The Middle East Architect Awards - in video

The start of this month saw the Middle East Architect Awards celebrate the great and the good in regional architecture. In case you didn't get a chance to attend this year, here's your chance to catch up on what you missed.

This year’s jury seemed to want to make a clear statement to the industry, evidenced by its recognition of those projects and people that demonstrated only the most sensitive approach to climate and context. For example, ‘Xeritown’, a brilliant design by Dubai-based X-Architects, beat out multinational firms GAJ, Broadway Malyan, The Metropolitan Workshop and KEO in the mixed-use development category.

Attendees also saw the RTA accept a well-deserved award for its vision and efforts on the Dubai Metro; And they witnessed Woods Bagot—2008 winner for Best Overall Project with QSTP and 2009 shortlistee for The College of the North Atlantic—come up short in a very competitive category that ultimately went to IM Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

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Accepting the award on behalf of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Omar Chaikhouni commented on the importance of the MEA Awards to the region: “I think it’s great to have such recognition of the impressive firms and projects in this part of the world. I think it’s unprecedented and one of its kind in the region. It’s a great initiative, I hope the momentum keeps coming, and more and more nominations come through [next year].”

In a delightful and surprising twist, this year’s Young Architect of the Year went to Swee Leng Lai, a woman from a small design studio in Bahrain, and the 2009 Architect of the Year went to Khalid Alnajjar—Emirati principal of dxb lab, a small Dubai-based firm that he started in 2000.

“The range of winners is great to see,” said Jeff Willis, associate director of Arup and member of the jury. “When we were making our decisions, we didn’t consciously try to create such a diverse range, it just happened that way. It’s really a testament to the strength of the industry as a whole.”

Officials from Dubai Municipality and the Dubai Roads and Transit Authority (RTA) were similarly enthused by the success of the event. “I think it’s a very good award [ceremony] for architecture,” said Rashad M. Bukhas, chairman, of Dubai’s Architectural Heritage Society. “It’s nice when companies, consultants and contractors are pushed to work even harder to bring something great to the region.”

Director of rail planning and development for the Rail Agency within the RTA, added simply: “What can I say, it’s perfect.”

The complete list of  winners includes:

Infrastructure project of the year
Dubai Metro, RTA

Restoration/conservation project of the year
Restoration of Mohamed Sherif Sultan al Olama House, Dubai Municipality

Green project of the year
Project R – Rubble House, IDEA sarl

Mixed-use project of the year
Xeritown, X-Architects

Engineering firm of the year
Atkins

Architecture firm of the year, vernacular
DSA Architects

Architecture firm of the year, modern
Godwin Austen Johnson

Overall project of the year
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

Young architect of the year
Swee Leng Lai, IDS

Architect of the year
Khalid Al Najjar, dxb lab