Hashim Sarkis

Hashim Sarkis began his architecture career in 1990s Beirut, a city rebuilding itself after years of war. A RISD and Harvard alumnus, the 50-year-old architect is now rooted as deeply in New England as he is in his native Lebanon. Sarkis joined Harvard’s faculty in 1995, and for more than a decade has headed the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture—run jointly by Harvard and MIT. He’s a practicing architect as well. In October, Sarkis was appointed dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. Now he wants to change what we talk about when we talk about cities.