Pari Riahi first declared her intention to become an architect to her parents when she was 11 years old. Growing up in Tehran as the child of two writers, Riahi says she was privileged to be raised in an intellectually and artistically stimulating environment. As a child, she would pore over issues of Architectural Record collected by her parents.

“To me, architecture presented this perfect balance between the creative and the technical. I was interested in the visual and creative practices of architecture, but also in its concrete nature—how it shelters people against the elements,” says Riahi. “Architecture also imagines people interacting with each other through buildings, which really interests me.”

Though Riahi always dreamed of being an architect, what that has meant in practice has changed time and time again over her academic career. Today, she is an associate professor of architecture and associate dean for research and engagement in the UMass Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA). At UMass and beyond, she plays a vital role in collaborating with and convening scholars across disciplines to address critical issues involving the field of architecture.

Riahi began her undergraduate architectural studies in her home country of Iran before moving to France and, later, to Canada, where she earned her undergraduate and PhD degrees from McGill University. Her first book, Ars et Ingenium: The Embodiment of Imagination in Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s Drawings (Routledge, 2015), is based on her PhD dissertation on understanding the development of architectural drawing as the main medium of expression during the Renaissance.  

“It’s both challenging and very interesting to shift your perception of your discipline as you change countries, continents, languages, and systems of communication and construction,” says Riahi. “For example, what you consider a wall in Iran is similar to a wall in the U.S., but the system of construction in the two countries is completely different. Everything you learn, you have to relearn while maintaining continuity in your areas of interest.”

In addition to being a scholar of the history and theory of architecture, situating her work within the broad spectrum of environmental humanities and its intersection with the built environment, Riahi is also a registered architect—a rare combination for a single individual.

After teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design for eight years and at MIT and SUNY Buffalo briefly, Riahi’s horizons expanded once again after joining the UMass Amherst faculty in 2016. Being part of a major R1 university like UMass afforded her the opportunity to conduct original research and collaborate with others outside her own field. She connected with faculty in the sciences and engineering at UMass and received interdisciplinary research grants, including from the National Science Foundation, to support their joint research projects. 

She equally collaborated with colleagues in humanities across disciplines at Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College, leading to her co-convening a series of three major symposia, known as the Five College Architecture Symposia, with Laure Katsaros and Michael Davis. The subject matters of these symposia, Riahi explains, were inspired by chapters in a book titled Six Memos for the Next Millennium, in which Italian author Italo Calvino writes about the importance of literature for the 21st century. Riahi and her colleagues were interested in thinking about the state of contemporary architecture.

The first symposium, called Exactitude, was held in 2020. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organizers to quickly pivot to a virtual format—new to most people at the time—but also allowed scholars and students from around the world to tune in. The two follow-up symposia were held in 2022 (Multiplicity) and 2024 (Quickness). Riahi also co-edited a series of books published by UMass Press based on the symposia: Exactitude: On Precision and Play in Contemporary Architecture was published in 2022, and Multiplicity: On Constraint and Agency in Contemporary Architecture in 2024. The third volume, Quickness, is in progress.  

“Riahi’s vision in convening scholars and colleagues in the humanities, sciences, and the arts around timely and critical issues of our time, as they concern the built and the natural environment, is based on her vision of collaborative and collective scholarship,” says Joye Bowman, senior associate dean and professor in HFA. “Riahi is truly a public intellectual who is dedicated to connecting the university and the wider community to understand the built environment and the world in which we live—a real contribution by any standard.”

Riahi’s current project, Architectures of Collectivity, is a monograph that examines affordable “social” housing projects and their open and public grounds in the suburbs of Paris. Built in the interwar period and later, these structures were constructed to house veterans, migrants, and others. Riahi’s study combines historical research with visual analytical modes through photographs, drawings, and collages. An exhibition of the same title was recently held, from mid-February to mid-March in the Ovler Design Building Gallery.  

Image

Riahi is also conducting an interdisciplinary study, “Collaborative for Urban Imagination," that is supported by a UMass Amherst Large-scale Integrative Research Award (LIRA). The research team—which also includes faculty from UMass Amherst’s landscape architecture and regional planning, environmental conservation, and mechanical and industrial engineering departments—is working to reimagine cities of the future in an integrated way.

“I’m very grateful for all these collaborations—working with colleagues in the humanities and the sciences—which have really made the horizon of my work much more expansive,” Riahi says. “I’ve learned and grown enormously by understanding things beyond my own disciplinary realm.”

In UMass’s HFA, Riahi says she has found an intellectual home where she is energized by the multiplicity of fields. “I look up to many of my colleagues, some of whom teach poetry, theater, and art,” she says. As associate dean for research and engagement at the college, Riahi strives to highlight the “amazing work” done by faculty and students. In 2024, her first year in the role, she initiated HFA Days, an annual event in March when the college opens its doors to offer outsiders a glimpse of its work through classroom visits and focused talks on research and creative work.

“As scholars, we do much of our work in a solitary manner, but I also find it so valuable to facilitate conversations on a larger and more inclusive level,” Riahi says. “I am continuously humbled and inspired to work in an intellectually stimulating community for our faculty and students.”

Meet more Spotlight Scholars.