Michele Lamprakos

Trained as an architect and architectural/urban historian, Michele Lamprakos specializes in the early modern/modern Arab-Islamic world and critical heritage studies. Her research focuses on two main themes: the lives and layers of buildings and sites; and contacts between faith-cultures in the Mediterranean.

She is author of "Building a World Heritage City: Sanaa Yemen," the first book on urban heritage to be recognized by the Society of Architectural Historians’ Spiro Kostof Award (Honorable Mention, 2018). Her second book project, "Memento Mauri: the Afterlife of the Great Mosque of Cordoba," explores the changing fabric and meaning of the building as mosque, cathedral, historic monument, and symbol of the Islamic past in Spain. Her research has been supported by the National Humanities Center, the Graham Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the American Philosophical Society, and other organizations.

Lamprakos’ career has combined teaching, research, and practice in architecture, adaptive reuse, preservation, and economic/community development. She lectures widely and has organized international symposia, including “Heritage and the Arab Spring” (Freer Gallery of Art, 2014, with Nancy Um). She has served as Technical Reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and as Desk Reviewer for UNESCO.