PRACTICE
Critical Encounters is a research-based practice led by Mahwish Khalil. It documents responses to shifting climate cultures and puts forth alternate imaginaries that counter normative design discourse rooted in binary representation. Engaging with critical theory and design to posit ideas of return, the practice bridges the fields of architecture, climate, and culture, continually questioning the boundaries within their historical contexts.
AUTHORMahwish Khalil is a Pakistani architect and interdisciplinary researcher currently teaching at Syracuse University School of Architecture. Through architecture, storytelling, and spatial analysis, she proposes alternate imaginaries for the built environment challenging fixed notions of edges, boundaries, and movement. Khalil has received several grants, including the AKPIA Travel Grant (2023) and the CAMIT Seed Grant (2024). Her work has been featured across several exhibitions and platforms, such as Iraq: Beyond the Two Rivers, Amidst Four Works, Entwined: Land & Us, the Journal of Architectural Education, and the 19th International Venice Architecture Biennale. Her writing has been published in Urban Assemblage: The City as Architecture, POOL AUD, and Silt Magazine. She earned a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) with Distinction from Beaconhouse National University.
UPDATED 09/24/2025