Out now: .Wonder Book W100 Arabia 2026

The second edition of .Wonder 100 Arabia is out now, a volume that puts a name and a face to the region's vibrant creative energy. The publication continues and expands upon the mapping initiated last year, showcasing 100 architecture and interior design studios. Our selection focused on designers with a tangible commitment to the region, demonstrated by both a physical presence – with studios based there – and projects realized within a cultural, rather than purely geographical, framework. This context spans the Arabian Peninsula and extends to centers of deep historical and creative influence, such as Lebanon and Egypt. Alongside them are 35 design companies that support professionals in their most ambitious residential, hospitality, and architectural projects. New this year is the inclusion of key players from the retail and distribution sectors: invaluable voices who have known the market for decades and remain essential reference points for the design community.

The Design Behind Design

Design is a world in constant motion. In the Gulf, where new creative minds are emerging and the market is evolving with extraordinary energy, our role as a media platform is to observe, understand and tell the story of this transformation. Over the past months, it has been a pleasure to continue the journey we began with the first edition of .W100 Arabia: discovering new talents, exploring their stories, observing the projects set to shape the Gulf's major cities, strengthening relationships and realising how much more there is to celebrate. This is the philosophy that drives us: discover, engage, connect. Nurturing a design network where the quality of people, ideas and expertise matters just as much as the strength of the projects themselves. Because we don't simply want to tell the story of a community: we want to contribute to its growth. Alongside the 100 architecture and interior design studios are the thirty-five design companies that support professionals every day in their most ambitious residential, hospitality and architectural projects. This year, we have also chosen to broaden our perspective to include key players in retail and distribution: invaluable voices who have known the market for decades and remain essential points of reference for the design community. Listening to them means looking beyond the surface, understanding the dynamics and relationships that make every project possible. Because the beauty of design also lies in what happens behind the scenes. The Design Behind Design. An expression that shifts the focus from projects to people, from creations to connections, from the final result to everything that makes it possible. This is the spirit of this new edition: recognising talent, creating connections and giving a voice to those who, often away from the spotlight, help turn ideas into reality. And never forgetting that some of the most interesting stories are still waiting to be discovered. Enjoy the read!

New Ground

In curating this second edition of .Wonder 100 Arabia, our first methodological step was, once again, to deconstruct our perspective. We refused to frame the Middle East as an entity defined in relation to Europe, seeking instead to understand it on its own complex terms. This requires a cultural undertaking, an exercise of gaze that shifts the conversation’s center of gravity, opening up new geographies of thought and new forms of knowledge. It is from this renewed vantage point that we began to map the contemporary creative practices in the Gulf region. This volume was born precisely to give resonance to the conversations with architects, designers, and cultural figures who are charting unexpected trajectories, often beyond conventional narratives. The following pages give a name and a face to this creative ferment through a selection of 100 design practices, the result of research that continues and expands the mapping begun in last year’s inaugural edition of .Wonder 100 Arabia. Our selection focused on designers who demonstrate a tangible commitment to place, rooted in a physical presence in the region – where they have based their studios – and projects realized within a cultural, rather than merely geographical, perimeter that embraces the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and extends to centers of profound historical and creative influence, such as Lebanon and Egypt. These are, in our view, the pioneers who are truly shaping the region’s future sense of space with an authentic language: an architecture that, as Juan Roldan, Associate Professor at the American University of Sharjah, observes in his essay within these pages, ‘whispers’ rather than ‘shouts.’ It is a subtle and measured approach, one that draws its strength from a context understood as a stratification of historical memory, social practices, and artisanal intelligence. The challenge these designers are taking on lies precisely here: in bridging the gap between the architectural intelligence of a place – its fragility and immateriality – and the pressing demands of modern development. Navigating this delicate balance is a new generation of architects and designers who, free from the formulas of the past, are tracing their own way, writing the next chapter in the region’s architectural history. A dialogue whose outcome has yet to be built, and one we will follow with the greatest attention.