The second edition of Design Middle East Awards 2019 du presented by su will take place on October 23, 2019, at Sofitel The Palm. The Awards are about celebration of the creative best and foremost from the region’s design industry. The awards will honour the best of designers, architects, projects, and design oriented companies. The award ceremony with various categories will strive to recognise the individual excellence, company strengths, and project success and the leading design experts will form a jury and be part of the selection procedure.

To nominate, visit our website: https://bit.ly/2k94IQ5

Here is is the list of our eminent judges that are part of the panel this year.

SUMAYA DABBAGH
CHAIR OF RIBA GULF CHAPTER


Sumaya Dabbagh is the founder of Dabbagh Architects. She is an award-winning, Saudi architect educated in the UK with diverse experience in architecture and interior design spanning over 20 years.
Following an education at Bath University under the guidance of the late Peter Smithson and Sir Ted Happold, Dabbagh began her career in London and Paris in the ’90s. Her return to the Gulf region was part of a quest to gain a deeper understanding of her own identity, a unique mix of influences and sensitivity towards both western and middle eastern cultures. In 2008, she founded Dabbagh Architects, which has now become one of the first RIBA Chartered Practices in the Gulf region. Her practice has since completed a range of projects in diverse sectors, such as commercial offices, retail, residential, educational, as well as cultural projects. Dabbagh’s multi-award-winning Mleiha Archaeological Centre building is a recent addition to her renowned portfolio of sensitive, contextual designs.

STEPHAN FRANTZEN
DESIGN DIRECTOR
P&T ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS


Stephan Frantzen is the design director of P&T Architects and Engineers, Dubai office. He has significant experience in the design of master plans, large mixed-use developments, hotels, office towers, and residential developments. Having joined P&T in Hong Kong since 1990, he moved to the Dubai office in 2008 to work on projects throughout the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. Frantzen identifies and explore sthe uniqueness of every project based on location, climate, sustainability, use, socio-economic context, and seeing every aspect as an opportunity to find solutions that optimise functionality, flexibility, quality, and beauty.

GEORGE KATODRYTIS
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF SHARJAH

An architect, professor, and RIBA member involved in practice, teaching, and research. He studied and taught at the AA in London. He published widely on contemporary architecture, urbanism, cultural theory and digital media. The work addresses the UAE ‘city’, especially as it is evolving in the 21st century. He has lectured and made presentations in the UK, USA, Russia, Estonia, Finland, Czech Republic, Thailand, Turkey, and the UAE. Katodrytis has participated in a number of architectural conferences and competitions, including an invited competition for the Cultural Centre, Jumeira Palm, Dubai.

MATTHEW ENGELE
PRINCIPAL & REGIONAL DESIGN LEADER
WOODS BAGOT


Matthew Engele is an award-winning architect and principal with over a decade of experience in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. As the regional design leader,  Engele manages the studio’s high-performance teams with a hands-on approach to design creation through the utilisation of advanced digital tools. His experience includes a spectrum of awarding-winning cultural architecture, high-rise towers, urban design and renewal, retail, hotels, and large scale complex mixed-used developments. At the forefront of thought leadership, Engele is a regular keynote speaker, author, and invited critic at various universities in the UK, USA, and UAE. Since joining Woods Bagot Dubai, Engele has led some significant and notable projects including the Dubai Design District (d3), St Regis Hotel in Marrakesh, and Mulberry Park Heights in Dubai Hills. Prior to Woods Bagot, Engele was a leading design architect with high profile firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects and OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture).

KEREM CENGIZ
MANAGING DIRECTOR
LWK & PARTNERS, MENA

With a strong design-led background and technical and commercial aptitude, Kerem Cengiz has had over 20 years of international experience across all aspects of real estate development. Cengiz aims to create developments that contribute in combining high urban design quality with assured commercial success through innovation, strong leadership and effective management. He has addressed and participated in multiple international conferences, such as MIPIM, Cityscapes, and The Big5 Dubai. He has also presented at several universities and has led the formation of national architectural guideline and regulatory publications. Kerem’s outstanding work and leadership have helped him secure many significant and high-profile projects in the UAE, GCC Region, and internationally against other globally recognised international practices. This has earned him and his team the “Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award for Innovation” in 2017, as well as “The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade” in 2009.