Dean Hashim Sarkis

An architect, educator, and scholar, Hashim Sarkis was appointed Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in 2014. He is principal of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), established in 1998 with offices in Boston and Beirut.

Sarkis served as the curator of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. Before joining MIT, Sarkis was the Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at Harvard University. 

The architectural and urban projects of HSS include affordable housing, houses, parks, institutional buildings, urban design, and town planning. HSS has received several awards for its projects including for the Housing of the Fishermen of Tyre, Byblos Town Hall, and the Courtower Houses. The firm’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the biennales of Venice, Rotterdam, Shenzhen/Hong Kong, and Valparaiso. The work has also been published extensively, including in a monograph by Ness.docs. 

Sarkis earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture and a PhD in Architecture from Harvard University. He is author, co-author, and editor of several books and articles on modern architecture history and theory, including The World as an Architectural Project; Josep Lluis Sert: The Architect of Urban Design; Circa 1958, Lebanon in the Projects and Plans of Constantinos Doxiadis; and Le Corbusier's Venice Hospital.

Selected reviews, interviews, and writings

“At MIT, Arts, Humanities and STEM Fields Forge an Essential Partnership” (Hashim Sarkis with Agustin Rayo, Times Higher Education, November 3, 2021).

“Part 2: Hashim Sarkis: “I Do Not Think We Have Ever Witnessed a Moment Where We Have Relied as Much on Architecture” (ArchDaily, October 14, 2021).

“At the Venice Biennale, an architecture exhibition to meet the moment,” (MIT News, July 8, 2021).

“Solving the World’s Problems at the Venice Architecture Biennale” (New York Times, June 2, 2021).

“Part 1: Hashim Sarkis on “How Will We Live Together?”: Exploring the Question of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale” (ArchDaily, May 10, 2021).

“Hashim Sarkis Discusses Staging an International Biennale in ‘Interesting Times’” (Architect’s Newspaper, May 5, 2021)

“Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 Opens with Signs of Optimism” (Architectural Record, May 5, 2021).

“Interview with Hashim Sarkis on His Curation of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale” (Designboom, May 26, 2021).

“The Venice Biennale, Twice Delayed, Takes on New Relevance” (New York Times, May 20, 2021).    

“Venice Architecture Biennale 2021: A Year Late but Somehow Right on Time” (Wallpaper, May 2021).

“The Challenge of the Future Is in Living Together” (DLui by La Repubblica, November 2019).

“Hashim Sarkis named curator of 2020 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition” (MIT News, December 19, 2018).

“New collaboration explores future of urban housing in Brazil” (MIT News, video, January 4, 2017)

“Shutter-covered towers give bedrooms sea views at Lebanese housing complex” (Dezeen, November 2016).

“Aamchit Court Towers” (ArchDaily, November 2016).

“Fruit vendors and high-end designers share the floor at Jordan’s first design week” (Quartz, September 7, 2016).

“MIT on the Frontier: An Interview with Hashim Sarkis” (Metropolis Magazine, May 12, 2016).

“Byblos Town Hall” (Architect Magazine, May 16, 2016).

“Byblos Town Hall: Hashim Sarkis” (ArchDaily, May 16, 2016).

“Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 International Jury Announced” (World Architecture, May 10, 2016).

“Democracy and Design” (MIT News, February 8, 2016).

“It’s Elementary (Not); On the Architecture of Alejandro Aravena” (ArchDaily, January 2016).

“25 Most Admired Educators for 2016” (Design Intelligence, November 2015).

“The Power of Ideas: Hashim Sarkis” (Boston Magazine, December 27, 2014).

“Are We All Urban Now? Is There a Here and There?” (Huffington Post, November 13, 2014).