Rachel Lee

Rachel Lee serves as an Assistant Professor at TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, where she explores the complex intersections of colonial and postcolonial architecture with migration, exile, and gender. Born in Dundee, Scotland, her academic journey took her from studying architecture at the Mackintosh School in Glasgow to pursuing further education in Berlin, where she completed her PhD at the TU Berlin's Habitat Unit. Her research particularly focuses on South Asia and East Africa, with significant work in the port cities of Mumbai and Dar es Salaam. As a Mellon Fellow with the Canadian Centre for Architecture's Centring Africa project, she investigates tropical architecture and social infrastructure development. Her influential work includes directing the Simulizi Mijini/Urban Narratives project, contributing to the ERC-funded METROMOD project, and co-curating the Feminist Architectural Histories of Migration project. Lee's scholarship has earned her recognition across multiple platforms, from peer-reviewed journals to popular media outlets, and she maintains a strong commitment to open access publishing and local collaboration. Her work on the Institut für Tropenbau and social infrastructure in Africa, conducted with Monika Motylińska, exemplifies her dedication to uncovering previously unexplored narratives in architectural history. Through her research, teaching, and curatorial work, she continues to bridge the gaps between architectural research, heritage studies, and social history, while maintaining a particular focus on the role of gender and migration in shaping built environments.