Tamer Shalabi

ABOUT

TAMER SHALABI
ths79@cornell.edu
LinkedIn

I’m a designer based in New York, Texas, and Palestine, interested in the relationship between everyday life and the built environment. I’m currently a fifth-year Bachelor of Architecture student at Cornell University, where I am on the Dean’s List. My academic work includes evidentiary spatial analysis, social housing concepts, and material surplus research.

I’ve worked at a wide range of architecture practices including Morphosis Architects, HKS Inc, and the Circular Construction Lab. My professional work includes educational, infrastructural, and housing projects in North America and West Asia.

CONTACT

C.V.

Education

Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
2021 - 2026

Bachelor of Architecture
AAP Dean’s List

Class Representative
2023 - 2025

Experience

AAP Digital Fabrication Lab
Ithaca, New York
2025 -
Monitor 3D-printer and laser cutter use.

LeCavalier R + D
Ithaca, New York
2025
Researched global timber supply chains for a digital publication.

Morphosis Architects
New York, New York
2025
Collaborated with the design team to develop complex 3D models and drawings.

HKS inc.
Dallas, Texas
2024
Collaborated with the design team to develop detailed drawings, and diagrams.

Circular Construction Lab
Ithaca, New York
2023
Assisted in the 3D modeling, prototyping, and documenting of Circulating Matters.

Malone Maxwell Dennehy Architects
Dallas, Texas
2021
Attended site visits and produced conceptual drawings for internal meetings.

Exhibitions

Preston H. Thomas Memorial Symposium: Labor Un:Imagined
Cornell University Land Grant Map
Ithaca, New York
2024

Mixed Mannerisms
Rain Amplifier
Ithaca, New York
2023

Structural Systems
House in Ebisu
Ithaca, New York
2022

Programs

Adobe Creative Suite
ArcGIS
Blender
Enscape
Google Workspace
Grasshopper
Keyshot
Microsoft Suite
Revit
Rhino
V-Ray

Languages

English
Arabic
Spanish

References

Tom Carruthers
Assistant Professor of the Practice
tbc39@cornell.edu

Wendolin Gonzalez
Design Strategist at Gensler
wg84@cornell.edu

Catherine Wilmes
Assistant Professor
cwilmes@illinoistech.edu

Last Updated 26.01.05

SELECTED WORK

1. The Architecture of Sumud in Palestine

ARCH 5902 B. Arch Thesis
Advised by
2026 (Current)

Sumud means “steadfast perseverance” in Arabic; in the Palestinian context, it is the resistance against the Israeli occupation embedded in everyday life. The practice of sumud is dynamic: it can be visible or hidden, active or passive, individual or collective.

Architecture is central to Israeli settler colonialism; it claims territory, organizes power, and controls movement. The construction of settlements, border walls, and checkpoints is accompanied by the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes and agricultural land, targeting everyday life.

Architectural sumud is a form of resistance that rejects this illegalization of building on one’s own land. This practice may include traditional stone construction methods, landscape preservation, or the development of housing for displaced people. Refugee camps are built without the guarantee of no further displacement. Local ranches are built supplying food despite the risk of destruction. These sites are frequent targets of Israeli settler violence because they signify the Palestinian commitment to live on the land, sumud.

This thesis examines the architecture of sumud in Palestine through the design and siting of local housing and food infrastructure. If infrastructure space is a tool used by the occupation, how can this practice be redirected through and for the everyday life of the occupied?

2. Martyrs’ Report Database

ARCH 5101 Option Studio
Taught by Farzin Lotfi-Jam
2025

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3. Lanterns Over Sound

ARCH 3102 Core Studio
Taught by Tom Carruthers
2024

Binghamton is an urban environment defined by its distinctive sounds, climate, and actors. Through collage, I conceptualized the integration of housing with programs addressing the mind, body, and soul. The city faces constant noise pollution, which negatively affects residents’ health, but it also has a vibrant music scene supported by social media, providing local musicians a platform to grow. Binghamton’s Porchfest, a community music event where residents perform on neighborhood porches, inspired the inclusion of accessible “porches” throughout the final design. These, along with performance spaces and audio archives, allow users to document and engage with the urban context.

This project explores how sound influences housing and movement in the city. Drawing from the pixelation technique used in my collage research, the housing and additional programs are fragmented to create a ground-floor public space that showcases and amplifies both contemporary and historical voices of the city. The steps generated by the stages and porches also double as a parkour field, a body program enabled by its urban environment. The design further enhances natural light and privacy in the residential units while mitigating noise pollution.

The housing levels respond to the performance stages and porches by filtering light to the lower levels and refracting sound. As residents move upward, they experience a transition through three vertical gradients: increasing natural light and privacy while reducing sound. This is achieved by the sectional progression of the stages on the ground floor, louder living programs on the first housing level, quiet resting spaces on the second housing level, and lastly the private rooftop terraces. The project title references the material expression of the illuminated translucent glazing facade of the housing units which float above the sounds of the ground floor.

