Gareth Cain joined DSA as Studio Design Director in November 2023, upon returning to Dubai from Riyadh. Gareth has over 22 years of diverse experience across various international markets, starting his career in the UK and having been in the Middle East since 2011. He has developed a robust expertise that spans multiple sectors including hospitality, residential, retail, workplaces, and mixed-use developments. Throughout his career, Gareth has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to exceptional design through hands-on concept development.

As an architect at his core, he also brings substantial experience as an interior designer and is a certified product designer. This broad expertise allows him to approach projects with a multifaceted perspective, blending techniques from multiple fields.

As a Studio Design Director at DSA, his role is pivotal in steering the organisation toward strategic growth and evolution. With the firm having incredible projects and a diverse pool of talent, he aims to harness this wealth of experience to cultivate specialist knowledge within the studio. By structuring growth initiatives that prioritise collective development, he envisions a framework that not only maximises individual capabilities but also fosters collaborative innovation.

Gareth shares: “I see myself facilitating strategic growth, and by that, I don’t just mean deciding what areas of the business to invest time and resources in or just hiring more people, but creating structures that are set up for growth, that create space for emerging leadership. Setting up communities within DSA to share experience and nurture talent to provide even greater value to our clients and help us to continue to deliver excellent projects. I see myself contributing to a studio culture that builds on DSA’s reputation as a great place to work, where people want to stay for a long time. I see a whole raft of initiatives to help improve every aspect of our studio and being proud of our collective contribution to that end.”

Gareth, as an established leader within the architectural community, excels at promoting business growth while strengthening team dynamics. He emphasises nurturing talent within his team while cultivating an inclusive studio culture driven by collective goals.

Gareth’s extensive management experience encompasses all facets of practice management from strategic planning to day-to-day operations. During his first few months at DSA, alongside leading a hospitality concept team, Gareth created DSA Hubs, 8 communities within DSA that are a forum to blend knowledge, experience, ideas, and research, as well as a platform to educate, inform, and contribute both to DSA and the industry.