Inspired from an early age by his parents, Mouaz Abouzeid has pursued architecture with a passion, becoming one of the most prominent representatives of the profession in the Middle East, writes Moustafa Daly.
Mouaz Abouzeid was born in Cairo in 1980 to an architect father and an interior designer mother, both of them professors at the prestigious Helwan University’s Fine Arts Faculty. Exhibiting artistic inclinations from a very young age, he started with paintings but shifted his focus to architectural designs as he approached college, finally deciding to enrol at the same faculty to study architecture.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Abouzeid graduated college in 2004, but what Egypt’s job market had to offer back then did not sit well with him, so he went looking for better opportunities in the Gulf. Landing in Qatar in 2005, before moving to Dubai after just three months, it was in the emirate that Abouzeid finally felt things falling in place.
“Working at this office in Dubai has exposed me to people of so many different nationalities, literally from everywhere in the world. One project could be a reflection of a sum of different cultures, backgrounds, education systems and experiences. I started seeing things through all these perspectives, things I couldn’t see before. But also, staying true to my identity grew stronger during that time.”
THE ARRIVAL OF RECOGNITION
In 2016, Abouzeid felt he had enough impressive work under his belt, so he took his chances by applying for the Young Architect of the Year Award. Crowned with success, this move paved the way for massive career growth.
“This was the first big recognition I got for my work, and it was the first of many. I was later picked as one of the top 50 most influential architects in the Middle East,” Abouzeid says. “I worked hard to prove that I deserve to be amongst these people and decided that each year, there needs to be a big project that I fully dedicate myself to. Even if it’s just one, it has to have an impact.”
Along with his colleagues Islam El Mashtooly and Cristiano Luchetti, Abouzeid represented Egypt in 2018 at the prestigious Venice Biennale with a project entitled “Robabekya.” It ended up among the top seven participations at the Venice Biennale, opening the way for the Sheltainer project – a collaboration with his Egyptian colleagues Bassel Omara and Ahmed Hammad.
“The Friday Market was the focal point of the Sheltainer project; we attempted to develop the market in a way that would offer space for the traders there to continue selling their products and going about their lives in a better environment,” Abouzeid explains. “We attempted to introduce a new way of looking at informal housing and markets, as well as a new way of building in Egypt.”
The Sheltainer project went on to win Concept Design of the Year ME, Sustainable Project of the Year ME, the Ethics and Value award, and an honorary award from Cairo Design Festival.
MAKING DUBAI SMARTER
A year later, along with his colleague Dima Faraj, Abouzeid created the conceptual design for X-Space –a massive development project to turn part of Dubai’s vital Sheikh Zayed highway into a pedestrian area with ground-breaking smart features, stretching above the road for one kilometre.
“We were aiming to create the smartest kilometre in Dubai, not the most expensive or extravagant [one],” Abouzeid reveals. “The philosophy was to develop an urban fabric focused on sharing, integration and tolerance. It needed to be a space in which people can move freely, cross from one side to the other with no issue. We designed a building that creates a new path through the urban space with no obstacles to pedestrians.”
In late 2019, X-Space was announced as the winner of the prestigious WAFx Award, cementing Abouzeid’s status as one of the most prominent architects in the region. Such accolades only push him to aim higher as he designs his future.
“A hint of what’s next is that I’m planning to launch my own design studio, and Egypt is definitely going to be a big part of those plans,” Abouzeid concludes.