Habib Ghasemi

(he/him)

MArch, MSc, PhD, AFHEA

Overview

Habib is an architect with nearly a decade of experience in projects ranging from private housing to large-scale urban redevelopment. Habib explores the intersections between housing, energy efficiency, and social change. His work focuses on the complex challenges of retrofitting homes across tenures — with a particular emphasis on owner-occupiers, where design, policy, and personal agency meet. During his PhD at Northumbria University, he examined how architects can act as educators to accelerate energy upgrades in owner-occupied homes, integrating social practice theory, learning concepts, and hands-on design solutions. Currently, he works as a Research Associate at the Welsh School of Architecture, collaborating with the Switch Net Zero Wales initiative on a UKRI-PBIAA funded project. The research project explores policy implications for decarbonising Wales and the opportunities and challenges of owner-occupied retrofit.

Habib is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy with extensive teaching experience across architecture and related fields, including quantity surveying, real estate management, and the built environment. He has taught at all academic levels, from foundation year to master's degree programs. He welcomes opportunities to collaborate on research that advances sustainable housing, decarbonisation, and education, particularly within the socio-cultural dimensions of design and low-carbon innovation.