Words: Jumana Abdel-Razzaq
Emerging as a leading authority on contemporary Islamic architecture in the 1970s and 1980s, few architects in the region have had such a profound legacy on the practice than Abdelwahed El-Wakil. As this year’s Tamayouz Lifetime Achievement Laureate, the architect is being recognized for restoring the timeless dignity of traditional form through his projects, while revitalizing the discipline with groundbreaking work across the region. His projects, particularly Islamic architecture in Saudi Arabia and culturally rooted projects in Egypt, have been praised internationally for their community-driven vernacular, functional forms, and heritage-rich atheistic.
Born in Cairo in 1943, El-Wakil was educated at the British schools of Victoria College and the English School, before obtaining his GCE and graduated with a distinction in Applied Mathematics, Art, Physics, and Chemistry at Ain Shams University in 1960. That same year, he joined the Faculty of Engineering at the university, and in 1965 acquired his BSc in Architecture with Distinction and First Honours Degree.
Like most schools of architecture at the time, the curriculum was heavily rooted in European modernism, where prospective architects trained in the principles of Le Corbusier, Bauhaus, and International Style approaches, prioritizing functionalism, concrete structures, and minimalist aesthetics. After graduating, the architect began designing in this modernist idiom of his training, producing works that aligned with Egypt’s post-colonial vision of modernization at the time, heavily marked by the 1950-1960s period of progress, development, and alignment with the West.
Though initially influenced by modernist design, a chance meeting with Hassan Fathy, the renowned Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt, reoriented his vision. Fathy believed architecture should be rooted in local traditions, climate, and materials, and above all, should serve the needs of ordinary people – ideas that were the anthesis of the modern aesthetics adopted during this time. Fathy became El-Wakil’s mentor, and under his guidance, El-Wakil shifted from modernism to traditional and vernacular methods, learning mud brick, vault, and dome construction, while anchoring his designs in traditional Islamic aesthetics and a practice rooted in cultural and community. This shift, and is comradery with Fathy, stirred controversy at the Ain Shams Department of Architecture, forcing El-Wakil to end his teaching post at the faculty.
It was around this period that El-Wakil would develop his most celebrated work of the time, The Halawa House, located in Agami, a coastal town near Alexandria. The house was commissioned by Dr. Halawa, a medical doctor who wanted a seaside family retreat in the town, which overlooked the Mediterranean and was part of a growing wave of summer housing developments popping up in the north of the country. Drawing upon traditional Islamic and Egyptian prototypes for this project, El-Wakil’s design was rooted in the local context, and was an opportunity to put into practice what he had learned from Fathy – to revive traditional, climate-sensitive, and vernacular forms. To build a home that would endure Egypt’s hot climate, El-Wakil designed its walls and roof to provide insulation, adding sunlight filters through mashrabiyyas, and constructed curved roofs using domes and barrel vaults. The curved roofs would also help to regulate the temperature, dispersing heat during the day and keeping interiors cooler at night. A revolutionary project for its time.
Halawa House, Egypt
At the centre of the house is a sunlit courtyard, which draws fresh sea air down through a wind catch and serves as the social heart of the home, offering privacy for family gatherings, while recalling the in-ward facing homes of the traditional Islamic cities. The home was built by local Bedouin labourers and craftsmen to preserve the building skills that were disappearing under the modernist construction methods popular at the time.
The Halawa House was a turning point in El-Wakil’s career, not only earning him the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980, but one that changed his entire career trajectory, demonstrating his early mastery of climate-responsive architecture.
With the oil boom of the 1970s, the young architect moved to Saudi Arabia where his work with Fathy was further highlighted with several mosque projects across the kingdom. Working in private practice since 1971, El-Wakil would go on to construct several mosques across Jeddah and Madina, reviving traditional masonry, domes, and courtyards to earn international acclaim.
Working with the Ministry of Pilgrimage and Endowment in Saudi Arabia, for the first time in decades, El-Wakil helped bolster a new era of Islamic architecture in a rapidly modernizing nation. With the backing of Mayor Said Farsi of Jeddah and Deputy Minister Hossam Khashoggi, the architect would go on to design more than fifteen mosques in just ten years. He worked meticulously and almost single-handedly, studying new building techniques to perfect the vaults, domes, and minarets of his most inspired works.
