Roberto Fabbri - Chair of Design
PhD in Architectural Composition, University of Bologna, Italy, 2009.
Master’s in Architecture, University of Florence, Italy, 2000.
Bio
Roberto Fabbri is an architect, researcher, and associate professor at Zayed University's College of Arts and Creative Enterprises in the UAE. In 2024, he was the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). That same year, he received the Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan Article Award from the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.
Roberto has a diverse teaching portfolio, having instructed architecture at the University of Bologna in Italy, the American University of Kuwait, the Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico, and Zayed University. His professional practice as an architect and exhibition designer complements his academic career. From 2010 to 2016, he served as an architectural consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, supporting the museum institution Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah in Kuwait. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Modern Heritage Technical Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Youth of the UAE.
His research explores the concept of narrative spaces, focusing on the role of heritage and architecture in shaping contemporaneity, modernization, identity-making, knowledge exchange, and the establishment of traditions. With a particular emphasis on the Middle East and the Gulf, Dr. Fabbri's work delves into 20th-century architecture, its potential for reuse, and the significance of cultural spaces such as museums and exhibitions in the Global South.
Roberto has presented his research at prestigious international conferences, including MIT, Yale, Cambridge, King’s College London, and INHA-Paris. In 2019, he co-organized the workshop “Re-engaging with the Gulf Modernist City: Heritage and Repurposing Practices” at the Gulf Research Meeting at the University of Cambridge, UK. His scholarly contributions have been widely published in academic journals, including the Journal of Architecture, Faces-Journal d’architecture, and the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.
He published two books on Max Bill's architectural works (B. Mondadori 2011, inFolio 2017). Additionally, he co-authored the double-volume “Modern Architecture Kuwait 1949–89” (with Sara Saragoca and Ricardo Camacho—Niggli 2016, 2017), “Impatient Cities of the Gulf” (with Iain Jackson—HPA 8 - 2021), and “Urban Modernity in the Contemporary Gulf” (with Sultan Sooud Al-Qassimi—Routledge 2022).
Office
Abu Dhabi - Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi
Phone:
+971 2 599 3478
Email:
Roberto.Fabbri @zu.ac.aeResearch and Professional Activities
Narrative spaces; Architecture and Identity Representation; Museum and Exhibition Design; Modern Architecture in the Middle East, Transnational Architecture in the Global South.
