studio chahar
Research
Studio Chahar’s research follows the questions that come out of its projects: water, heritage, museums, and environmental knowledge, and how traditional knowledge can inform contemporary architecture. It is shared through publications, exhibitions, talks, and teaching.
Publications
Talks and service
Teaching
“You were a great teacher who actually challenged me to think deeper about my projects. I think I made my best work as of today because of your instruction, thank you.”Wentworth Institute of Technology
“Absolutely love Yassi, great way of helping you with issues and LARGE toolbox of digital skills most needed to complete the class.”Keene State College
“A fantastic professor that also lets you discover things on your own. Clearly cares about the students actually learning something. The feedback sessions were nice and always helped me a lot for my designs.”Roger Williams University
“I believe Yassi was a great instructor. She was extremely helpful. She pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to be more creative.”University of Washington
I believe that the education of architecture plays an important role in shaping an equitable built environment. I encourage my students to practice creativity along with social and cultural sensitivity in every step of the design process, and to develop simultaneously as designers and communicators.
I create an inclusive environment in the studio and classroom by integrating diversity into my syllabi, assignments and lectures, and by asking students what has inspired them to study design. For me, teaching is an important endeavor to advocate for empowerment through architecture.
Global Research Studio: Ecotourism, Norway
Fall 2024 · Graduate level · with Ingrid Strong
A graduate global research studio on architecture, ecotourism, and cultural identity in the Nordic landscape. Students studied how Norway’s National Tourist Routes reshape the experience of landscape, took a two-week field trip from Bergen to Oslo, and then developed individual proposals rooted in their own site observations.
Future Craft
Fall 2022, Spring 2023 · Graduate and senior level
A seminar on craft as a context-dependent continuum: the handmade, the machine-made, and the computer-generated. Students worked hands-on with CNC routing and a robot arm, and made molded forms in hempcrete and earth, asking how traditional techniques can answer a community’s needs.
Urban Precedents in Context
Fall 2023 · Senior level · travel abroad
A travel seminar within the Berlin semester abroad. In Switzerland and France, students documented and analyzed precedent buildings and the urban fabric around them, then made an architectural travelogue of two chosen precedents through sketching, diagramming, and memory mapping.
Global Research Studio: Earth Building, Morocco
Fall 2022 · Graduate level · with NJ Unaka
An earth-building research studio framed around water. Students took a two-week field trip to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara, joined community workshops with local residents, and designed interventions using rammed earth and other local materials.
Design Studio II: Teaching Museum for the Mechanical Arts
Spring 2022 · Sophomore level · Spring 2022
Students studied the mechanical properties of built objects and the building envelope technologies of an assigned precedent, then designed a teaching museum for the mechanical arts on the MIT campus.
Studio 01: Performance Cubed
Fall 2021
Description to come.
Design Research
Fall 2025, Fall 2026
Description to come.
Collaborative Architectural Project
Spring 2020, 2021 · Sophomore level · with P. Fowler
A team-based studio on community architecture projects for a real client and site. Student teams worked on two projects: a Museum of Craft for the village of Gouron, Qeshm Island, and Railroad Square, a new urban park in Keene, New Hampshire, developed with the city.
Architectural Design II: Community Boat Center
Spring 2020 · Sophomore level · with D. Paley and M. Katz
A studio for a community recreation, fitness, and boathouse facility of about 10,000 square feet, grounded in New England’s history with water. Students researched the site and program in teams, then developed individual designs from a parti.
Architectural Visual Communication
Keene State College. Freshman level, Fall 2019 to Spring 2021
An introductory course in computer-aided design and visualization using basic 3-D modelling software. Through lectures, hands-on exercises, drawing and digital fabrication, students learn 3-D CAD skills and how to explain design principles graphically and physically. Students designed a simple refuge space for an author (An Author’s Refuge), exploring form making and representation. Taught for four semesters; syllabus and design project created by Yasaman Esmaili.
Introduction to Architectural Design
Fall 2019, Spring 2020
Description to come.
Architectural Design II
Keene State College. Junior level studio, Spring 2020
Description to come.
Portfolio Design
Fall 2019, 2020
Description to come.
Senior Design
Spring 2021
Description to come.
Architectural Analysis I
Fall 2020
Description to come.
Introduction to Architectural Design
Winter 2018 · Undergraduate · with E. Golden, J. Sandler, V. Abin
An introductory design studio on analytical thinking and basic graphic and craft skills. The four instructors revised the syllabus and added hands-on assignments, including full-scale study models built on site before students designed their interventions.
Computers in Architecture
University of Washington. 2015 to 2017
An introductory design computing course on digital design and fabrication and mixed-media representation. The format included architecture laboratories, lectures and demonstrations. Each student designed a play structure for a playground of her own theme, and built a Rhino model and several digitally fabricated physical models. Taught for three academic quarters; syllabus revised by Yasaman Esmaili.
Modular + Housing
Spring 2018 · Graduate studio · with R. Mohler and E. Golden
Taught part-time while working as a project architect at blokable. The studio explored modular and prefabricated housing and the “missing middle” in Seattle neighborhoods, with students working with blokable and the city of Auburn.
Color My Home
2018–2022 · Community course
Architecture workshops with recently immigrated and displaced children and youth, who re-imagine what home means through architectural thinking.
Sarvak
2020–present · Community course
Virtual architectural education for Iranian teenagers.
Sarzurzuma Design and Planting Workshops
Gouron high school students · Community course
Design and planting workshops with high school students in Gouron village, as part of the Sarzurzuma mangrove restoration.