Saman Qurashi 1
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Saman Quraishi

Assistant Professor
Programs
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About Saman Quraishi

Saman Quraishi is an architect and architectural historian. Trained at the intersection of architectural practice, history, and archival studies, her work critically examines how architectural archives are formed, organised, and interpreted, and how they function as vital entry points for negotiating the complexities, erasures, and multiplicities of architectural history. Her research extends into micro-histories of architecture, foregrounding overlooked actors, marginal narratives, and everyday practices that shape the built environment beyond canonical accounts. Engaging deeply with archival knowledge as both method and subject, she explores how design processes, institutional memory, and material records inform broader historiographical questions, positioning the archive not merely as a repository of documents but as an active site of inquiry, pedagogy, and critical reflection on architecture and its afterlives.
With over a decade of professional experience, Saman has worked with urban local bodies across multiple Indian cities and has also been briefly engaged in the heritage management sector in India. Her practice spans archival research, curation, and writing, and she has contributed to various books and archival monographs. Her interest in curatorial practice has translated into active involvement with architectural exhibitions, where she explores ways in which archival materials can be interpreted for diverse audiences. As an educator, archivist, and curator, Saman teaches using architectural archives, demonstrating transversal use of the archives in the classroom. She is also currently involved in developing pedagogical methodologies that integrate archival materials into architectural education, encouraging students to critically engage with architectural history and modes of architectural knowledge production.
  • Archival Epistemology & Method
  • Curatorial Practice & Architectural Media
  • Micro-Histories of Architecture — Indian Subcontinent
  • Into the Archive: Reading, Reflecting, Representing — S‑2026
  • Interpreting an Archive: Navigating Architectural Archives at CEPT — S‑2025
  • Into the Archive: Reading, Reflecting, Representing — S‑2025
  • HRW 3 — Paradigms — M‑2025
  • Archives as Method: Mapping Microhistories Navigating Archives at CEPT and Godrej — W‑2025
  • Interpreting an Archive: Navigating Architectural Archives at CEPT — S‑2024
  • Into the Archive: Reading, Reflecting, Representing — M‑2024

Seminar

  1. . AAROHAN — National Level Innovative Ideas by Indian Society of Technical Education, MITS
  2. Islamic Aesthetics: In praise of Aj’aib, the Wondrous Seminar by Jnanapravha Mumbai, examining the dual essence of Islamic art: its capacity to evoke the beauty and transcendence of the Divine, and its symbolic reflection of Paradise as a realm of harmony, abundance
  3. Stakeholders’ Meeting on Archival Engagement & Preservation Strategies Archives in Action, organised by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Memorial Museum & Archives in collaboration with the National Archives of India
  4. The historian and archivist conundrum New Professionals Programme (NPP)/ Forum of National Archivists (FAN) Virtual Seminar — Archives and Education, Training and Research
  5. Understanding of integrated conservation models linking heritage with urban regeneration Urban Conservation and Development Seminar by Aga Khan Trust for Culture India

Workshop

  1. Accelerator Programme – Experiential Leadership & Professional Development Training Led By Foundation (Harvard-incubated social enterprise, India

Conference

  1. Contextualising, Conserving and Communicating Architectural Production: Reflections from First Architectural Archives in India International Confederation of Architectural Museums Annual Conference ICAM22, Hongkong
  2. Cross-sector learning from archives, records managers, and heritage professionals navigating systemic transformation ​‘Facing Forward: Post-pandemic record keeping –change, challenge, choice’ — 2022 Archives and Records Association, UK & Ireland (ARA) Annual Conference, Chester, UK
  3. Engagement with global discussions on digital stewardship iPress 2024, International Conference on Digital Preservation, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
  4. Models for cross-institutional partnerships linking heritage, research, and public scholarship DCDC 2022, Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities by National Archives, UK, in collaboration with RLUK and Jisc
  5. Rewriting Architectural History Through Reparative Descriptions — The Craft of Describing and Negotiating Architectural Archives: Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) 76th Annual International Conference, Montréal, Canada
  6. The Volunteer Question: The Relationship Between the Archive Professional and the Volunteer ICA Congress Abu Dhabi 2023: Enriching Knowledge Societies

Other

  1. Skills in integrating digital tools, platforms, and AI-supported methods into higher education Academic Skills Development in a Digital World: A Capacity Development Program for Higher Educators at the University of Adelaide as a part of the Australia Awards Fellowship Program

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