Zahra Ali Baba
Zahra Ali Baba is an architect, a cultural Heritage specialist, and the Co-founder of Heritage Workers; a non profit organization dedicated for heritage advocacy, and conservation, with a focus on the civil community’s participation in the protection of heritage ecologies. Her career in conservation started when she joined the National Council for Culture, Art and Letters in Kuwait in 2009. Her research on the traditional building cultures of the pre-oil societies in the Gulf region contributed to the Interpretive restoration strategy of the earthen architecture and historic site of Qasr Khaz’al in Kuwait City, leading to a long term research lab to be established on this research topic. Since 2011, Zahra has been a member of the delegation representing Kuwait at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, co-facilitating the preparation of the nomination dossiers for both Failaka Island and Abraj Al Kuwait. A recipient of the Getty Keeping it Modern Grant award in 2020, Zahra continues to implement the conservation plan for Kuwait Towers and the urban landscape of the 20th Century Water Management system, in preparation of a World Heritage Nomination Dossier. Zahra initiated/curated Kuwait’s first representation at the International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in 2012, and continued to supervise the national presence in Venice as the commissioner of Kuwait Pavilion from 2014 until 2021.
