Marwa Al-Sabouni
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Marwa Al-Sabouni | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 September 1981 Homs, Syria |
| Known for | Architecture |
| Awards | BBC 100 Women |
Marwa Al-Sabouni (Arabic: مروة الصابوني; born 18 September 1981) is a Syrian architect and writer. She believes that architecture plays a role in maintaining a city's peace. Her first book, The Battle for Home, was selected by The Guardian as one of the top architectural books of 2016. She was selected as one of the BBC 100 Women in 2019.
Al-Sabouni was born in Homs.[1] She has claimed that in Syria the students with the highest grades study medicine, whilst those achieving lower grades study engineering.[2] Al-Sabouni would go on to study architecture. Al-Sabouni noticed that there were no functioning parks or cultural spaces close to where she lived.[3] She has spoken about her early life to The Guardian, "I had no illusions of being the next Zaha Hadid...Nevertheless, hope is blind, and always manages to find its way into the human heart, mine included".[2] She holds a bachelor's and doctoral degree in architecture,[4] and has called Frank Lloyd Wright one of her inspirations.[5][6] Her undergraduate training involved copying Western styles, such as the American homes in Cape Cod, from library books.[3] Her doctoral dissertation, Stereotyping in Islamic Architecture, was featured on deconarch.com.[7]