Cairo's Miro Architects Showcase Versatility Across the MENA Region

Free-flowing interiors, coherent colour schemes that have a character and dynamic, eye-catching facades are the fundamentals every property owner seeks when procuring the services of a designer. Whether it’s residential or commercial. Miro Architects, an award winning architectural design studio based in Cairo, checks those boxes and with prowess. They’ve been delivering these essentials across the MENA region, from glamorous private residences in Dubai to an entire complex for textile manufacturers in Amman.

“We do our best to bring every client’s dream home to reality,” Mohamed Hazem - founder of Miro Architects - says, referring to his studio’s renovation of the ‘Lalu Residence’ at Dubai’s Emirates Heights. “Designing this residence came with its own set of challenges to maintain a sense of individuality.” Specifically, the homeowners wanted to revamp the home while still maintaining elements of its pre-existing atmosphere.

“Every project is approached with the same fundamentals, visiting and inspecting the site and planning the design with respect to the client’s demands,” Hazem continues. “The residence had existing Jordanian marble throughout its walls, which we decided to complement by adding contrasting colours to make it stand out even more.”

Most of the spaces throughout the residence were dominated by wood, dictating Miro Architects’ choice of materials by using stone to intensify its natural beauty. To make the spaces feel more ‘zen’, the designers relied on water elements to set a relaxed atmosphere. “There’s also a music studio for the homeowners to host friends and share with them their passion for music,” Hazem adds.

While in Dubai, Miro Architects took on the design of textile manufacturers Alpine Creations’ headquarters. “We were asked to redesign the exterior and interior of the pre-existing structure,” Hazem explains. On the outside, the designers combined several contradicting aesthetics, such as a black and white colour scheme softened by a green wall and oriented by the hard edges of Alucobond’s rear-ventilated façade louvres. “We aimed to envelope the office building with greenery from the fence to the walls to form an uplifting atmosphere.”

Across the Arabian Peninsula, Miro Architects provided design services to yet another textile manufacturer, United Creations, for their business complex in Amman, Jordan, which includes six industrial sized buildings. “The main focus of the business complex circulates around the manufacturing of clothing for some of the biggest brands in the world,” Hazem says. Those brands include the likes of Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch and Nike, so there was no space to do things by half here.

“The design took inspiration from the functions within textile factories, symbolised in the steel frame that surrounds the building alongside vertical louvres that mimic the motion of knitting,” Hazem explains. The first phase of the project includes the factory hall, VIP lounge, showroom and innovation centre. “The idea behind this factory was to connect the outdoors and the indoors using glass walls in specific areas such as the innovation centre and the lounge.” These see-through walls made stunning areas in the interior such as the showroom open and linked to the exterior, further making the work environment there more creativity inducing.