What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

RiadArchitecture

Home
Egypt
Cairo
RiadArchitecture

Architecture and City Planning firm

RiadArchitecture was founded in 1933 under the name and supervision of the late architect and former head of the Cairo Municipality, Mahmoud Riad (1905-1979), who was recognized as one of the pioneers of Egyptian Architecture by King Farouk, President Ga- mal Abd el Nasser, and President Anwar el Sadat. The practice were later run by his sons, Ahmed Riad (1939-2007) and Mohamed Riad (1942-); and h

is grandsons, former Zaha Hadid Architects employee Mahmoud M Riad (1983-) and Khaled Riad (1988-) who form the second and third generation of architects respectively.

2 Gawad Hosny Street, Suite 7
Downtown Cairo, Egypt

Please Follow us on Twitter

12/03/2026

Earlier in the week, we shared a business park we designed in Riyadh showcasing how we worked with a double skin facade to combat the harsh sun rays to eliminate heat gain …. But, that’s a lot of work and money being spent on a facade. For another business park client (also in ) , we were able to convince them to minimize glazing to the bare essentials, and allow us to be more playful with the solid planes and surfaces creating this type facade - especially with the overlapping planes and geometries - which we are showcasing today!

Design team and

08/03/2026

There is this interesting discussion in the architectural communities today about placing objects that seem “futuristic” in Neo Classical spaces - with many being against this practice calling it “inappropriate”. This line of thought always seems alien to us, as the architects of the Renaissance, Baroque and later Rococo periods have always been fascinated with curves and fluidity in form. When our current team leader, M M M Riad, was working at in the early 2010s, he learnt that fluidity in complex forms can be utilised in neoclassical spaces as accent pieces, and they often work in harmony with their surroundings rather than compete against them as some would argue.

In many of ‘s early Gen 3 work of the latter half of the 2010s, this idea was experimented on frequently when designed accent elements as entrances, gates, and canopies for neoclassical architecture … this project in particular revisits this energy in 2024, as the brief called for a sculptural piece to be placed in the courtyard space of the , as well as a bench and canopy … well, why have three items when all of these requirements can blend into one transitional object that mirrors the symmetry of the surrounding context?

Design team &

07/03/2026

Ever since designing - we have consulted on a lot of the typology in Egypt and the gulf; particularly in Saudi Arabia. The idea is novel, where people can meet and mingle with the square / courtyard (especially if there is a ground level retail component), but the challenge is always the same : sun protection.

Ever since the migration of many multi national companies to the Middle East in the early 21st century, the international architectural post WW2 corporate style came with it. The idea predicated on the concept of transparency, where businesses are always visible and accountable in the public eye.

This concept did not take into account climates with overbearing sun exposure and heat - and thus a new design element has been introduced: the sun screen. Some developers understand the importance for such an added design item, many don’t… thus the challenge to convince why essentially creating two facades skins would be better for the client in the long run.

This particular project was designed for a developer in Riyadh - a G+3 business park on a 20,000m2 plot of land. This particular skin plays with the earthy tones of wood composite panels on the lower floors and white aluminium screens on the upper floors to hide and house the catwalk for facade cleaning as well as providing the necessary sun protection. The material and color scheme was selected to bring an earthy feel and blend with the courtyard landscape to give a biophilic feel.

Design team &

23/02/2026

Continuing our conversation over the past few days over the use of courtyards in our prototypes - today we are posting about why we believe courtyards are important in housing prototypes and strategies. Especially when designing for rural or low income communities, the courtyard here becomes a handy design tool; if we are to utilize this outdoor space as the main living space, it reduces the area needed for enclosed living areas. The courtyard becomes the heart and semi private zone of the house, where all enclosed spaces are used primarily for more private areas like the bedrooms.

Furthermore, by clustering a number of dwelling together for the family, this outdoor living room can be actually shared by all units together, creating a small mini community. We believe such ideas and typologies should be further studied and embraced going forward in today’s affordable housing solutions.

Design team &

22/02/2026

In July of 2025, we entered a competition to design a housing and mosque prototype for lower income rural communities. We paused here. In real estate terms, area = money (thank you captain obvious), so if we are to build for lower income communities and focusing on affordability, then we need to ensure that we are area efficient (and as tight as possible … so what if we cram them and push the limits of what is humane?) …. Seemed like too much of a numbers than design game for us.

