AIA Middle East Latest Events & News
/29 May 2025. Dubai, UAE
AIA panel at INDEX
22 May 2025. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
AIA Middle East Board Members Lead Key Panel at Downtown Design 2025
Downtown Design Riyadh & AIA Middle East
In a powerful demonstration of regional thought leadership, three board members of AIA Middle East led a featured panel discussion at Downtown Design 2025 in Dubai. The session, titled “Design Excellence at Scale,” addressed the unique challenges and opportunities of delivering ambitious urban developments in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC.
The panel featured:
Sherif Anis, Co-founder & Executive Director of AIA Middle East, and Senior Development Director at KAFD
Ryan Wlatke, Secretary of AIA Middle East and Studio Director at Gensler
Chucri Haddad, Past President & Director of AIA Middle East and Principal at DAR
Together, they explored:
Strategies for maintaining design intent through complex stakeholder environments
Innovations in procurement, delivery models, and client-side design management
How global firms can collaborate with local partners to deliver contextually grounded, globally competitive outcomes
The importance of legacy-driven development aligned with Vision 2030
This session marked an important milestone for AIA Middle East, reinforcing the Chapter’s continued role in shaping the region’s design discourse at the highest levels.
To read more about the event: Downtown Design Riyadh | JAX District Fair
On May 22, 2025, industry leaders gathered for an insightful panel discussion hosted by AIA Middle East on how design excellence is realized in Saudi Arabia’s rapidly evolving built environment. The conversation delved into key challenges, including procurement, approvals, stakeholder complexity, and project timelines—highlighting the collaborative efforts between global and local teams to transform ambitious national visions into enduring, contextual built realities.
13 May 2025. Dubai, UAE
Weaponized Craft
Reiser+Umemoto, RUR Architecture DPC
In collaboration with AECOM office in #Dubai, AIA Middle East and American University of Sharjah, hosted "Weaponized Craft" with Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto of RUR Architecture DPC on May 13, 2025 in Dubai, UAE.
The lecture explored the intersection of design techniques and modern innovation in architecture, highlighting regional, ecological, and cultural dimensions. Their O-14 tower, located near Ubora Tower in Dubai was a key point in this presentation and served as a key reference. The event also discussed the design thought process behind - Kaohsiung Port Terminal - in #Taiwan, The lecture and was coordinated with AIA Middle East President Li Ren AUS Architecture Department Head Jason Carlow, paving the way for future more promising collaboration in the region.
Seen through the lens of RUR’s completed project on urban transformation, our discussion charted the long design gestation and ultimate building triumph of a series of public and private projects across the globe. From successful completions to speculative developments, each project presented its own set of challenges—architectural, political, and ecological. What Reiser+Umemoto had learned from these projects amounted to a late revelation on the centrality of craft and its surprising urban and cultural implications.
In short, craft had unexpectedly returned to the architect.
Migrating from the job site into the exploratory space of the design studio, craft took on new, unprecedented dimensions. No longer strictly limited by material realities or the routines of normative practice, the architect was free to engage with a project across scales and mediums. For Reiser+Umemoto, craft was less a set of concrete techniques than an exploratory ethos. This radical mode of thinking and working became an ongoing dance between centuries-old and cutting-edge technologies. A crafty engagement with technology proved essential, as it eluded the twin traps of conservative handicraft and process-based techno-purism. The practice sought to chart a radically aesthetic passage between the two as the most resonant way to advance culture and society.
Like the effectiveness of the itinerant smiths of old and Lockheed’s mid-century Skunk Works, which had existed within larger machines—economic, political, or otherwise—Reiser+Umemoto continued to leverage the vitality of independent thought beyond the constraints of convention, in service to the world.
12 May& 14 May 2025. Amman, Jordan
AI’s Role in Architectural Execution
On May 12 and May 14, 2025, the AIA Middle East in collaboration with both the German Jordanian University and University of Jordan lead by - Dr. Deyala Tarawneh - hosted a two-day workshop for architecture students and young Architects in the region, the workshop intended to discuss the #AI role in today's #Architecture. As #AI reshapes architecture, its impact extends beyond design into construction and implementation. This two-day workshop explored AI applications in documentation, material optimization, performance analysis, and project execution.
Through interactive sessions and hands-on demonstrations, participants engaged with AI-driven tools for structural precision, energy modeling, and automated workflows. Topics include generative design for buildability, #AI-assisted #BIM, automated code compliance, and predictive analytics.
By the end, attendees gained practical insights into integrating AI into real-world practice, bridging design and execution. Ideal for architects, urban planners, and engineers eager to enhance efficiency with AI.
28 April - 01 May 2025. Doha, Qatar
Build Your House Qatar 2025 Conference
6th edition of Build Your House Received thousands of visitors in its opening this May 2025
Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Build Your House Qatar launched an Inspiring Exhibition for Décor, Gifts, and Lifestyle (IFH)—a natural extension of the success of Build Your House (BYH), and a direct response to increasing audience demand.
As conference partners, AIA Middle East collaborated on hosting various sessions to discuss how current advancements and trends continue to transform the design of residential spaces.
Build Your House Qatar 2025 Conference
We extend our profound appreciation to all our esteemed speakers for their invaluable contributions to this event:
- Komal Kotwal, AIA, LEED AP, WELL FACULTY, WELL AP Founder & Principal Consultant - EquiSustain
- Fodil Fadli Associate Professor - Architecture and Urban Planning at Qatar University
- Mlak Almoukdad Architecture student from Qatar University
- Zyed Zoha Razvi, Co-Founder and Principal Architect at DMS Qatar
- Hameda Janahi Assistant Professor at Qatar University
Their participation has been instrumental in advancing the mission of AIA in the Middle East—fostering intellectual exchange, disseminating architectural knowledge, and cultivating the ever-evolving landscape of #architecture across the MENA region.
mlak basem al-moukdad, student from Qatar University
mlak basem al-moukdad, student from Qatar University
hameda janahi, assitant professor at Qatar University
hameda janahi, assitant professor at Qatar University
Komal Kotwal, AIA, LEED AP, WELL FACULTY, WELL AP, Founder - Principal Consultant of EquiSustain
Komal Kotwal, AIA, LEED AP, WELL FACULTY, WELL AP, Founder - Principal Consultant of EquiSustain
Komal Kotwal, AIA, LEED AP, WELL FACULTY, WELL AP, Founder - Principal Consultant of EquiSustain
