Biography:

Dara Towhidi is a partner with international experience at all stages of the design process across a broad spectrum of building types. He gained first-class honours degree in architecture in 1997 from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, completing his post graduate studies in 2000. His student work was nominated for the RIBA Bronze Medal and later featured in the Bartlett Book of Ideas, which showcased ten years of student work at the school. He relocated to Dubai in August 2015 to establish the practices local Dubai office. Here he has been involved in a number of projects in Dubai, including a winning design competition for a Creative Community and the masterplan of the Dubai Design District Residential Quarter. When in London, Dara was the partner in charge of the recently completed 420,000sqm Bund Finance Center in Shanghai, which was designed jointly with Heatherwick Studio. Occupying a prominent site on the Bund, the buildings define the 'end point' to Shanghai's most famous street. Between 2005 and 2011 Dara was based in the UAE, where he oversaw construction of the Index tower in Dubai, an 80-storey 360,000sqm mixed-use project, awarded the CTBUH Best Tall Building in the Middle East & Africa in 2011. He later worked on the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, leading the architecture and engineering teams based in Abu Dhabi. The museum will be the centrepiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District and will showcase the history, culture and social and economic transformation of the Emirates. After joining Foster + Partners following his graduation, Dara initially working on the Tower Place office building in London. In 2001, he joined the team developing an arts complex in Japan incorporating a private house, museum and offices. He was initially engaged in the design and latterly moved to Japan to oversee construction, returning to London in September 2004. He was made an associate partner in 2007 and partner in 2009.

Biography:

Samantha is the Executive Director of Design for the Royal Commission for AlUla. She is a professional architect, urbanist and master planner with 25 years’ experience on large scale international projects, including 20 years in design leadership roles for the development and delivery of major projects and events worldwide. Samantha received a Bachelor Degree in Architecture with Honours from Melbourne University and moved to Milan to work in the high-profile architectural practices of Gregotti Associati and subsequently Mario Bellini Associati. In 2001, Samantha moved to Greece as Senior Architect for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In 2005, she was headhunted for the role of Head of Design for the Doha 2006 Asian Games. She has since been based in the Arabian Gulf from where she has worked on major projects in the MENASAI region, eventually setting up her own sport design consultancy, DESIGNSPORT, which has won major architectural design competitions and contracts in India, Ethiopia, Qatar, Vietnam, UAE. Samantha is currently the Chair of International Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects and a member of the Venice Biennale 2020 Architecture Committee for the Australian Pavilion and Advisor to the Australia Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai.

Biography:

Darryl serves as the Executive Director of the Design Division for KEO International Consultants and is based in Dubai. He has 32 years of international and domestic US commercial urban mixed-use design leadership and project management experience with an acute understanding of development, design and operations across multiple sectors and regions. Darryl works with closely with his clients and design teams to lead projects through a coordinated process that ensure the delivered solutions clearly reflect the client's goals and vision in a manner that supports the communities being served. Prior to joining KEO, Darryl was the Hong Kong Office Director for CallisonRTKL Asia Limited and his focus during this tenure was primarily project management and design studio leadership with an emphasis on client and team development through the entire design process. Darryl originally joined CallisonRTKL in 2003 with multiple roles during his time with them. Darryl worked for several other US based design firms prior to CallisonRTKL and brings a wealth of related skills including marketing and BD, contract negotiation, team building, training, and financial analysis.

Biography:

A multi-disciplinary subject-matter expert and one of the few professionals in the Digital Transformation field who has a strong technical experience of BIM and is mastering the full-stack application development at the same time. M.S. joined Atkins Middle East and Africa, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group in Canada, as the Data Science Manager. In the middle of the pace of technology there was a necessity for him to start looking at applying new techniques like Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make use of the capacity of the machines to help in solving design issues and provide optimum designs. Previously working for Engineering Consultants Group (ECG) in Egypt as the head of BIM R&D, he started up the BIM implementation and automation. Besides he has a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Systems Engineering, he is a LEED GA certified, Autodesk Expert Elite, Microsoft certified applications developer and Autodesk Authorized Developer.

Biography:

Daniel has been a pioneer with HTC and VIVE with different consumer electronics products from smartphones to Virtual Reality headsets, to 5G. Daniel has been supporting enterprises to integrate XR from identification to implementing of both hardware and software solutions to improve businesses and customers experience.