Asst Prof Dr Norzalifa Zainal Abidin is born in Penang but mostly lived in
Kedah before joining MRSM Seremban boarding school in 1984-1985 and
undergone A level at Seremban in 1996-1987. She continued her first year
in Architecture under Northern Consortium United Kingdom (NCUK) programme
then pursued her studies and graduated for her part 1 and 2 RIBA from the
School of Architecture, University of Central England in Birmingham,
United Kingdom in 1994. She continued practicing architecture in the
United Kingdom and Malaysia till 1998. In 1998, she joined International
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as an academician and researcher in the
Kulliyah of Architecture and Environmental Design (KAED). She then further
her studies in Master in Built Environment and Doctorate Degree in Built
Environment specializing in the Islamic Arts and traditional mosques and
graduated in 2012 from the Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Survey,
Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia. Now she is an active academic member
in IIUM teaching interior design and her recent architectural and interior
design work is the Masjid Ara Damansara in Ara Damansara District,
Selangor. This mosque received a GBI gold certification for its green and
sustainable design approach. She is also currently and actively involved
in the community engagement works in helping the Orang Asli in Gombak,
Selangor, Malaysia. She was also the coordinator of Heritage Studies for
her Department of Applied Arts and Design, KAED between 2011 -2012 and
also involving as part of the coordinating team members whereby the
academic and research works involved visits and studies of arts and
architectural works in Malaysia and other parts of the world ie, Turkey,
China, Korea and Cambodia. Her focus of interest will be on the Islamic
Architecture and Heritage, Islamic arts and Nusantara arts, masjid or
mosque designs be it traditional or modern designs. Her keen interest is
also in charity works whereby she was the Assistant Secretary with Insaf
Malaysia ( an NGO) helping the needy and now actively involved as the
project coordinator for the Projek Warisan Hidup Orang Asli in Gombak
under Yayasan Warisan Negara. She is also actively in two non governmental
organizations which related to the preservation of environment which are
PEKA Malaysia (Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Sekitar Malaysia) as
Vice chairman and the PROTEM Secretary General for GERAK (Pertubuhan
Gerakan Alam Sekitar Rakyat Malaysia.). Her portfolio is more towards
education and advocating research towards the awareness of the heritage of
our environment. She has published a few books and book chapters which
amongst other as listed. For example, one chapter was in the book titled
“ Aesthetics in Built Environment , reconciling Culture, Sustainability
and Ecology” 2015. Others are related to her visit to Turkey which is
“Architecture as a reflection of social structure: A Reminiscence of the
Sulaymaniye Complex in Istanbul” 2010 and Islamic Arts and the
traditional Melaka mosques. Another example of book chapter in the book
titled “ Dimensions of Masjid Architecture, Perspectives and Writings on
Theory and Design” 2016. Her research are mainly focusing on related
issues such as “Eco public Art in pursuit of a sustainable green city
and public space”, “ The Innovative approach and values of the
application of Islamic Art decoration in Green Mosques: a Reflect to its
True Function”, and “the Cultural Heritage of Orang Asli in Peninsular
Malaysia to promote support for Educational, Social and Economic Needs by
the Community – A case study in Kg Orang Asli ( the aborigines) in Batu
12 Bukit Kala, Gombak, Selangor , Malaysia.” She has also under done
some additional training such as completed and graduated in Post graduate
Diploma in Islamic studies ( CERDAS) in Kulliyah of Islamic Revealed
Knowledge and Human sciences (KIRKHS, IIUM) in 2016 and also became a
Professional Enterpreneur Educator trained under the Ministry of Higher
Education in 2016.

• Humanities ~ Humanities ~ Arts and Culture ~ Other Arts and Culture n.e.c. - Islamic arts and decoration.
• Engineering Tech ~ Applied Sciences And Technologies ~ Architecture ~ Building Design - Bulding design and interior, mosque design and interiors, heritage building, Islamic architecture.

Completed

2016 - 2020	Elements of Energy, Carbon and Climatic Characterization of Malay Architecture in the Tropics in relation to BIM-Linked Dynamic Environmental Simulation and Analysis
2013 - 2017	Urban Marketplace Qualities for Cultural and Economic Regeneration
2013 - 2016	New Model of Islamic Art in Public Spaces in Promoting the Concept of Al-Wasatiyyah for the IIUM Campus : Garden of Knowledge and virtue
-	THE ANALYTICAL STUDY ON THE ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION ELEMENTS WITHIN THE ISLAMIC HERITAGE BUILDING-A CASE STUDY IN SULAIMANEYE SQUARE, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

