Palestinian Architect Suad Amiry Wins 2025 Great Arab Minds Award in Architecture and Design
Palestinian architect Suad Amiry has been awarded the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award in the Architecture and Design category. Founder and director of the Riwaq - Centre for Architectural Conservation, Amiry was recognised for her long-standing work in documenting, preserving, and reusing Palestinian architectural heritage through conservation practices that link historic structures with contemporary community needs. Her approach positions architecture as both a repository of collective memory and an active social framework, emphasising the role of heritage in everyday urban and rural life.
Established in 1991, Riwaq - Centre for Architectural Conservation has served as the primary platform for Amiry`s architectural and conservation practice. Through the organisation, she has led one of Palestine`s most extensive architectural documentation initiatives, resulting in a registry of more than 50,000 historic buildings across towns and villages. This work has supported the rehabilitation of approximately 50 historic centres, combining restoration projects with job creation and training programs for craftsmen working with traditional materials, while directly engaging local communities in the renewal of their built environments.
Recent projects led by Riwaq further reflect this approach. Qalandiya: the Green Historic Maze, which received the Grand Prize at the Holcim Awards 2025, applies an incremental conservation strategy to the revitalisation of Qalandiya`s historic village centre, restoring deteriorated structures for public use through traditional stone masonry, native materials, and passive climate-responsive systems, while prioritising community participation and long-term maintenance. An earlier project, the Revitalisation of Birzeit Historic Centre, awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013, similarly focused on rehabilitating historic buildings and public spaces through collaborative processes, combining traditional techniques with contemporary interventions where historical evidence was limited.
Alongside her conservation practice, Amiry has contributed extensive research on traditional Palestinian architecture. Her studies focus on domestic buildings and their construction techniques, including stone masonry, flooring systems, decorative elements, and spatial organisation. These publications contribute to the academic understanding of vernacular architecture while preserving knowledge embedded in local building traditions. In parallel, her writing combines architectural observation with historical documentation and personal narrative, expanding cultural discourse around space, memory, and lived experience in Palestine.
Amiry holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the American University of Beirut, a Master`s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a PhD in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh. She has taught architecture and urban studies at Birzeit University and the University of Jordan. The announcement was acknowledged by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, who highlighted Amiry`s role in preserving Palestinian architectural heritage.
Launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Great Arab Minds initiative recognises individuals whose work has made a lasting contribution to Arab culture, scholarship, and society across disciplines, including Architecture and Design, Medicine, Engineering and Technology, Natural Sciences, Literature and Arts, and Economics. Previous recipients of the Architecture and Design category include Lina Ghotmeh in 2023 and Sahel Al-Hiyari in 2024, placing Suad Amiry among a growing group of regional figures recognised for their impact on the built environment.
Photo: Suad Amiry. Source: Great Arab Minds with photos of Amiry’s works.
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| Themes |
| • Architecture • Cultural Heritage • Historic heritage sites • Indigenous peoples • National • People under occupation • Project management • Women |
