waiwai is an award-winning multidisciplinary architecture, landscape, interior, graphic and urban design studio with offices in Dubai and Tokyo. Known for addressing the social, environmental, economical and technological aspects of architectural projects, the firm has worked on prominent cultural institutions including Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre, CICOL, Hai d3, Otaru Harbor Café and Jeddah’s Hayy: Creative Hub.

Formerly known as ibda design in Dubai and GINGRICH in Tokyo, in 2019 the firm was renamed waiwai – a Japanese onomatopoeia which refers to the sound of a cheering crowd. 

Dubai and Tokyo each foster multicultural diversity, and the range of cultural backgrounds in the waiwai team inspires communication through a clear, simple and deliberate approach to architecture. The principal architects of waiwai’s offices have had unique journeys in their architectural careers that eventually led them to collaborate. They share an ability to observe a city up-close and intimately, yet also from afar, with the attentive eye of an outsider.

Their projects layer their individual design sensibilities into an architecture of natural light, time, structure and landscape. By aligning with natural phenomena, waiwai seeks to create an architecture that is more than man-made fabrication, but instead remains open to adaptation and appropriation. The spaces that emerge from this approach are site-specific provocations that encourage unexpected experiences, activities and behaviors.  They share extensive experience in designing projects of various scales and programs, including art centres and parks, schools and university campuses, mixed-use developments, hotels, social welfare facilities, private villas and religious facilities.