Wesam Al Asali (Syria–Spain) is an architect, designer, and researcher specializing in heritage knowledge and situated environmental design. His work focuses on integrating fabrication technologies with local building crafts and natural materials. Wesam is the recipient of the 2021 RIBA President’s Award for Research in History and Theory and the winner of the 2024 DigitalFUTURES International Award.

He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2021, where he focused on crafts and construction, and later served as the 2021–2022 Global Fung Fellow at Princeton University. In 2022, he joined the IE School of Architecture and Design as Assistant Professor of Architecture and Environmental Studies. He currently serves as the Director and Coordinator of Materials and Methods across the architecture, design, and fashion programs.

In practice, Wesam is the co-founder and co-director of IWLab (with Iyas Shahin). Founded in 2010, the Lab was awarded the 2024 UNESCO Global Award for Sustainable Architecture. In addition to IWLab, Wesam leads several initiatives and programs in Spain and Syria. In 2020, he co-founded CERCAA, a social enterprise based in Valencia focused on teaching construction and structural crafts to architects and builders. In 2015, he initiated Urbegony, a volunteer-based platform for architectural education aimed at displaced and conflict-affected Syrian students.

Latest Works

Talk: Diwna Al Mimar: Building in Times of Precarity (IN ARABIC)

New Book Chapter in Connections as Method: Relational Pedagogies and Participatory Spatial Practice

Alternative Skies at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale Di Venezia.

Book: Arab Modern: Architecture and the Project of Independence

Awards

  • Digital Futures Awards recognize exceptional architects, designers, and researchers who have made significant, innovative, and impactful contributions to architecture and computational design. Wesam was the 2024 awardee for the Arabic Award for his work on linking vernacular architecture with digital tools

  • The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture is an international architecture founded in 2006 by architect and scholar Jana Revedin. Each year, the award honors five architects who "contribute to a more equitable and sustainable development and create an innovative and participatory approach to meet the needs of societies. Since 2010, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture is under the high Patronage of UNESCO.

    The 2024 edition rises the topic: "Architecture Is Education":

    • Iyas Shahin and Wesam Al Asali of IWLAB Laboratory, Syria and Spain

    • Andrés Jaque, founder of Office for Political Innovation (OFFPOLINN)

    • Marina Tabassum, founder of Marina Tabassum Architects in Bangladesh

    • Ciro Pirondi, cofounder of Escola da Cidade in Brazil

    • Klaus K. Loenhart, architect and landscape designer, Institute of Architecture and Landscape in Graz, Germany and Austria

  • The Founders' Award is given annually for an article published by an emerging scholar in the preceding two years in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians that exhibits excellence of scholarship and presentation. It was awarded for Wesam Al Asali in 2023 for his article Beyond the National Art Schools: Thin-Tile Vaulting in Cuba after the Revolution

  • The President's Awards for Research celebrates research in the fields of architecture and the built environment. Once again, the awards have attracted interest from around the globe, with entries from China, Australia and Costa Rica and this year’s subject matter has an even greater global representation than usual.

  • This annaul award by Clare Hall at Cambridge University is given to the best PhD thesis presented by the collage members. Wesam won this award for his PhD work in 2022

  • The award is named after Dr Mohamed Saleh Makiya, a great Iraqi architect whose influence and importance continue to impact the field of architecture today. The prize was announced in 2014, in celebration of Dr Makiya’s 100th birthday. The Award aims to promote the advancement of architecture in the Middle East and North Africa. IWLab was shortlisted for theaward in 2020

  • Tile of Spain Awards of Architecture and Interior Design are organized and promoted by ASCER, the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association and aim to improve awareness and understanding of ceramic tiles made in Spain amongst architects and interior designers and promote their use by these professionals.

    Wesam was selected as the winner of this award for his work on tile vaulting in his Mphil at the University of Cambridge

  • The award is given to students work on sustainability and construction