CMEAC Symposium-1 The University of Oklahoma. March 2013

Director's Visions

The Center for Middle Eastern Architecture and culture (CMEAC) at the University of Oklahoma celebrates its first interdiscplinary symposium. The papers presented in this venue represent the four thematic categories established by the organizing committee for the symposium: "From Antiquity To Present,""Architecture, City, and Culture," "Images of Adaptation, Survival & Resurrection," and "Modernization, Technology, and Design."

All of these thematic categories aim for an all-encompassing study of building in the Middle East. The concept of "building," in a broad sense, comprises all means by which humans give shape to their environment, including architecture, town planning and landscaping. Certainly, large regions in the world can be discerned where architecture is characterized by common traits. One such large region has the Middle East as its nucleus, while also encompassing parts of North Africa and Central Asia. Thus, the symposium concent acknowledges and celebrates both the similarities
and diversities of the region and aims toward bridging differences through a convergent academic stance on architecture and its constituent cultural and technological makeup. Ultimately, the goal is one of providing an opportunity for an intellectual dialogue of definition.

In addition to the papers presented in this venue, the symposium also features two distinguished guests who will share their artistic visions with us. Gisue Hariri, the principal of Hariri & Hariri Architects is the keynote speaker. Abdolhossein Pazoki, an Iranian architect and artist will be exhibiting his mystical surrealistic drawings.


Dr. Khosrow Bozorgi
Professor of Architecture and Urban Design
Director, Center for Middle Eastern Architecture and Culture
College of Architecture, The University of Oklahoma