Studio
About MEAN*
MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network) is an experimental architecture practice that tests emerging technologies in pavilions, interiors and objects.
Founded in 2016, MEAN* has pursued a body of work that spans pavilions, public buildings, interiors, retail environments and experimental products. Across these scales, the practice works toward a contemporary architectural language for the Middle East that starts from the particulars of each site.
MEAN* uses computation, material research and digital fabrication to change how buildings are designed and made, as in a pavilion printed from recycled plastic or housing a family can extend.
Its recognitions include the AD Middle East Design Award 2020 for Innovation & Sustainability and ArchDaily’s Best New Practices 2024.
MEAN* designs to keep the memory and ecology of a place: its climate, its materials and the customs of the people who live there.
عن مين*
مين* (شبكة الشرق الأوسط للعمارة) ممارسة معمارية تجريبية تختبر التقنيات الناشئة في الأجنحة والتصاميم الداخلية والقطع التصميمية.
منذ تأسيسها عام ٢٠١٦، راكمت مين* أعمالاً تتنوّع بين الأجنحة والمباني العامة والتصاميم الداخلية وفضاءات التجزئة والمنتجات التجريبية. وعلى اختلاف مقاييسها، تسعى الممارسة إلى لغة معمارية معاصرة للشرق الأوسط تنطلق من خصوصية كل موقع.
وتوظّف مين* الحوسبة والبحث في المواد والتصنيع الرقمي لتغيير الطريقة التي تُصمَّم بها المباني وتُشيَّد، كما في جناحٍ مطبوع من البلاستيك المعاد تدويره، أو مسكنٍ تستطيع العائلة توسعته.
ونالت الممارسة جائزة AD Middle East للتصميم لعام ٢٠٢٠ عن فئة الابتكار والاستدامة، واختارتها ArchDaily ضمن قائمة Best New Practices لعام ٢٠٢٤.
تصمّم مين* لتحفظ ذاكرة المكان ومنظومته البيئية: مناخه وموادّه وعادات أهله.
Founding Principal
Riyad Joucka is an architect and researcher based in Dubai. In 2016 he founded MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network), a design practice that integrates emerging technologies with the cultural and environmental narratives of the places in which it operates. Alongside leading MEAN*, he is the inaugural Research Fellow in Practice at the Zayed Institute for Architecture, Heritage and Arts at Zayed University, Dubai. His research, The Adaptive Majlis, explores the evolution of the majlis through technology, modular design, vernacular intelligence and material innovation.
His work expands the boundaries of how we build, envisioning architecture that is both technologically forward and culturally grounded. From small-scale objects to landmark proposals, his projects have been exhibited and published internationally. At the heart of his approach lies a belief that architecture should be accessible, expressive and connected to place, whether designing a pavilion, a home or an entire neighborhood. At TED in Dubai in 2025, he argued that a home should be designed around the people who live in it rather than the market. He holds a Master of Architecture with distinction from the Emergent Technologies and Design (EmTech) program at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.
Talks
TED, Dubai, 2025: Reimagining Traditional Architecture for Modern Needs
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, 2025: The Rise of AI in Creative Industries (panel)
SIGraDi 2026, Santiago, Chile: Adaptive Majlis, From Gulf Typology to Reef Substrate (paper, accepted)
Al Burda Festival, Abu Dhabi, 2018 (talk)
Dubai Future Foundation, Dubai, 2018: Pioneer Series (talk)
Selected Press
Elle Decor Italia, 2026: Corpo e spazio
AD España, 2026: Qué ver en Barcelona…
AD Middle East, 2026: AD100, The Debuts
FRAME, 2026: This Dubai flagship centres the MMA community…
ArchDaily, 2026: Send Location Flagship Store
Commercial Interior Design, 2025: Retail knockout
Education
Architectural Association School of Architecture, London: MArch, Emergent Technologies and Design, with distinction
Carleton University, Ottawa: BArch
Collaborators
Youssef Essam
Youssef is an architectural designer with a Master’s in Parametric Design who focuses on lightweight structures, material optimization and 3D printing for complex geometries, working in Rhino and Grasshopper from concept to fabrication.
2026
Srushti Ukidve
Srushti is an architectural designer based in Dubai who designs spaces around the people who use them. Outside architecture, she cooks, DJs and sketches.
2024–2026
Ahmed Wesam
Ahmed is an architectural designer who works on both design and project management, following projects from the first concept to construction on site.
2024–2026
Sushrut Shankar
Sushrut is an architectural designer specializing in computational design and urban-scale research. At MEAN*, he worked on competition entries, commercial interiors and research projects, using parametric design and digital fabrication.
2024–2025
Omar Allabban
Omar is an architect and designer interested in how culture and technology shape the experience of space. He uses storytelling in architecture and interiors and draws on computational design and material research.
2023–2024
Taimaa Barakat
Taimaa is an architect and project coordinator.
2023–2024
Dheyaa Dheyaa
Dheyaa is an architect and designer. His work draws on philosophy and art as much as on technology, and on his multicultural background.
2022–2023
Joan D’Silva
Joan is a researcher, maker and designer who graduated from the American University of Sharjah with Latin honors. She studies how materials behave and how things are made, and has worked on cultural and residential projects and research-led design studies. Her work has been shown at Dubai Design Week and in the exhibition A Worm’s-Eye View: Towards an Architecture, and she was Highly Commended in Architecture and Design at the Global Undergraduate Awards 2024.
2023
Gaston Sanchez Sarmiento
Gaston is an industrial designer and programmer who works in computational design and scripting.
2022–2023
Subhadeep Sarkar
Subhadeep is an architectural designer with experience across residential, commercial and interior projects in India and the UAE, interested in design visualization and in using AI tools in architectural work.
2022–2023
Joseph Matthew
Joseph worked with MEAN* in 2021. His interests include digital twins, semantic models of buildings, data interoperability and applications of large language models.
2021
Wael Nasrallah
Wael is a senior digital designer in architecture, landscape and façade design. He builds the computational and BIM workflows that take large projects in the Middle East and elsewhere from design to construction.
2018–2022
Stephenie Moukarzel
Stephenie is an architect trained in computational architecture, interested in how design and technology affect a building’s environmental performance and in the context and spatial experience of each project.
2018
Yara Manla
Yara is an architect and designer trained in computational architecture. Her work combines digital fabrication with close attention to context and spatial experience.
2018
Mengyi Fan
Mengyi is a Shanghai-born, New York-based architectural designer and visual artist. Her roles have included Director of Visualization at SHoP Architects and co-organizer of 3DNY, a networking series for the 3D and XR community.
2016–2017
Michael Pryor
Michael is a designer working in computational design and digital fabrication. His work spans architecture, product design and virtual environments, and he also teaches.
2016–2017