But then we started thinking, are we REALLY being area efficient? Are we truly designing ensuring that every cm2 of the plot is being used? If we are to design on 40-60% of the plot, and place the actual built area in the middle, what are we doing with the remaining 60-40%? This got us thinking back to vernacular and traditional architecture, that utilised the courtyard and open spaces as integral elements to the house / architecture as opposed to leftover “let’s plant a few trees and make it look pretty” space. Which is why that we as a design team ensured that the design of both our prototypes (housing and mosque) needed to treat this courtyard as the natural extension to the space, where all living and life happens. Yesterday we posted our proposal for the mosque, tomorrow we will post the housing units, and today we post a short video we compiled that connects both and celebrates life in courtyards

Design by & video by

21/02/2026

We are designing a small mosque, is a courtyard important? Of course it is! But it’s taking too much space! We believe that courtyards are an integral component to any mosque; it serves as a transitional zone between the outside world and the spiritual zone. In most historic mosques, the courtyard has this magical ability to block out the hustle and bustle of the surrounding street life and only bring in the effervescent sounds of nature: birdsong, waterflow , and echos of the breeze.

Last year, our team designed a mosque prototype for underprivileged communities in the GCC. Our concept was to celebrate the courtyard, creating an intimate enclosure that connects to the heavens through the sky, proving that it are these small nuances to design that economics are trying to cut out is what makes the difference to architecture designed for humanity . Design team &

07/01/2026

We feel sorry for all those born on the 1st of January - their birthdays get drowned out with all the new years celebrations!!! After our new years break, we found out that we missed our brother ‘s birthday - so join us in wishing him a happy belated birthday! Ahmed joined our team two years ago as part of our on site supervision force and has been working with us on the Arab League Extension project as well as Ivory Business Park

20/12/2025

Part 2 of our documentary story of the beginnings of and , exploring his time at the Egyptian ministry of Wakfs (which we are still researching and discovering more everyday, will need to go deeper in a separate post altogether), meeting his first benefactor Hafiz Afifi Pasha, and the establishment of his office in 1934. We are able to bring his designs in the 1930s to life, imagining what it could have looked like (as many of these structures have since been demolished with no credible photos surviving). In the next few weeks we will be continuing our story by showcasing our work in the 1940s and the beginning of our golden era (mid 1940s to early 1960s)

11/12/2025

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the passing of our founder Mahmoud Riad - who died at age 74 in 1979. We celebrate his memory by launching the first episode of a series of short videos that document his life journey and complete works! Well… complete as we know it as we keep discovering more as we dig into our archives. While some of his works have been unrealized and/or demolished without proper photo documentation of the original monument, we have been making use of AI rendering platforms to give us a glimpse of what could have been! So join us as we figure out the story of our inception through the life of our founder; this week we take a look at his life prior to establishing our practice - where he studied, what firm he worked in before … etc - and next week we will get to show all the projects he designed at in the 1930s

29/11/2025

Don’t you just dread the day your car needs major service?
You drive all the way to the edge of the city, leave your car in a heavy industrial zone, and spend hours just… waiting.

What if that trip actually felt worth looking forward to?

That’s the idea behind Al Kamal Industrial Zone in Jeddah – a light industrial development that treats the service area like a destination, not a punishment. Who says industrial zones have to be stiff and mechanical? We’ve worked to inject leisure, greenery, F&B and social spaces so visitors can stay occupied and engaged while their cars are being serviced.

Last week, we launched the project at Cityscape Global in Riyadh.
Developed by AlKamal for Urban Development, the 80-acre site in Jeddah’s industrial area brings together:
• Light industrial units & automobile service bays
• Retail and F&B
• Car dealerships and exhibition spaces
• Office space and staff residences
• Generous parks and leisure areas woven through the masterplan

We’d love for you to take a look at the video we put together for the launch – visuals and original music, composed in-house for this project.

24/11/2025

Last Friday was the birthday of our resident ray of sunshine join us in wishing her a happy belated birthday and putting this year’s Scorpio season to a close :D

Address

Cairo

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+201064922067

Website

http://www.riadarchitecture.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when RiadArchitecture posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to RiadArchitecture:

Shortcuts

Address
Telephone
Opening Hours
Alerts
Contact The Organization
Claim ownership or report listing

Want your organization to be the top-listed Government Service in Cairo?