We last spoke with Amale Andraos for our Deans List series, a year after she succeeded Mark Wigley as dean of Columbia University's GSAPP.Since 2011 at GSAPP, before her deanship began, Andraos has ledvarious research studios and seminars around "Architecture andRepresentation: The Arab City"—the results from which she has nowedited, with Studio-X Amman director Nora Akawi, into a newbook, The Arab City.
Andraos spoke with Amelia Taylor-Hochberg about theperpetuated stereotypes and simplifications that plague discussionsof Arab cities—the desert v. the oasis, the traditional v. themodern, etc.—and how her own experiences in Beirut inspired herresearch.