Rifat Ara Mostofa is an architectural and urban designer and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University. Her design and research work explores the intersections of architectural design, urban systems, and placemaking, where the built environment is understood through interconnected social frameworks, spatial relationships, and lived experiences.
After earning her Bachelor of Architecture, Rifat worked as a Design Associate at Bengal Institute, contributing primarily to landscape and master planning projects. This experience led her to pursue a Master of Urban Design at the University of Hong Kong as an ADB Scholar. She later joined Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, where she pursued graduate studies in Architecture while engaging with the complex urban and architectural contexts of the great Washington, D.C. area.
Before joining Drury University, Rifat gained professional and teaching experience across multiple locations and scales of practice. She worked with Page Southerland Page (now part of Stantec) and CannonDesign, and co-instructed studios at Virginia Tech, including Integrative Building Design Studio (IBDS) and other interdisciplinary design classes. Having lived and worked across Dhaka, Hong Kong, Washington, D.C., and now in Springfield, her work continues to examine the relationship between architecture, urban fabric, public space, and spatial equity. As part of the teaching faculty, Rifat teaches both theory and architectural studios, including architectural representation, urban studies and manages collaboration through partners, experts, and community members through the Center for
Community Studies in HSA.
