ABSTRACT
Senan Abdelqader is arguably the most interesting architect practising in Israel/Palestine today. Senan was born in Taybeh, a town in the northern area of Palestine, which became Israel after 1948. As a result, Senan has spent much of his life charged with the self-imposed and perhaps unenviable task of using architecture to blur, unite and sometimes ignite the boundaries between two nations. A year later, after a successful period of work in Germany, at the height of what was then known as the 'peace process', he returned to Israel/Palestine to establish his studio, Senan Abdelqader Architects, and launched his career with a series of unique private houses in the only mixed Jewish/Arab village, Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salam. The concept of dissidence through architecture seems very appropriate for describing the current concerns and struggles in the politics and architecture of the Arab world.
