Mekan Konuşmaları No:111- Sameeta Ahmed

Date: October 31, 2025 - Friday

Time: 13:00

Place: santralistanbul Campus, KD6 Kazandibi

Speaker: Sameeta Ahmed

Mekan Konuşmaları No:111 Sameeta Ahmed // 31.10.2025 @ 13.00, KD6 Kazandibi

“Documenting and Conserving the Traditionally Crafted Vernacular Mosques and Hujras of Swat Valley, Pakistan”

We are thrilled to announce that Sameeta Ahmed will be our guest with her talk “Documenting and Conserving the Traditionally Crafted Vernacular Mosques and Hujras of Swat Valley, Pakistan” in the 111th episode of Mekan Konuşmaları, hosted by the students of the Graduate Programs in Architecture at BİLGİ.

Sameeta Ahmed is an architect and artist based in Karachi, Pakistan, with higher education from the US. Since 2012 she has worked with the Swat Participatory Council, an NGO in the Swat Valley of northern Pakistan, to document and conserve vernacular tangible heritage. Some conservation work from this series has been nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in the 2023-25 cycle. 

The conservation work has focused on the conservation of mosques and hujras (traditional male commons in Pukhtun culture). This vernacular architecture, approximately 200-300 

years old, consists of wood frame structures with stone masonry and intricate wood carving

exhibiting patterns from a rich heritage that fuses various regional traditions. Much of this work has been supported by the Prince Claus Fund (PCF; the Netherlands) and community contributions.

In her talk, Ahmed will share the process of conservation and cultural documentation undertaken in her Swat projects, focusing in particular on principles of community participation, and aspects of development-oriented social transformation involving youth in the aftermath of Taliban rule, the post-2009 “War on Terror” in the Swat valley.

The talk is open to everyone.