About the Talk

As part of Amman Design Week's efforts in engaging designers with the urban environment and using our platform to create conversations about derelict or abandoned spaces in the city, Amman Design Week invites leaders in urban design and activism to a panel discussion. Speakers include Ayman Zuaiter, architect of the abandoned Raghadan Tourist Terminal, host to ADW 2016's Crafts District, urban design educator Leen Fakhoury, design activist and founder of the 7hills skatepark Mohammad Zakaria, and Nemeh Qatanani, an urban designer from the Greater Amman Municipality.

The winner of the Urban Park Competition will be announced during the panel discussion.

About the Panel

Ayman Zuaiter is an architecture graduate from the American University of Beirut. His career started alongside the late Hasan Fathy and architect Rasem Badran in 1982. Since then, he has been the co-founder and head architect of Tibah Consultants, and has won the first prize at several competitions. His work gained recognition in Jordan and the region, particularly the urban revitalization of historic Jordanian cities. He participated in various international conventions, and arbitrates contests and graduation projects at Jordanian universities. Zuaiter believes that architecture should be the outcome of sensing and discovering the timeless values of culture and place, and the wise and artistic utilization of well-crafted space.

Leen Fakhoury is an architect who holds an MSc in Conservation Studies and is specialized in the conservation of cultural heritage. Fakhoury is a senior heritage expert with over 20 years of experience in heritage studies, site management, and interpretation plans of archaeological sites and revitalization of the rural/urban heritage of the built environment. From 2010 until present, Fakhoury has worked as an Industrial Professor at SABE-German Jordan University and an instructor at the Department of Architecture at University of Jordan.

Mohammed Zakaria is a skateboarder, photographer, cinematographer, and founder of Philadelphia Skateboards/co-founder of 7Hills Skatepark in Amman, Jordan. Zakaria began skateboarding at a young age in the streets of Amman, and his vision of making skateboarding more accessible to local and regional communities became a reality in 2009 when he founded Philadelphia Skateboards, the first skateboarding company in the Middle East.

Nemeh Katanani (Greater Amman Municipality) is the Engineering Executive Director at Greater Amman Municipality. A senior architect with more than 19 years of experience in the field, Nemeh worked as the Mayor’s advisor for Engineering Affairs and Acting Manager for the Branding and Communications Department from 2013-2015, as Manager of the Studies and Design Department from 2009-2013, and as senior architect, project manager and coordinator in the Department of Studies and Design from 1999-2009. Katanani’s experience also includes managing and directing multi-sectoral engineering teams and design management with private consultants and design firms in various fields.

Seham Ahmad Ali Al Hdidi (GAM) is a senior architect with more than 27 years of experience in the fields of architectural and landscape design, technical coordination, construction supervision and project management. Since 2009, Al Hdidi has been the Head of the Landscape Division at the Studies and Design department at GAM. Prior to that, she worked as the senior architect at the Gardens Department and at Arabtech Consulting Engineers and Architects. Al Hdidi was the main and co-designer in several GAM projects such as the Nahda intersection, Shmaisani intersection landscape design, the Hashemite Plaza softscape design, the landscape design of the Citadel, BRT softscape, and various other GAM projects.