Architecture firm · Riyadh
Architecture in Riyadh. Exceptional projects for a city under transformation.
We design buildings and master plans that perform commercially and are imbued with meaning.
Your Riyadh project deserves both international design standards and a team that knows how to deliver in the Kingdom. We provide architecture that is commercially grounded, culturally considered, and designed to serve the people who will use it now and for decades into the future.
What we do
Architectural services for Riyadh clients
Every commission starts with the same question: what does success look like for you? Here is how we work across the main typologies Riyadh demands.
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Commercial and mixed-use
We build spaces where people want to do business. Places that not only become part of how the city works, but which frame the conversation. We put the “integrated” into integrated development.
Read more →Residential
We create homes where people genuinely want to live and where families thrive. The kind of address that holds its meaning long after the keys are handed over.
Hospitality
We design hotels and resorts which are sought after. Places that earn their reputation through the experience of being in them.
Office
We deliver workplaces where your team performs and your brand is given wings. The right spaces change how people think about the work they do. The right spaces are transformative.
Read more →
Master planning
We shape developments that are intuitive and make sense from the outset. Frameworks that lend character before the first building breaks ground.
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Lead Consultancy
We manage your project end-to-end, from brief to handover. So the building you commission is the building you receive.
Our work
Our work in Riyadh and across Saudi Arabia
Our track record spans commercial towers, residential developments, and landmark projects across the GCC, delivered at the scale and pace the region demands.
Explore architecture services in Saudi Arabia →
NJD's Heart Tower, Riyadh
A large-scale tower commission demonstrating our capacity to resolve structural ambition, programmatic complexity, and urban context at the highest level of brief.
Al Sharq Office Tower, Kuwait
An award-winning commercial high-rise in Kuwait City, recognised with the Best High Rise Architecture Award at the Arabian Property Awards and selected for a MIPIM Future Projects Award. A benchmark project for commercial tower design in the GCC.
Dubai Residences
A high-end residential commission in Dubai, delivered in 2024, demonstrating our current capability across the Gulf's most demanding residential typologies.
Place
Designing for Riyadh
Great architecture is inseparable from the place where it stands. Climate, culture, and the Kingdom's regulatory environment shape every commission from the ground up. We engage with all three from the first line of the brief.
| A city that demands performance | Summers above 45°C, persistent dust, and an unforgiving sun define what a building must do before it does anything else. We design from first principles, taking into account orientation, shading, material selection, and thermal performance, so that high-performance solutions are baked into the concept. A Riyadh building that performs brilliantly is one designed with Riyadh in mind. |
| A country with its own rules | Saudi Arabia has a rigorous regulatory environment, and we know how to work within it. We design in accordance with the Saudi Building Code, engage with Mostadam certification where it applies, and manage in-country approvals. Where a local architect of record is required, we handle it. |
| A culture worth knowing | Khaleeji, Hijazi and Najdi design traditions carry embedded intelligence about how people in the region live, work, and gather: privacy in the home, spatial hierarchy in commercial settings, architecture that reflects a sense of pride in place. We bring this understanding to every Riyadh commission. |
Sustainability
Sustainability certifications
We align with international sustainability standards on every project, whether or not formal certification is required by the client brief.
WELL · building standard focused on occupant health and wellbeing through air quality, lighting, acoustics, thermal comfort, and materials.
LEED · international green building certification applicable across base-build and fit-out projects.
Mostadam · Saudi Arabia's national green building rating system.
Proof
Why clients trust us
- 30 years of GCC and international experience
- 34 projects delivered across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and beyond
- MIPIM Future Projects Award, Office category
- RIBA-chartered practice
Process
How we work
We follow a clear, collaborative process from the first conversation to the final handover. No stage is delegated away; the principal team stays on your project throughout.
Discovery. We start by listening. A meeting or series of meetings to understand your brief, your constraints, and what success looks like for you and the people your project will serve.
Concept and design. We develop design concepts in close collaboration with you, working through agreed stages from Concept Design through to Detailed Design and Construction Documentation. You sign off at the conclusion of each stage.
Delivery. We act as lead consultant, coordinating engineers and specialist consultants on your behalf, managing procurement, and guiding contractor selection and tender.
Construction and handover. We stay on your project through build-out, monitoring quality and design integrity, managing commissioning and handover, and supporting you through the Defects Liability Period.
Why nicholas.design
Why nicholas.design for your Riyadh project
Global standards. Gulf delivery.
RIBA-chartered design excellence, delivered by team members based in the GCC who know Saudi regulations, construction conditions, and cultural requirements inside out and from the ground up.
The principal you first meet remains the principal on your project.
No hand-over after the project award. Nicholas Bonaventure and the senior team stay involved from the first briefing meeting to the final handover.
Architecture that belongs to place.
We design with Najdi culture and Riyadh's climate embedded from the Concept stage. There are no imported solutions adapted after the fact.
The studio
Meet the team
Our founding director, Nicholas Bonaventure, has spent 30 years designing the Gulf's most exacting projects, including the Bahrain World Trade Center, Durrat Al Bahrain, and the Al Sharq Office Tower in Kuwait.
nicholas.design is a studio of ten: seven architects, one interior designer, one landscape and urban designer, and one business development lead. We work in English, Arabic, and Hindi/Urdu. We are non-hierarchical, principal-led, and built to give every client the attention their brief demands.
About the studio →FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do you have an office in Riyadh?
We are based at the Bahrain World Trade Center in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, and serve Riyadh clients directly from this studio. Operating across the GCC from a Manama base is a model common among the region's most respected architectural practices, and it does not affect our ability to manage or deliver projects within the Kingdom.
Can you manage a project remotely from Bahrain?
Yes.
We have delivered architectural commissions across the GCC, MENA, and internationally from our Manama studio. We undertake site visits at appropriate project stages and, where required by Saudi regulations, engage a local architect of record to manage in-country submissions and approvals. We will station team members in-country where the brief requires it.
Who will actually be working on my project?
Nicholas Bonaventure leads every commission personally, from the first discussion to the final handover. At nicholas.design, the senior team stays on your project throughout. There is no hand-off to junior staff once the contract is signed. You will work with the same people from day one to completion.
Speak with our team →What types of projects do you take on in Riyadh?
Our Riyadh commissions cover commercial towers, mixed-use and integrated developments, master planning, high-end residential, and hospitality. We work with private developers, investment authorities, and private individuals. We also offer a dedicated service that complements our architectural work:
Interior design in Riyadh →Are you familiar with Saudi building regulations?
Yes.
We design in accordance with the Saudi Building Code and engage with Mostadam and other applicable sustainability frameworks from the early design stages. Where required, we engage specialist regulatory consultants and a local architect of record for in-country submissions. We are able to station staff in-country where required.
How do you protect design quality through to construction?
Design integrity is a core commitment on every project. We offer full Construction Stage Services, meaning we stay on the project through the build, monitor quality, resolve issues as they arise, and ensure the finished building reflects the design as approved. We do not hand over drawings and step away.
See how we work →Contact
Commission your project
nicholas.design
Office 2016, Level 19, East Tower
Bahrain World Trade Center
Isa Al-Kabeer Avenue, Manama 316
Kingdom of Bahrain
+973 7777 9524
Monday to Friday, 08:30–17:30 (AST)
Our clients
