Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (left) and Ganjali Khan Complex, Kerman. Iran (right) — two desert complexes responding to similar climatic challenges through opposite strategies, yet united by common architectural organizing principles. Left: Public domain, NPS, 1984. Right: Drawing by Khosrow Bozorgi.
Dr. Khosrow Bozorgi, professor of Architecture at the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, is advancing a major research project that examines how societies across time and place have organized the built environment in strikingly similar ways.
Dr. Bozorgi’s work draws on fieldwork conducted across five cultural contexts—ancient Roman Tunisia, medieval Morocco, Safavid Iran, Hanseatic Germany, and pre-Columbian New Mexico. Across these cases, he has found that settlements consistently organize space in three parts: an outward-facing public realm, a semi-private transitional zone, and a protected interior domain.
His project frames this pattern as a form of convergent architectural evolution. Independent cultures, working without shared contact or precedent, have arrived at comparable spatial solutions to address common human concerns, including climate, social interaction, and privacy.
House of the Hunt, Bulla Regia, Tunisia (2nd–4th century CE). The underground peristyle courtyard and site plan demonstrate that classical architectural principles and spatial hierarchy transcend specific environmental responses. Left photo: Khosrow Bozorgi, May 2022; Right plan: Public domain.
Dr. Bozorgi’s research integrates original measured drawings, site documentation, and longitudinal analysis across these regions, and comparative analysis is central to Dr. Bozorgi’s project. At Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, ancestral Puebloan builders used massing and orientation to manage extreme desert conditions. At the Ganjali Khan Complex in Kerman, Iran, a dense network of passages and wind towers facilitates air movement and cooling. While the technologies and environmental strategies differ, both environments reflect the same underlying spatial sequence from public to private space
Dr. Bozorgi’s findings will be presented in his forthcoming book, The Grammar of Space: Architectural Patterns Across Time and Culture, which is currently under contract with Birkhäuser, with publication expected in 2027.
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
