Dar Arafa Architecture

تونس 🇹🇳

يسرّ المدرسة الوطنية للهندسة المعمارية والتعمير (ENAU) أن تستضيف المعماري المصري وليد عرفة الذي سيقدم مداخلة بعنوان: "باصونة – باريس : العمارة المصرية؟"
📅 التاريخ: الثلاثاء 14 أفريل 2026
🕙 التوقيت: الساعة 10:00 صباحًا
المكان: المدرج الصغير ENAU
الدعوة مفتوحة للطلبة، الباحثين، وكل المهتمين بالشأن المعماري.

L’Ecole Nationale d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme (ENAU) a le plaisir d’accueillir l’architecte égyptien Waleed Arafa dans le cadre d’une conférence.
Titre de la communication :
« Basouna – Paris : l’architecture égyptienne ? »
📅 Date : Mardi 14 avril 2026
🕙 Heure : 10h00
Lieu : Petit amphithéâtre – ENAU
La conférence est ouverte aux étudiants, enseignants, chercheurs et à toute personne intéressée.

Conception Affiche : Mohamed Yassine Ayeb

Project: La Maison d’Égypte, Paris, France
Typology: Student Housing
Detail: Main Entrance Portal
Date of Completion: 2019

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The main entrance portal of La Maison d’Égypte is positioned on the building’s east elevation, deliberately oriented towards the rising sun. This orientation carries contextual, functional and symbolic significance, referencing the sun as a source of knowledge and enlightenment, as well as Egypt’s cultural and geographical position in the east.

The perforated pattern is derived from a drawing depicting young girls learning to become scribes in the ancient Egyptian tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara, overlaid with an abstracted representation of the Nile stream flowing beneath, referencing the ways in which ancient Egyptians harnessed the river to enable the emergence of civilization.

This layered composition is further distilled through a papyrus-inspired geometry, forming a pattern applied to the non-operable portions of the door, alluding to papyrus as one of the earliest mediums for recording and preserving knowledge.

As sunlight strikes the east-facing façade, light filters through the perforations, modulating light and shadow across the entrance threshold.

Portal Design Team:
arafa78


The project is a collaborative effort between (Cairo) and SAM Architecture (Paris)

Photography:
Slides 6,7,8 and 9
Slides 4 and 10 .daniel

Project: La Maison d’Égypte, Paris, France
Typology: Student Housing
Detail: Exterior Façade Hieroglyphs + Interior Contemporary Glyphs
Date of Completion: 2019

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The hieroglyphs on the eastern facade of La Maison d’Égypte are the most obvious element out of six architectural elements meant to offer an interpretation of what Egyptian architecture in Paris may be.

The hieroglyphs are intentionally selected, from ancient introductory texts that were taught to young students in ancient Egypt, emphasizing the responsibility, honor and power of knowledge and the etiquette of seeking knowledge. Integrated into the façade, these glyphs transform the building envelope into a cultural and intellectual statement, linking Egypt’s historical legacy to its contemporary educational outlook in Paris, presented both to its own students and global students alike.

For Arabic, English and French translations of these ancient texts:
Scan the QR code in the post/
https://shorturl.at/i0tqx

Moving into the interior, a different approach is taken. Selected ancient hieroglyphs linked to ideas of activity and variety are re-interpreted into contemporary glyphs that only read as abstractions when seen up close, reflecting the range of faculties through a student’s perspective. The main graphic element, an abstracted “L,” comes from the subtle L-shaped window edge on the façade and is brought inside as the house logo and core graphic language, tying the interior back to the exterior.

Team:
arafa78



The project is a collaborative effort between (Cairo) and SAM Architecture (Paris)

Photography:

Project: S.H Private Resort, Al-Muzahmiyya, Saudi Arabia
Typology: Hospitality Private Residence
Scope: Masterplanning, Architectural Design, and Interior Design
Status: Under Construction

A private hospitality residence in Al-Muzahmiyya, 40 km southwest of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, designed as a luxurious retreat that engages the site’s natural topography across a 44,000 m² landscape. The main building sits at the highest point, organized into two private wings connected by a central hospitality space.
The masterplan also features a guest house, horse stables, tennis and football courts, a workers’ building, and a gym.

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المشروع: منتجع S.H الخاص، المزاحمية، المملكة العربية السعودية
النوع: منزل و دار ضيافة خاص
النطاق: التخطيط العام، التصميم المعماري، والتصميم الداخلي
الحالة: قيد التنفيذ

المشروع منزل ودار ضيافة في منطقة المزاحمية على بعد 40 كم جنوب غرب الرياض في المملكة العربية السعودية. تم تصميمه كملاذ خاص متكامل ينتفع من التضاريس الفريدة لموقع مساحته ٤٤،٠٠٠ م². يتميز بتفاوتات مثيرة في مناسيبه.

يتضمن المخطط العام مجلسًا للرجال، وإسطبلات للخيول، وملاعب تنس وكرة قدم، ومبنى للعمال، وصالة رياضية، ودار ضيافة.