The program began modestly, with four smaller mosques commissioned as part of Jeddah’s beautification campaign, which included the Island Mosque, the Corniche Mosque, the Ruwais Mosque, and the Abraj Mosque. Each combined spiritual purpose with architectural experimentation, setting the stage for even more ambitious projects. The mosques were built with hollow baked bricks and hand-laid mortar, finished with white plaster and sometimes granite. The interiors often revealed exposed vaults coated in earthy tones.
These monumental commissions transformed Jeddah’s skyline. The Suleiman Mosque, Harithy Mosque, Azizeyah Mosque, Jufalli Mosque, and most famously the King Saud Mosque were all built in brick. The brick on the King Saud Mosque was a daring approach, spanning 20 metres in diameter, while soaring to a peak of 40 metres, a feat that left engineers reluctant to take responsibility without reinforcing concrete. El-Wakil, undeterred, signed an affidavit assuming full liability for the structure.
With the personal support of King Fahd and the mayor of Jeddah, the architect was able to bypass the layers of bureaucracy that may have halted his bold vision. The result was not just a collection of mosques, but a revival of traditional building crafts, proving that heritage techniques could stand proudly alongside modern engineering. El-Wakil’s decade of mosque building in Saudi Arabia was a cultural renaissance, breathing new life into Islamic design at a time when it risked being eclipsed by imported modernism.
Corniche Mosque, Saudi Arabia
His dedication to Islamic Architecture stretched beyond Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, with some of El-Wakil’s most celebrated mosques and Islamic community centres designed internationally and praised abroad. In downtown Johannesburg, the Kerk Street Mosque, often called the Juma’ah mosque, was commissioned to replace a 150-year-old structure that could no longer serve the city’s growing Muslim community. The design masterfully balances tradition and modern architecture, and is made entirely of mass brickwork, a signature of El-Wakil’s, which can be seen in the vaulted, double-volume prayer hall. Initially constrained by a restricted site, El-Wakil created five stacked levels of prayer space to maximise the space. He would go on to design another mosque in Johannesburg, the Houghton Mosque and Community Centre, which extended his work in South Africa, offering not only a place of worship but also a hub for social and cultural gathering on the city’s outskirts.
In Bahrain, the architect took on the Yateem Mosque where he custom-designed a minaret incorporating a clock, making the mosque both a spiritual landmark and a civic marker. Further east, in Brunei, El-Wakil designed the Ash-Shaliheen Mosque, a project inspired by the traditional spatial character of Malay architecture. Its composition honoured local identity while echoing his lifelong dialogue between heritage and contemporary needs.
Not all his projects reached completion, however. In Miami, he envisioned a Muslim Community Centre, a design that remained at the conceptual stage. Even so, it revealed his capacity to adapt Islamic architectural language to the context of North America, extending his philosophy across continents.
For his work, El-Wakil has earned numerous awards and prizes. Alongside the Halawa House in Egypt, the architect was again awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989 for his work on the Corniche Mosque in Jeddah – a project celebrated for its brick construction and its ability to reinterpret Islamic architecture for a modern context. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Driehaus Architecture Prize (The Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture), one of the world’s most prestigious awards for architecture, presented for his lifelong contributions to traditional and classical architecture, especially Islamic architecture, and for proving its continued relevance in contemporary practice. Last year, El-Wakil was honoured with the Arthur Ross Awards for Excellence in the Classical Tradition. These awards have made El-Wakil one of the most influential architects of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Oxford Center of Islamic Studies – United Kingdom
With all his achievements, El-Wakil has no intention of slowing down. He continues to work on projects in the Middle East and across the world, maintaining his dedication to culturally grounded projects and sustainable designs, from Qatar and Lebanon to his native Egypt and beyond.
Sponsors
Tamayouz Excellence Award is sponsored by 99 Properties Development, Coventry University, Dewan Architects + Engineers, Kufa–Makiya Charity, Bonair Ltd, Aji Group, and Round City Magazine.