ASMA MEHAN, PhD

Founder + Director, Architectural Humanities & Urbanism Lab (AHU Lab)

Dr. Asma Mehan is the Founder and Director of the Architectural Humanities & Urbanism Lab (AHU Lab), an interdisciplinary research platform dedicated to advancing critical and collaborative inquiry at the intersections of architecture, urbanism, humanities, heritage, technology, and environmental transformation. She is an architect, urban scholar, author, and educator whose work investigates the cultural, political, environmental, and affective dimensions of cities and the built environment.

Through AHU Lab, Mehan has developed a research agenda that brings architectural and urban inquiry into dialogue with questions of urban transformation, industrial and cultural heritage, adaptive reuse, public space, collective memory, migration, climate transition, digital technologies, and emerging urban futures. Her approach understands architecture not simply as the production of buildings, but as a cultural and spatial practice embedded within broader histories, communities, infrastructures, environments, and systems of knowledge.

As Founder and Director, Mehan shapes the Lab’s intellectual direction while developing interdisciplinary research projects, collaborations, publications, and opportunities for student engagement. A central component of her leadership is the creation of connections between research, education, and public engagement. AHU Lab provides a framework through which graduate and undergraduate students can participate in research, develop independent lines of inquiry, contribute to collaborative projects, and engage with contemporary debates extending beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries.

Dr. Mehan’s scholarship is particularly concerned with how architecture and cities respond to periods of profound transition. Her research has examined subjects ranging from public space, urban memory, and contested heritage to post-oil landscapes, industrial transformation, environmental change, digital humanities, and the growing role of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in architectural and urban research. Across these areas, she is interested in how historical knowledge can inform alternative futures and how architecture can respond critically to changing social, technological, and ecological conditions.

Through this work, Mehan positions AHU Lab as a platform for developing new conversations about the past, present, and future of the built environment while supporting emerging researchers and creating opportunities for meaningful intellectual exchange across architecture, urbanism, humanities, technology, and environmental inquiry.

Founder + Director
Architectural Humanities & Urbanism Lab (AHU Lab)
Huckabee College of Architecture
Texas Tech University