Designed and taught a 14-week, hands-on exploration of Islamic architecture and its cultural contexts to a group of high school aged students, with an in-depth case study of a neighborhood in Zanzibar. Participants learned basic architectural vocabulary; became aware of architecture as a cultural and political force that shapes place and identity; and identified different historical styles of Islamic architecture and the relationships between styles and the environments in which they emerged. This workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to design and model a residence within an architectural-scale model of a Zanzibari neighborhood.