Edward McIntosh is the Regional Design Director for the Middle East at AtkinsRéalis. As part of his role, he brings clients’ visions to life by creating innovative solutions that integrate the region’s cultural heritage with sustainable urban design practices. Edward joined AtkinsRéalis in 2019, and since then he has played an instrumental role in expanding the company’s design and architecture practices and cementing its world class reputation as the partner of choice for delivering some of the most transformational projects across the region.

Edward is highly passionate about mentoring early career professionals and exchanging knowledge to foster new ideas and promote diversity and inclusion. As part of its commitment to building local capabilities, AtkinsRéalis has a 12-month Saudi Graduate Development Program that offers graduates the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge by working with its design, engineering and project management experts on many of the Saudi Vision 2030 Giga projects. To date, 60 Saudi graduates joined the program, including 21 females and 39 males.

ATKINSRÉALIS Saudi Graduate Development Program.

Edward has more than 20 years of experience in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, having worked in the US, UK, Europe, China and the Middle East. Since the start of his career, he has had the opportunity to work on the conception and delivery of large, complex, high-profile buildings that are renowned as iconic architectural landmarks, collaborating with architectural legends like Sir Peter Cook, his mentor from his years of study at Columbia University. His creative thinking is inspired by integrating technology, entertainment, urbanism, futurology, activation and architectural design, and he has lectured and written about these topics in different institutions and publications.

In 2022, he led AtkinsRéalis’ design team to successfully win the international architectural and master planning competition for the New Murabba masterplan, the world’s largest modern downtown in Riyadh, and the Mukaab, an immersive destination that will revolutionize the ways people experience hospitality, retail and leisure. AtkinsRéalis will provide its integrated advisory, architecture, master planning and engineering services to deliver this groundbreaking project, a cornerstone to the visionary reinvention of the Kingdom’s capital city

In 2024, we expect a further refinement of design workflows utilizing AI tools. AtkinsRéalis’ architecture studio will also dig deeper into what makes architecture and master planning liveable and more attractive to humans.

AtkinsRéalis’ competition-winning scheme, revealed in 2023, is inspired by Najdi Architecture, with a focus on creating a futuristic landmark with deep contextual roots that blends Riyadh’s cultural heritage with its future ambitions. Contributing to the city’s future development in line with the Saudi Vision 2030, the New Murabba masterplan is influenced by Riyadh’s original balance with nature, and its design is focused on a data driven approach to sustainability, user convenience, reduction in the need for transport, walkability and people centric design of its public realm.

The New MURABBA, Riyadh’s modern downtown, masterplanned by ATKINSRÉALIS.

In 2024, AtkinsRéalis is expanding its architecture business by appointing seasoned talents from around the world. The company’s architecture studio will be focussed on high-profile competitions embedding the concept of “Feel Crafting”, a vision that aims to create detailed, crafted and unique solutions for each project, focusing on understanding the client’s vision and helping bring it to life, through the use of worldbuilding tools such as advanced simulations, virtual reality and generative AI architectural designs. In addition, AtkinsRéalis will complete all stages of design on previous architecture competition wins such as The Royal Diriyah Equestrian and Polo Club, and its ongoing development of all architectural assets within the New Murabba and Mukaab project.

Last year, the design and architecture industry witnessed the explosion of AI tools and workflows into the design processes of most architecture practices. AtkinsRéalis has been at the forefront of leading this trend by actively embedding AI tools within its creative process and everyday repertoire of design and representation techniques.

Another key trend which has been latent for decades now but has increased in importance in 2023 is the planning and design of architecture that is flexible and adaptive enough to guarantee future reuse and thus, mitigates the impact of construction on the environment. At AtkinsRéalis, future-proofing designs to allow for flexible adaptation and repurposing take centre stage and it’s a philosophy that is incorporated from the start in all its projects. 

In 2024, we expect a further refinement of design workflows utilizing AI tools. AtkinsRéalis’ architecture studio will also dig deeper into what makes architecture and master planning liveable and more attractive to humans. This requires designing from a smaller scale outwards to create new developments that are instantly loved by their users. As we grow the company’s talent pool, we are looking at different complementary skill sets and areas of specialism to help us expand the richness of the architectural products we create. 

“We believe that we are at a pivotal point in the region, where the Middle East is becoming a global example of how to improve wellbeing, cities’ resilience, and the human condition in this century. As designers of the built environment, we are taking our contribution to this ambition with the utmost professionalism, innovation and dedication to ensure the future is bright for the region, its people, and the world as a whole, shares Edward.