Dr  Mohamed Nabyl Chenaf

 Chair of Architecture & Interior Design departments American University in Dubai 

Title of presentation :The meaning of the built environment – across-cultural study

Dr. M. Nabyl Chenaf has been teaching Interior Design, Architecture and Urban Planning since 1989 year of completion of his Ph.D. from Nottingham University in the UK.  He designed several buildings and urban settlements including new neighborhoods, rehabilitation of squatters and restoration of a seven-century old Med ina wit h “ Medina Eng ineering ”. His research interest has been mainly in the field of perception of meaning and mental mapping of the built environment.  His growing belief is that the world of signs, icons, metaphors, etc. (semiotics) both at the urban and architectural scales are the key to understanding the way people interact with their physical environment