B.A. in Art and Architectural History, University of Texas at Arlington; M.Arch, University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
S. Omar Ali (he/him/his) joined the School of Architecture in Fall 2023 as a tenure-track assistant professor, and is co-founder of NO OFFICE, an architecture, design, and research practice. Ali teaches core design studios and courses in visual representation and scales of domesticity. Prior to joining Syracuse Architecture, he was the inaugural Tulane Architecture and Urbanism Fellow for 2021-23, and in the first class of fellows for the Deans’ Equity and Inclusion Initiative.Before his appointment at the Tulane School of Architecture, he served as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Ali’s research centers the Global South by foregrounding non-western and vernacular domestic and urban typologies. His research seminars place these case studies in dialogue with contemporary and canonical works to facilitate discussions around collectivity and domestic space. His collaborative creative work has been published and exhibited in Metropolis Magazine, Architecture and Surrealism (Thames & Hudson), Topos Magazine (Curated by West 8), Fresh Meat Journal (UIC), Lunch Journal (UVa), the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, Space p11, Banvard Gallery, and a83. Additional collaborative and individual awards include a nomination for the WOJR/Civitella Ranieri Architecture Prize for 2024-25, a shortlisted project for the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture, and an honorable mention for the Burnham Prize competition: Burnham 20/20.
Ali has practiced architecture and urban design at UrbanLab in Chicago, MOS Architects in New York City, and John McMorrough / studioAPT in Ann Arbor. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Architectural History from the University of Texas at Arlington.