4. Glulam Library

ARCH 2102 Integrated Studio
Taught by Katharina Kral
2023

The schematic design of this project involved two phases of research: precedent and material. The classical library precedent, the National Library of France by Henri Labrouste, is characterized by its celebration of steel structure through the opening of several large primary programs that feature skylights. The material precedent, the Congress and Exhibition Center by Studio Botter + Studio Bressan, exhibits glulam structure’s incredible spans and glass enclosure.

The heavily disregarded creek along the southern edge of the site divides the greater city of Ithaca. Everything north of Six Mile Creek is hardscape, while the south is greenscape. The massing conceptually occupies the irregularly shaped site by touching every edge, forming north and south lots that extend the creek’s division of the city with its hard and greenscapes. The back lot is a public park that reactivates the creek.

Three skylights are located at the “focused” programs: collaborative study, reading room, and digital commons. Between the roof pitches, these programs emerge, clearly legible from the exterior. The glulam structural beams and dense rafter grid allow for minimal column placement and large, open interior spaces. The wood structure aligns and misaligns with the interior partitions. All mechanical and storage areas are located along the edge of the library facing the street to minimize noise and maximize views south toward the creek.

5. Circulating Matters

Circular Construction Lab
with Felix Heisel, Andrew Boghossian, and Jasper Owen
2023

This project investigates the potential of establishing a local circular construction industry within New York State through the design of a digital database and pavilion. Materials utilized were reused from the Catherine Commons Deconstruction Project, which disassembled a 1910 residential building in Ithaca, NY. Originally installed at the 2022 Cornell Biennial, it has since been deconstructed, redesigned, and reconstructed for its new location at the sculpture park Art Omi, adhering to its design for disassembly.

Globally, the construction industry causes 50% of resource extraction and at least 40% of carbon dioxide emissions and solid waste production. In the United States, construction and demolition activities generate a staggering 600 million tons of debris annually. Circulating Matters explores how approaches for direct reuse of building components on a large scale can be developed and applied, using deconstruction with circular construction principles to create site-specific design.

The pavilion is sited in a tall grass field, at the intersection of two walking paths. This informed the few steps which reach above the grass level, allow for views of the landscape and neighboring pavilions, then touch back down on the two paths. The assembly featured tagging for each structural component that allow access to a digital database where specific dimensions and an interactive model.

6. Offcut Curtain

ARCH 4605 Surplus Assemblies
Taught by Catherine Chen
with Jonathan Wilmers
2025

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7. House in Ebisu

ARCH 2613 Structural Systems
Taught by Mark Cruvellier
with Max Leston and Waad Rahal
2022

This is a detailed, structural model of the existing structure by Tetsuo Yamaji Architects. It demonstrates typical steel frame construction methods and a concrete foundation at a residential scale. The general framework consists of steel I-beams with a combination of both fixed and pinned connections, efficiently distributing loads and allowing flexibility in structural response. These frames support folded steel plates, which are combined with reinforced concrete floor slabs across its four upper levels, providing a strong yet lightweight solution for spanning larger areas.

To prevent lateral movement and ensure stability against shear forces, cross-bracing is introduced between many of the frames. This crucial feature enhances the building’s resilience, particularly in response to environmental factors such as wind or seismic activity. Additionally, the assembly process is made clear through the inclusion of steel plates at points where horizontal beams are segmented, indicating a logical and efficient construction sequence.

The foundation incorporates an underground level with reinforced concrete retaining walls, providing a sturdy base that anchors the building securely. On the exterior, the design contrasts the shorter sides, which support expansive glazing for natural light, with the longer sides that feature a plywood façade, combining transparency with a sense of enclosure.

8. House on Gorge

ARCH 2101 Core Studio
Taught by Catherine Wilmes
2022

This project aims to reinterpret domesticity through its proximity to the fall creek gorge and the programming of “drops”. The prominent inner curve is defined by the surrounding road intersection, the primary view of the gorge, and the secondary view of the suspension bridge. The three main programmatic spaces are oriented along this curve: physical, digital, and spiritual. This guides people into the space from the road and leads them toward the major views of the site. All the exterior walls activate these controlled views; to avoid obstructing them, there are no interior partition walls. Instead, the partitions are created through floor drops, in a similar language to the gorge.

The glazing is solely located at the faces made to frame the views, which posed issues for the interior lighting conditions. In response, the outside edges shared between the three buildings are lined with an occupiable light well. Through these, one can access exterior, partially enclosed spaces formed directly under the empty spaces between the three buildings. These intermediate outdoor spaces bridge the three buildings’ programs.

The house’s limestone façade approximates the curved walls to save natural material and is effective against the harsh weather conditions in Ithaca. It additionally serves as a means of representing the degree to which walls are curved when viewed in elevation.

UNSELECTED WORK