On-Going

2020 - Present	Capacity Building and Empowerment of Orang Asli Gombak in Transforming the Illegal Dumping Site for Sustainable Community Use
2020 - Present	Beyond Bins (in collaboration with Yayasan Hasanah)
2019 - Present	TOWARDS ENLIVING THE INDIGENOUS HERITAGE AND SEMANTICS OF ORANG ASLI WEAVING ARTS AND CRAFTS IN MALAYSIA
2016 - Present	Analysis, Compilation and Categorization of Modern Abstraction of Malays Traditional Motifs in Interior Archtecture of Commercial Buildings in Malaysia
2013 - Present	Regenerative Islamic Heritage Research Unit(RIHRU)
2012 - Present	A Study on the Impacts of the Current Curriculum Program Under Applied Arts and Design Department in Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
2011 - Present	RU 2011: An Adoption of Kampung Kling Mosque and Kampung Hulu Mosque, Melaka: A Wholistic Studies On The Interior Layout, Decoration Amd Sustainability of Traditional Mosque In Malaysia, Comparative Study With Masjid Agung Demak, Jawa, Indonesia

27 Aug, 2022	GOLD AWARD - TISIAS ICAN 2022	International
28 Aug, 2021	BEST INVENTION VIDEO AWARD - ICAN 2021 Toronto International Society of Innovation & Advanced Skills (TISIAS)	International
28 Aug, 2021	GOLD AWARD - ICAN 2021 TISIAS	International
28 Aug, 2021	INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL AWARD - ICAN 2021 Toronto International Society of Innovation & Advanced Skills (TISIAS)	International
28 Aug, 2020	special award - Toronto International society of Innovation & Advanced skills iCAN 2020	International
28 Aug, 2020	Committee choice award - Toronto International Society of innovation & Advanced skills iCAN2020	International
20 Aug, 2020	Gold Medal - toronto international society of Innovation & Advanced skills	International

Article

2020	Sustainable resource based materials in food packaging design. Cultural Syndrome, 2 (2) pp. 138-149
2020	The attributes of 'Papan Meleh'-roof eaves decoration in Baitul Rahmah (Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia) with the historic building information modelling (HBIM) application. Planning Malaysia, 18 (2) pp. 181-192
2020	The attributes of ‘Papan Meleh’ - roof eaves decoration in Baitul Rahmah (Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia) with the historic building information modelling (HBIM) application. Planning Malaysia, 18 (2) pp. 181-192
2019	Architecture ecologised: nature’s patterns and abstractions in Malay built traditions. Cultural syndrome, 1 (2) pp. 107-116
2019	Multiculturalism as a reflection in the decorative motif in Malaysia traditional buildings. Borneo Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1 (1) pp. 1-11
2019	The Balustrade and the ‘kekisi’: a strategy in infusing Malay identity through filters and railings in South East Asian urbanism and architecture: case studies in Melaka and Kedah, Malaysia. Cultural Syndrome, 1 (2) pp. 117-132
2019	The way to practice sustainability: wonders of upcycling products. The Design Ideals Journal, 1 (2) pp. 49-59
2016	Islamic-themed graffiti: potentials of public art with Islamic attributes. Middle East Journal of Scientific Research (MEJSR), 24 (2) pp. 366-371

Conference or Workshop Item

2014	Eco-public art in pursuit of a sustainable green city and public space. In: International Conference on Sustainable Urban Design for Liveable Cities (SUDLiC 2014),
2007	Virtual reality in heritage studies and historical reconstruction through animation – A case study of a 16th century university complex in the Ottoman world. In: 7th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality: 0ctober 22-23, 2007,
2007	Virtual reality in heritage studies and historical reconstruction through animation – A case study of a 16th century university complex in the Ottoman world. In: 7th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality: ,

Book

2018	Reminiscing the aesthetics and true functions of decoration in masjid. Noor Publishing, ISBN: 978-620-2-34358-9
2010	Architecture as a reflection of social structure : a reminiscience of the Sulaymaniye Complex of Istanbul. Kulliyyah of Architecture & Environmental Design, IIUM and Al-Bukhary Foundation, ISBN: 978-983-3142-12-5

Book Section

2020	The Orang asli living cultural heritage: the jungle school Gombak, Malaysia. In: IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia, ISBN: 9789674910488, pp. 218-228
2015	Aesthetics expression of the Islamic art of a mosque. In: IIUM Press, ISBN: 978-967-418-330-1, pp. 56-72
2015	Aesthetics expression of the Islamic art of a mosque. In: IIUM Press, ISBN: 978-967-418-330-1, pp. 56-72
2011	An analysis of decoration elements in Masjid Al Azim, Melaka Malaysia . In: IIUM Press, ISBN: 9789674180416, pp. 104-112
2011	The Arabesque decoration with reference to the Malay arts, as applied in the traditional mosques in Malaysia. In: IIUM Press, ISBN: 9789674180300, pp. 157-164
2011	The concept of beuty in Islamic arts decoration : its importance and relationship to mosque interiors. In: IIUM Press, ISBN: 978-967-0225-74-6, pp. 53-92

Monograph

2017	Urban marketplace qualities for cultural and economic regeneration. In: ,
2016	New model of Islamic art in public spaces. In: ,