Suad Amiry, founder and director of the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, has won the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award in the Architecture and Design category. The award, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, recognizes her decades-long efforts in documenting and preserving over 50,000 historic Palestinian buildings while linking conservation to community needs and job creation.
Career highlights
Amiry established Riwaq in 1991 as Palestine’s first center dedicated to architectural heritage rehabilitation. Key projects under her leadership include the revitalization of Birzeit’s historic center, which earned the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013, and Qalandiya: the Green Historic Maze, awarded the Holcim Awards Grand Prize in 2025 for its sustainable restoration using traditional stone masonry and community involvement.
Her academic contributions cover vernacular Palestinian architecture, including books like Space, Kinship and Gender (1987) and Traditional Floor Tiles in Palestine (2000). Amiry studied architecture at the American University of Beirut, urban planning at the University of Michigan, and earned a PhD from the University of Edinburgh; she has taught at Birzeit University and served in the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture.
Award context
The Great Arab Minds initiative honors Arab figures across fields like medicine, literature, and design, with past Architecture winners including Lina Ghotmeh (2023) and Sahel Al-Hiyari (2024). Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised Amiry’s role in safeguarding Palestinian heritage, positioning her work as a bridge between memory, culture, and contemporary life.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
