The Architecture of Reconstruction in Yemen

For more than five decades, architect Salma Samar Damluji has devoted herself to the research, preservation, and reconstruction of the vernacular architecture of West Asia and Egypt. At the center of her practice is Yemen’s earthen architecture, increasingly threatened by climate change, economic development pressures, and armed conflict. The installation presents photographs taken during Damluji’s first journey to Yemen in 1981, when she visited the Hadramawt region as a consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (UNECWA). The photographs show the mud-brick tower houses of Shibam, some rising to nine stories, alongside everyday life, architectural details, infrastructure, and building practices.