Negar Sanaan Bensi graduated from Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST, Tehran), architecture department in 2006 with honorable mention. She received her master degree in Architecture from TU Delft in 2009 and received an honorable mention in National Archiprix 2011 in the Netherlands for her graduation project “Space of the Voids, space of remembrance and forgetfulness, Havana”.
During and after graduation she worked for several architecture firms in Tehran, Rotterdam, and Antwerp while contributing to design studios and workshops in Tehran Azad University and IUST, faculty of Architecture. She awarded the second price with her team for a national architecture competition “Sustainable House” in 2005 and second prize for “Project 1095- Pavilion Design, the Netherlands” in 2012.
In December of 2018 she obtained her Ph.D. at TU Delft, department of architecture. Her Ph.D. research, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ir. Tom Avermaete and Ir. M.G.H. Schoonderbeek, existed of a critical reading on the architecture of the “bazaar”, in regard to the understanding of complex spatial and territorial mechanisms within contemporary cities and their historical backgrounds. Whilst finishing her Ph.D. she simultaneously taught design and theory courses in the chair of Public Building as well as Complex Projects. She was part of the editorial board of the Footprint Journal and an editor of the Issue of Footprint #23: The Architecture of Logistics.
Currently dr. Sanaan Bensi is involved with a project called 'Hidden Waters' which explores the idiosyncratic historical water systems and infrastructures. It is the story of often common knowledge with wondrous infrastructures and architectural objects which are not only functional but also beautiful to behold. he product of this research is twofold. On one hand, it attempts to be verbal (historical and theoretical), and, on the other hand, it is visual (drawing, photography, and models).
Publications
- Negar Sanaan Bensi, Mohamad Valipour et.al., 'Sustainability of Underground Hydro-Technologies: From Ancient to Modern Times and toward the Future' in: Special Issue: "Sustainable Water Management: From Ancient to Modern Times and the Future", Sustainability 2020, 12(21). (Open Access)
