OF OMAN (OMAN)
October 2015 - July 2018
Assessing the contribution of Nek Chand's Rock Garden in (re)defining the popular identity of Chandigarh.
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
September 2004 - August 2007
The Decorated Mihrabs (Prayer Niches) of Central Oman: Documenting and tracing their origin and influences.
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
March 2003 - March 2004