
Tamayouz Excellence Award is proud to announce the shortlist of finalists for its Dewan Award for Architecture 2019. The shortlist comprises the top 20 submissions received this year for the award’s second cycle.
The entries were selected out of 99 submissions from 29 countries received this year. Selection of the finalists was based off of criteria set in the award’s brief, which called on participants to submit proposals for the redesign of Baghdad’s Al Umma Park

Commended projects are those that respond to the site’s conditions, and offer solutions that are mindful of the park’s existing structures and monuments, as well as the needs of the local context and community.
The members of the jury panel for the Dewan Award for Architecture 2019 are:
- Mohamed Al-Assam, chairman of Dewan Architects + Engineers
- Dr Jala Makhzoumi, academic at the American University of Beirut and co-founder of Unit44
- Dr Wendy Pullan – UK: Professor of architecture and urban studies, and director of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research, University of Cambridge.
- Jala Makhzoumi – Iraq: Professor of landscape architecture at the American University of Beirut, president of Lebanese Landscape Association and co-founder of Unit 44.
- Seif Allah Abu Alnaga – Egypt: Architect and President of the Society of Egyptian Architects and chairman of ICPD.
- Dr Konstantinos Adamakis – Greece: Award-winning architect, Former Deputy Mayor of Volos and professor of architecture at University of Thessaly.
- Kathy Basheva – UK: Director of Basheva Studio in London and RIBA chartered architect.
- Dr Carl Fraser: Researcher at Coventry university
- Ahmed Al-Azzawi – Iraq: Award winning Architect and design director, AA7 Design Workshop.
The award is named after Dewan Architects + Engineers, one of the world’s most established and leading architecture firms, particularly to emerge from the Middle East. The Dewan Award is an international award that seeks to recognise design proposals that respond to local challenges in Iraq. For its inaugural theme in 2018, the award sought proposals for a school in Iraq’s marshlands.
The winner’s announcement will be made following the jury’s meeting in October at the UK’s Coventry University.
The shortlist of finalists for the Dewan Award for Architecture 2019 are:
*All finalists arranged in countries’ alphabetical order
- ArceStudio: Fernando Arce; North York, Canada
- Hamdy Hefnawy, Mennatullah Ezzat and Ahmed Sayed Mostafa Abdelgafar; Cairo, Egypt
- Della Gondola: Sulev Nurme, Sten Juur and Anna Belova; Tartu, Estonia
- Zeinab Muneam; Frankfurt, Germany
- MAT: Saman Rajouldezfouli, Majid Aghazadehei; Tehran, Iran
- Iran University of Science and Technology: Alireza Pouyan, Kaveh Rezaei and Kimia Jafar Lavasani; Tehran, Iran
- Spot: Badr Ahmad and Nizar R. J. Dalfi; Baghdad, Iraq
- PRHZ: Hardy Kamaran; Erbil, Iraq
- Arqam Alwazzan; Mosul, Iraq
- Bitar Consultants, Architects, Engineers and Project Managers; Amman, Jordan
- Tha’er Qub’a Architects; Amman, Jordan
- Al-NizAya: Alaa Bou Ghanem, Nizar Zeitouny and Aya Hamze; Beirut, Lebanon
- Voice Architects: Mahmoud Elmoussa; Tyre, Lebanon
- Gzregorz Leiner; Estado de Mexico, Mexico
- Marcin Kitala; Czestochowa, Poland
- Adriano Marin Perez; Barcelona, Spain
- 2×1 Architects: Hakan Evkaya and Kutlu İnanç Bal; Ankara, Turkey
- Burouj Basil Alkraidi and Hussain Yahya; Istanbul, Turkey
- Hebah Qatanany; Dubai, UAE
- Ali Habibianfar and Parisa Davoudi; London, UK
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Tamayouz Excellence Award is sponsored by Coventry University, the Iraqi Business Council in Jordan, Kufa – Makiya Charity, Dewan Architects + Engineers, Ayad Al-Tuhafi Architects, Bonair Ltd, the United Nations Global Compact – Iraq Network.