AlMusalla Prize 2025: Chair
Chaired the inaugural edition of the AlMusalla Prize, part of the Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 at Jeddah’s Hajj Terminal: an disruptive international architectural competition, by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, that celebrates innovative regional architecture. The AlMusalla Prize reimagines the future of spaces of worship in relation to Islamic Architecture Heritage—as modular, empowering, transient, and easily disassembled/reassembled spaces and structures. It not only pushes the paradigms on sustainable design and cutting-edge technology but also seeks to emphasize on opportunities for dialogue and community building—reclaiming the true essence of a musalla space.
The inaugural 2025 edition of the Prize was won by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with engineers AKTII and Artist Rayyane Tabet. It saw a shortlisted pool participating architects: AAU Anastas, Asif Khan Studio, Dabbagh Architects, EAST Architecture Studio and Office of Sahel Alhiyari for Architecture, and a jury comprised of: Lina Ghotmeh, Farrokh Derakhshani, Azra Akšamija, Ali Malkawi and Chaired by Nawaf Bin Ayyaf.
Photos by Marco Cappelletti and Mansor Alsofi, courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