Team:
Lead Architect: .arafa78
Architect: / Masterplanning + Architectural Design + Interior Design + Project Coordination + BIM Modeling + Visualization and Modeling + Working Drawings
Architect: .hassan.alghannam / BIM Coordination
Architect: / Working Drawings
Architect: / Working Drawings
Architect: / Architectural Design Details + Interior Design

Project: S.H Private Resort, Al-Muzahmiyya, Saudi Arabia
Typology: Hospitality Private Residence
Scope: Masterplanning, Architectural Design, and Interior Design
Status: Under Construction

Strategically located within the most secluded plot of the site’s topography, the Gentlemen’s Guesthouse stands as the hospitality building, accommodating the client’s guests alongside his office space.

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المشروع: منتجع S.H الخاص، المزاحمية، المملكة العربية السعودية
النوع: منزل و دار ضيافة خاص
النطاق: التخطيط العام، التصميم المعماري، والتصميم الداخلي
الحالة: قيد التنفيذ

تم اختيار موقع مضيفة الرجال في أكثر منطقة معزولة بصريًا بفضل التضاريس، حيث تستضيف ضيوف المالك وتضم أيضًا مكتبه الخاص.

Team:
Lead Architect: .arafa78
Lead Architect:
Architect: / Interior Design
Architect: / Architectural Design

الخميس الساعة الواحدة ظهرا بإذن الله

Join us for an inspiring panel discussion organized by the Conferences Committee, the Department of Urban Design and Planning, and Salon El Shams (صالون الشمس):

The Becoming of a Brick: Architecture in Process | صيرورة طوبة: العمارة في أطوار التكون.

We are honored to welcome Waleed Arafa, Founder and Principal of Dar Arafa Architecture, an award-winning Egyptian architect whose work bridges design, construction, heritage, and research.
He will be joined by Haidy Wael, Partner and Senior Architect at Dar Arafa Architecture; Lamis Essam, BIM Architect and LEED Green Associate; and Mariam Helmy, Senior Technical Consultant and Building Performance & Simulation Specialist, bringing perspectives across architecture, BIM, environmental performance, and technical consultancy.
This event is proudly sponsored by Oekoplan Engineering Consultations.

📅 Thursday, 2 April 2026
🕐 1:00 PM
📍 Seminar Hall, 2nd Floor, Library Building
We look forward to seeing you there.

For Registration :

https://forms.gle/UK5LCfoqVfeb83pNA

Kazazian Siwa Hotel -
Under Construction - 2025
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Kazazian Siwa Hotel is a luxury hospitality landmark crafted by the experience creators at . Set within Egypt’s vast Western Desert, Kazazian Siwa Hotel offers an immersive escape overlooking the breathtaking Siwa Oasis. The design draws inspiration from the surrounding dunes, ancient rock formations and the region’s natural beauty. The architecture rises from the landscape with ease, blending refined comfort with authentic desert serenity.

The design employs a hybrid structural system combining load-bearing, locally sourced stone walls with a jack-arch ceiling structure. This construction approach delivers an environmentally conscious solution that naturally enhances thermal comfort in the desert climate, while ensuring long-term durability, low maintenance requirements and overall cost efficiency.

Guests can enjoy a curated range of wellness experiences, desert excursions and culturally rooted activities. Each experience is crafted to reveal the spirit of Siwa. Visitors may retreat to private suites shaped by natural terrain abd enjoy the bespoke cuisine inspired by local flavors.

Project team:
daniel


Photographs by: .daniel
Full project on our website

Conference Series 2025 “Contemporary Religious Architecture in the Mediterranean World”

Waleed Arafa Hassan

Basuna Mosque - Egypt

Egyptian architect Waleed Arafa Hassan will be the eleventh speaker in the conference series“Contemporary Religious Architecture in the Mediterranean World” The event is co-organized by the Dominican Studies Institute-Istanbul (Dost-I) and Assoc Prof. Dr. Erhan Berat Fındıklı, project manager from the Department of Sociology at Istanbul Medeniyet University with support from Depo Pergamon, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, and the Network of Centers for Christian-Muslim Relations (NCCMR).
Arafa will be talking about his project, Basuna funerary Mosque constructed in 2019 in Sobah in upper Egypt.

Waleed Arafa Hassan sought to combine the contemporary architectural language with vernacular references in his project and located it to the urban context. Hassan designed this mosque not only as place of worship but also as a multipurpose communal space for the dwellers of the neighbourhood. He reinterpreted traditional forms such as, dome, minaret, altar and pulpit with a contemporary and innovative language of design. Ultimately, his project evolved into a work of art that engages in dialogue with the surrounding urban fabric and cemetery.

Speaker: Waleed Arafa Hassan
Language: English + Turkish simultaneous translation
Where: Sen Piyer Kilisesi, Galata Kulesi sk. 26, Beyoğlu
When: 5 December at 7:30 pm

Free Entry

نقطة الأصل.

في ذكرى رحيل المعماري الكبير طارق نجا
حوار مع تلميذه المعماري المتميز وليد عرفه
رابط الحلقة في أول تعليق

Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 6:00PM Oriental Hall, AUC