06About

Architecture Begins With a Better Question

Ghaith Awad is an architect and design leader based in Riyadh, working across architecture, urbanism, heritage and design strategy.

Portrait of Ghaith Awad by the water at sunset

His work combines research, sketching and multidisciplinary collaboration to frame architectural problems before resolving them.

Across cultural, commercial, hospitality, residential and urban projects, Ghaith has developed a design approach centered on early-stage clarity: understanding the brief, revealing the real design question and building a shared direction for teams and clients.

Sketching is central to that approach. It is both an intimate way of observing and a practical leadership tool—fast enough to keep a conversation open, precise enough to move it forward.

His interest in Saudi architecture is grounded in how identity is made through climate, social structure, material intelligence and patterns of inhabitation. The aim is a contemporary architecture that is recognizably of its place without becoming imitation.

A Master’s in Business for Architecture and Design from IE University informs a broader view of the profession: architecture as a cultural act, a coordinated process and a strategic proposition.

—Formative moments

An approach shaped through encounters, studios and critique.

Ghaith Awad with architect Jean Nouvel in Riyadh
Riyadh · Jury presentation

An exchange with Jean Nouvel

Meeting Jean Nouvel while their teams were presenting separate competition proposals to a project jury in Riyadh.

Ghaith Awad and the Öney Architecture team reviewing drawings in Istanbul
Istanbul · Summer 2017

Internship at Öney Architecture

Working around the drawing table with the Öney Architecture team—presenting an urban study for Kuruçeşme and learning through direct critique.

Ghaith Awad presenting his graduation project to the University of Petra jury
Amman · University of Petra · 2018

Graduation project defense

Presenting the graduation project to the university jury—an early moment when drawing, research and architectural argument had to work together.

Ghaith Awad with his father at his IE MBArch graduation
Madrid · IE University · July 2025

An education in design leadership

With his father, Moayad Awad, at the completion of IE University’s 15-month Master in Business for Architecture and Design—a program connecting architectural design with strategy, entrepreneurship and the business of design.

—Areas of focus

01

Design leadership

02

Saudi architectural identity

03

Sketching + communication

04

Urban and heritage strategy

05

Teaching + public speaking

06

Architecture + business