UMass Amherst Architecture Faculty Member Receives National ARCC Mid-Career Research Award

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Pari Riahi, associate professor of architecture and associate dean for research and engagement in the College of Humanities & Fine Arts (HFA) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named the 2025–2026 recipient of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) Mid-Career Research Impact Award. 

The award is presented annually to one mid-career faculty for outstanding research performance and substantive contributions to the field of architectural research. The ARCC Board of Directors selects recipients through a highly competitive review process. 

"Riahi's selection for the ARCC Mid-Career Research Impact Award is a testament to the exceptional quality and reach of her scholarship,” says Dean Lupe Davidson. “This recognition reflects the caliber of faculty research that defines the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, and we are proud to see her contributions celebrated at the national level." 

Riahi joined UMass Amherst in 2016 after eight years at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she taught in the Architecture and Interior Architecture and Adaptive Reuse departments. She received tenure in the Department of Architecture in 2022. Her research spans the history and theory of architecture, drawing and representation, and the study of urban form and affordable housing. 

She is the author of Ars et Ingenium: Embodied Imagination in Francesco di Giorgio’s Drawings (Routledge, 2015) and has two books currently under development: Architectures of Collectivity and Disjointed Continuity. She is the instigator and co-editor, with Laure Katsaros and Michael T. Davis, of a series of edited volumes published by UMass Amherst Press, Exactitude: of Precision and Play in Contemporary Architecture (2022) and Multiplicity: of Constraint and Agency in Contemporary Architecture (2024). A third and last volume: Quickness: of Rhythms of Time in Contemporary Architecture is currently in development. 

Riahi’s work has appeared in the Journal of Architecture and the Journal of Architectural Education, among other publications. She has served on the Advisory Committee of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. She is currently member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians and an international editor of the Journal of Architecture. She has been recognized with a College Outstanding Teaching Award (2021) and a Lilly Fellowship (2020–2021). She was named a Spotlight scholar in 2025. 

Riahi attended the 2026 ARCC–EAAE International Conference in Atlanta to accept the award. The award presentation was held at the High Museum of Art on Friday, April 10.