Nasrine Seraji


Prof. Nasrine Seraji-Bozorgzad AA Dipl FRIBA is an Iranian-British architect. She is a 2011 recipient of the Knight of the Legion of Honour, an Officier of l'Ordre national du Mérite and l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Early life

Seraji was born in Tehran, Iran.

Career

After studying at the Architectural Association and practising in London, Seraji moved to Paris in 1989 to establish her studio where architecture is treated as both a cultural debate and a practice.  Since then, she has pursued a path constantly enriched by her simultaneous engagement in architectural practice, teaching, and research.  She has lectured and exhibited her work widely in Europe, North America, China, and South East Asia.

Academic

Between 1993 and 2001, Seraji taught at Columbia University GSAPP in New York, at the Architectural Association in London as Diploma Unit Master, and Princeton University as Visiting Professor.  During this time, she also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where she directed one of the two architecture Master Schools.  Seraji was Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture at Cornell University from 2001 to 2005.  In 2006, she became Dean of the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais by Presidential decree.  That same year, she returned to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where she held the position of Professor of Ecology, Sustainability and Conservation, as well as Head of the Institute for Art and Architecture.  She served as the Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong where she is currently Professor in Architecture.

Professional practice

Architect of the Temporary American Centre in Paris, Seraji has completed several notable buildings and projects, including apartment buildings in Vienna, student housing in Paris and an extension to the School of Architecture in Lille, the latter were both nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe Prize in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Seraji was among the Jury members of the second 2A Continental Architectural Award held at Vienna, Austria in 2016. Big Heavy Beautiful, a complex mixed-use building for the Paris Transportation Authority comprising 213 housing units, a crèche, a bus depot and an associative garden was inaugurated in 2017.

Honours

Seraji has been honoured with the distinction of and Officier by the French government on a number of occasions.
2006: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Minister of Culture in France as an architect contributing to excellence in arts and humanities
2008: Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite by Presidential decree
2008: Medaille d'Argent by French Academy of Architecture for her contribution to academic endeavours in archtiecture
2011: Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur
2016: promoted to Officier de l'Ordre national du Mérite
2017: promoted to Officier des Arts et des Lettres
2018: elected as Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects

Selected works and publications

Works

1991: the Temporary American Centre, rue de Bercy, 12th arrondissement of Paris
1995: Master Plan for the site of the gendarmerie barracks Briey
1996: Cave Dragon, Chemin des Dames
1997: Renovation of a bar 50 homes in Sarcelles
2003: 164 student housing units in Paris and 50 in Vienna, Austria
2005: extension of the Lille School of Architecture
2005: Master Plan of 105 hectares for the Hippodrome site in Penang, Malaysia
2006: Master Plan for the city of Le Rheu
2007: 107 km2 Masterplan for the city of Chongli, China
2011: Le Cabanon, student center in Rue de Sophia-Antipolis, 14200 Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France
2012: Tehran Stock Exchange Competition, 3rd / Nasrine Seraji + ASAA + Mehdi Bakhshizadeh + Tadbir Omran

Publications

Seraji-Bozorgzad, Nasrine. "Chapter 6: Diversion." Edited by Francesca Hughes. ' Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. pp. 128-147.
Seraji-Bozorgzad, Nasrine. "The Architecture Model." Edited by Michael Krapf. Triumph der Phantasie: Barocke Modellen von Hildebrandt bis Mollinarolo. 218. Wechselausstellung der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere. Wien: Böhlau, 1998.
Seraji, Nasrine. "Nexus-Atelier: Tools, Organization, Process." Edited by Cynthia C. Davidson. Anyhow. New York, NY: Anyone Corp.; Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998.
Seraji-Bozorgzad, Nasrine, and Françoise Fromonot. Nasrine Seraji: L'Architettura come Territorio = Architecture as Territory. About 6 series. Melfi : Libria, 2002.
Seraji, Nasrine. Logement, Matière De Nos Villes: Chronique Européenne, 1900-2007 = Housing, Substance of Our Cities: European Chronicle, 1900-2007. Paris: A. & J. Picard, 2007. Exhibition catalog of the Arsenal Pavilion, June 2007.
Seraji, Nasrine, Sony Devabhaktuni, and Xiaoxuan Lu, eds. '. Barcelona: ACTAR, 2019.