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Meridian°
MERIDIAN° ARCHITECTURE—Dubai · UAE
3 commissions open · 2026—Est. 1998
— Folio VIII Spring · MMXXVI
Dubai · UAE · Sheikh Zayed Rd +971 4 555 0124
— Featured · Elysian Spire · Dubai · 2025

Built different, built to last.

An architectural studio shaping civic, commercial and residential environments across the Middle East and beyond — since 1998.

Projects delivered
240+
Countries
19
In-house team
42
Awards
34
— RAIN DESIGN STUDIO · Editorial imagery
[ 01 ] About the studio

We design environments
that outlive their era — by treating architecture
as a long conversation between site, light, climate,
and the people who'll use it.

Naji al-Khalifa · Founding partner · 1998
Monumental contemporary concrete courtyard in Dubai, long colonnade, desert light
MERIDIAN° / Architecture
[ 02 ] Capabilities

Five integrated practices,
one studio.

From master-planning a new district to the joinery details of a private residence — we hold the whole project under one roof, from sketch to construction supervision.

[ 01 ]

Architectural design

Concept, schematic and construction documents for towers, civic buildings and pavilions.

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[ 02 ]

Interior spaces

Bespoke residential and commercial interiors — millwork, lighting and material selection in-house.

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[ 03 ]

Urban planning

Masterplans, zoning strategy, and civic-space proposals for emerging cities and reborn districts.

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[ 04 ]

Sustainable solutions

LEED and Estidama-certified passive systems for the desert century — shading, cooling, water reuse.

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[ 05 ]

Project delivery

End-to-end execution and on-site supervision. We stay until the keys are turned.

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[ 01 ] MIXED-USE TOWER — Elysian Spire · Dubai · 2025
— Selected work · 01 / 240

A 64-storey mixed-use tower
in central Dubai.

Two and a half years on site. Forty-eight storeys of residences over fourteen of office floors. The brief asked for a building that read as one block from the south, and as a stack of nine smaller volumes from the north.

The shading system on the south façade is calibrated to keep the courtyards in dappled shade year-round — even at the summer solstice, when the sun reaches the equator's overhead path.

Height
312m
Floors
64
Delivered
2025
— Selected work · 02 / 240

A cultural pavilion
in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter.

Three rammed-earth volumes around a sunken courtyard. The brief was simple: build a place where one could read in silence in the middle of the city.

The walls were poured on site from a mixture of red Riyadh earth and local lime. We expect them to outlive us by about three centuries.

Area
2,400 m²
Material
Rammed earth
Delivered
2024
[ 02 ] CULTURAL PAVILION — Solara Pavilion · Riyadh · 2024
[ 03 ] How we work

From sketch
to keys.

Four stages we never skip — refined across 28 years and 240 projects. You'll be in the room for every transition between them.

[ 01 / DISCOVERY ]
01

Listen first.

Site study, brief workshops, constraint mapping. We learn the climate, the codes and the client's life in equal measure — then build the brief from what we found, not what we assumed.

[ 02 / CONCEPT ]
02

Form follows context.

Schematic design, massing models, sun studies. We test ideas in card, plywood and digital twins — anything that makes the abstract decision visible before it's expensive.

[ 03 / COLLABORATION ]
03

Built together.

Iterative reviews with you, the engineers and the contractor. Decisions made in the room — not in email. Every Friday we ship something.

[ 04 / DELIVERY ]
04

Detail to dust.

Construction documents, on-site oversight, and a one-year defects walk-through. We close every project ourselves — no handoff to an unknown delivery team.

[ 04 ] Journals

Beyond the blueprint.

Essays, fieldnotes and conversations from the studio. Published quarterly in print and online — usually four months after we said we would.

UrbanismFebruary 2026

The quiet city: civic spaces after the boom.

10 min read →
— Get in touch

Have a site
in mind?

↓ studio@meridian.ae
A closer look / MERIDIAN°

Built around the way you live.

Bring the location, a rough brief and the questions that matter to you.

Discuss a site
Monumental contemporary concrete courtyard in Dubai, long colonnade, desert light
Architecture / A sense of place
From the first sketch

A considered path from idea to place.

01

Understand the site

Light, context, daily routines and the constraints of the property shape the brief.

02

Explore the possibilities

Review layouts, materials and priorities together before committing to a direction.

03

Resolve the details

Agree the scope, the next decisions and the responsibilities that carry the work forward.

Good to know

A few things
you might ask.

What should I bring to the first conversation?

A location, a few photographs and a sense of your priorities are a useful start. Drawings and surveys help when available.

Can we discuss an early-stage idea?

Yes. An initial brief can explore feasibility, priorities and the questions to resolve before a detailed design begins.

How are budgets and timelines established?

They depend on the site, scope and approvals. Request a project-specific proposal before making commitments.

The next step

Discuss a site.

Bring the location, a rough brief and the questions that matter to you.

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