Shubber Munim Falah

Shubber Munim Falah was born in Najaf city, Iraq in 1977. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in architecture at the University of Technology in Baghdad, in 2001 and 2004, respectively. In 2012, he was granted an HCED scholarship from Iraq, to fulfill his PhD in architecture at the United States at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. His research interests are politics, architecture, and religion. Before coming to the United States, he was teaching at the University of Kufa, and practicing architecture. 

After the Iraq War of 2003, a wide reconstruction movement was necessary across the country. Modern building materials and techniques were utilized to rebuild some old Islamic sites. Within that wave, Shubber Falah and architect partner Wael Ajam started to explore the Islamic architecture of Iraq, and the possibility of revitalizing it in a number of projects. The first historic work was the old mosque of Safi-Safa in Najaf, next to Imam Ali’s shrine. They were commissioned to set out the design in 2008 by the Architectural Designer for Engineering Consultancy (known as ADEC) office, which was redeveloping the master plan of the Old Town of Najaf. In 2009, the design of the perimeter wall of Salman Al-Farsi’s tomb to the South of Baghdad were assigned to Shubber & Wael. In 2010, the design of Kumayl's Shrine and Mosque in Najaf was also assigned to them. In 2010, Shubber & Wael signed a contract to design a massive expansion for Al-Sahlah Mosque, opened in 2014. While the design of the expansion was ongoing, the administration of Al-Sahlah Mosque asked the designers to review the new design of the Al-Sahlah historic Mosque, which was under construction at the time.