Tamayouz Excellence Award is proud to announce the winners of its Dewan Award for Architecture 2025.
The Dewan Award for Architecture, organised in partnership with Dewan Architects + Engineers, is an annual thematic prize that calls on participants worldwide to respond to Iraq-specific challenges.
The winners were selected from 110 submissions received from 28 countries this year. For the first time in the award’s history, the final selection took place through a live jury session held at the Iraqi Engineers Union in Baghdad, as part of the inaugural Arab Architecture Festival in Baghdad.
The selection was based on the criteria set in the award’s brief, which invited participants to reimagine Baghdad’s Central Railway Station — a historic landmark poised for transformation.
The winner of the first prize is Dipartimento di Architettura Sperimentale from Italy. The second prize is awarded to Yildiz Technical University from Türkiye, and the third prize goes to Brick Wave from the United States. Additionally, Dewan Award proudly recognises eight honourable mentions, further exemplifying the exceptional entries showcased in this year’s competition.
The first prize will be fully paid employment at Dewan for six months, extendable to one year, or $6,000; the total sum of prizes given in this award cycle is $10,000.
The members of the jury panel for the Dewan Award for Architecture 2025 are:
Dr Jala Makhzoumi – Lebanon: President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects – Middle East Region; Adjunct Professor, American University of Beirut; Co-chair, Tamayouz Excellence Award Grand Jury 2022-25.
Dr Mohamed Al-Assam – UAE: Founder/Executive Chairman of Dewan Architects + Engineers.
Dr Ahmadreza Hakiminejad – UK: Researcher in Architecture and Urban Studies, and Lecturer at the Leeds School of Architecture, Leeds Beckett University, UK.
Fernando Olba – Spain: architect and the principal of Fernando Olba Arquitectura y Ubanismo, a Valencia-based, award-winning sustainable design practice.
Sebastian Hicks – UK: Architect, Senior Lecturer. Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Ahmed Al-Mallak – UK: Founding Director of Tamayouz Excellence Award; Academic at Coventry University (Non-voting chair).
The Prizes
- First prize: $6000 cash prize, Certificate, and an invitation to attend the ceremony.
- Second Prize: $3000, Certificate, and an invitation to attend the ceremony.
- Third Prize: $1000, a certificate, and an invitation to attend the ceremony.
- Honourable Mentions: Certificate and invitation to attend the ceremony.
Dewan Award for Architecture 2025 Winners:
First Place – Dipartimento di Architettura Sperimentale: Valentino Pierantoni, Mattia Azzolina, Marco Tullio Romano, Massimo Macrì, and Rossella Di Cristo, from Milan, Italy
Second Place – Yildiz Technical University: Shahd Elsayed, ZAHER SUKKARY, Esma Nur Azman, Yasmeen Elsangidy, Rama Alkais, HEBATALLH ABDELWAHAB, and Sondos Mahdy, from Istanbul, Türkiye
Third Place – Brick Wave: Hani Alahmed, and Arwa Midhaan, from Phoenix, United States
Honourable Mentions
(Arranged in countries’ alphabetical order)
ADD Architects: Sherif Farag, Farah Ahmed, Noha Abdelaziz, Shehab El Karanshawy, Youssef Tarek, Tareq Ahmed, Tasnim Abdelfattah, and Nada Lotfy, from Alexandria, Egypt
Alexandria University, Faculty of Engineering: Hazem Alaa Edin saad Haridy, Mohamed Mostafa Abdalrasoul Attia Elkafafi, Youssef Amr Fawzy, Seif eldin Yasser Ali Kamel, Abdelrahman Ahmed Samir, Mohamed Ayman Abdelmoneim, and Karim Asser Ahmed Mohamed Foaad, from Alexandria, Egypt
Cairo Urban Studio – Archivators: Salem Hussein, Mohamed Maged, Haya Tarek, Nada Mohamed, Merna Moataz, Ahmed ElRifaie, Mariam Ahmed, and Ahmed Sami, from Giza, Egypt
Information Technology Institute: Ziad Tarek Ezzat, Ahmed Safy Salah Eldien Mohamed, Aya khaled Saber Ahmed, Caroline Sefen Ayoub Sefen, Ereny Ayman Fali Solayman, Hagar Ashraf Farouk Abd El Aziz, Mahitab Yasser Mohamed El Sawy, Nada Hany Ismail Eldahan, and Salma Alaa Eldin Mohamed, from Cairo, Egypt
University of Baghdad: Sajeda Kahdum Al Kindi, Mays Yousif Mahmmood, Jwan Jabbar Juma, and Tabarak Basim Ghazi, from Baghdad, Iraq
Ahmad Yaser Qasim Al Momani, from Amman, Jordan
Korzun Aleksei Arkad’evich, Chernobrova Valeriia Konstantinovna, Podterob Daniil Andreevich, And Bogatyrenko Ksenia Alekseevna, from Khabarovsk, Russia
Iconvis and Tuskegee University: Dr Zaki Mallasi, Dr Mostafa Alani, and Autumn Dickerson, from Washington DC, United States
The award is named after Dewan Architects + Engineers, one of the world’s most established and leading architecture firms, particularly in emerging from the Middle East. The Dewan Award is an international award that recognises design proposals responding to Iraq’s local challenges.
For its inaugural theme in 2018, the award sought proposals for a school in Iraq’s marshlands: More information. In 2019, the award theme was the regeneration of Al Umma Park in Baghdad; More information. In 2020, the award theme was to design a youth house and plaza in Baghdad’s Sadr City; More information. In 2021, the award theme was to design a sanctuary for homeless girls in Iraq; More information. In 2022, the award sought proposals for a Rehabilitation Centre for Terrorism Victims in Iraq; More information. In 2023, the award’s theme was the New Basra’s waterfront; More information. In 2024, the award theme was to submit ideas for the Iraq Pavilion for a Global Exhibition in Baghdad; More information.
Sponsors
Tamayouz Excellence Award is sponsored by 99 Properties Development, Coventry University, The Iraqi Business Council in Jordan, Kufa–Makiya Charity, Dewan Architects + Engineers, Bonair Ltd, Aji Group, and Round City Magazine.