Senan Abdelqader

Senan Hasan Qasem Abdelqader (Arabic: سنان عبد القادر; born 30 November 1962) is an Arab-Palestinian architect and urban planner. In 2007 he participated in the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil, where he published his book entitled “Architecture of Dependency” in which he introduces the possibility of transforming the rural life that the Palestinians live, into a contemporary urban life.
Abdelqader established his firm "Senan Abdelqader Architects" in Jerusalem in 1995, and in Jaffa in 2015. Through working on numerous private projects and other public ones, that try to influence and are influenced by social and political variables, Abdelqader has created a public platform where the process of planning is considered to be a collective act and a space for civil practices.
Early life and education.
Abdelqader was born on 30 November 1962 in Tayibe, an Arab town located in the central part of Israel. Upon graduating from high school, he moved to Germany and started studying Civil Engineering at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, before moving to study architecture at University of Kaiserslautern.
Academic.
Abdelqader has taught at Tel Aviv University in 1998, and founded the “Formal-Informal” Unit in the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2006. In 2011, he became a guest professor in Dessau Institute of Architecture (DIA) in Germany, where he taught “Informal Urbanism” for graduate students.
In the year of 2016, Abdelqader was granted his professorship rank by the Council for Higher Education in Israel, making him the first professor in the history of Palestinians in Israel in the discipline of Architecture.
In 2018, Abdelqader established the Institute for the Study of Arab Culture in Visual Arts, Design and Architecture in Bezalel Academy. The Institute works on constructing an academic space that enables interaction with the Arab legacy and modernisation processes in general, and in particular in Palestine.
Selected writings.
"Architecture of (in)dependency".