Kaph Books

Ali Ismail Karimi

Ali Ismail Karimi is an architect whose work explores public space, ecology, and the extractive landscapes of the Middle East. He is the co-founder of Civil Architecture, an architecture office based in Manama and Kuwait City. Civil Architecture's work has been shown at the Sharjah Architecture Triennale, Oslo Triennale, Seoul Biennale, and Expo 2020. In 2016, alongside Hamed Bukhamseen, he curated the Kuwait Pavilion titled “Between East and West: A Gulf“ at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. He had previously worked in Belgium with OFFICE KGDVS, and in Chile with Alejandaro Aravena/Elemental, and taught at the University of Bahrain as an adjunct professor. His writings have been published in various media outlets including San Rocco, Architectural Review, and e-flux. Karimi earned his MArch from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and is currently a visiting critic at Rice School of Architecture.