Syn Architects in Saudi Arabia makes it into the Wallpaper* Architects’ Listing 2026, our newest annual round-up of thrilling rising structure studios.
Who: Syn Architects
Specializing in ecologically delicate architectural design, Syn Architects was based in 2018 by Saudi architects Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi. The inventive duo seems to be to create buildings which can be contextually conscious. Every undertaking’s aesthetics are extracted from nature, and specific the fantastic thing about the place every materials is discovered.
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
Whereas working to create progressive designs that contribute to the collective city surroundings, Alissa and Alsudairi have additionally established the Um Slaim collective, a crucial investigation into the displacement of vernacular Najdi structure in central Riyadh. They’re additionally the co-founders of saudirchitecture.org, an unbiased organisation that goals to analysis and archive modernist and post-modernist buildings in Saudi Arabia.
‘We’re interested in how individuals stay and the way house can quietly form on a regular basis life,’ share Alissa and Alsudairi. ‘We’re motivated by the concept areas shouldn’t solely carry out effectively, but additionally create a way of ambiance and belonging.’ Collectively, they look at a spot, the individuals and local weather, and let these situations inform the design, they clarify: ‘This course of permits us to create areas that really feel considerate, contextual and quietly distinctive.’
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
What makes their work stand out is the understanding {that a} undertaking will evolve primarily based on its cultural, environmental, and materials contexts. By not imposing a predetermined type, they create areas that really feel rooted and timeless.
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
What: Mission Orion
In Najd, the central a part of Saudi Arabia, conventional homes are constructed from mudbricks, whereas the roofs and doorways are created from tamarisk wooden. Utilizing this as inspiration, Syn Architects created Mission Orion. Fairly than a single residence, the undertaking includes three villas and is a recent response to conventional structure.
Positioned in Alkhozama, Riyadh, the residences embody spatial values, utilizing privateness because the driving issue to form how the houses are inhabited. Consequently, the initiatives showcase how openness, gentle, and out of doors residing can coexist with seclusion.
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
Three major volumes have been fastidiously located to permit pure gentle all through the interiors, whereas balancing selective views. The complicated’s limestone facade highlights its fortress-like silhouette, which merges into the panorama.
Say the architects: ‘We try to problem the architectural course of by discovering different approaches to creating environments which can be combined, inclusive, and accessible, the place completely different individuals can get collectively.’
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
Why: Architects Listing 2026
When the Wallpaper* Architects’ Listing was conceived in 2000, it was constructed as our bespoke worldwide index of rising architectural expertise. Now in its twenty fifth version, our annual itemizing of promising practices from throughout the globe (now comprising over 500 alumni) champions the most effective and most promising younger studios – a snapshot of expertise showcasing inspiring work from all corners of the Earth with an emphasis on the residential realm.
This yr’s anniversary survey consists of 30 younger studios (one for every of the 30 years of Wallpaper*), from Australia, Bahrain, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, France, Ivory Coast, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, India, Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam. Welcome to the promise, concepts and thrilling structure of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Listing 2026.
(Picture credit score: Hassan Alshatti)
One of many undertaking’s key adaptive and contextual options is its recessed balconies. As a substitute of the everyday jutting-outwards kind these options often take, right here, terraces are carved into the mass of the constructing, offering each privateness and shade. Balancing a way of cool sturdiness, in addition to a play of shadow and light-weight, Mission Orion feels deeply rooted in place whereas additionally providing a recent aptitude to town’s panorama.
