Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF). Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
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https://www.archdaily.com/1032970/godwin-austen-johnson-designs-projects-that-transform-daily-life-while-honoring-the-past
Established in the UAE in 1989 by Chairman Brian Johnson and now led by Managing Director Jason Burnside, Godwin Austen Johnson draws on a British design lineage dating back to 1847 and has contributed to the development of the Middle East’s built environment for over three decades. Its 110 multinational professionals, based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and the United Kingdom, work across disciplines, combining technical rigor, contextual analysis, and digital methodologies within a collaborative design process.
Golf Creek. Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
The practice structures its work around the RIBA Plan of Work, supported by internal Quality Management Systems (QMS) and ISO-certified procedures. From concept to delivery, design development is informed by contemporary digital tools, including BIM, parametric modeling, and environmental performance simulations. Sustainability principles are integrated from the outset, shaping passive design strategies, guiding material specification, and ensuring long-term thermal, acoustic, and operational performance across the building’s lifecycle.
Among the firm’s most emblematic works is the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), situated within the historic core of Sharjah. This ensemble of galleries and interconnected courtyards was carefully integrated into the existing urban fabric, retaining approximately 40% of the original built environment. The result is a spatial experience that is restrained, intimate, and deeply grounded in place.
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF). Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF). Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
Comprising six galleries of differing scales, the architecture is inward-looking, with subdued external façades giving way to interior spaces shaped by hidden skylights and precisely placed apertures. The flow between galleries occurs through courtyards, covered passages, and linked terraces, in an urban choreography reminiscent of traditional Arab settlements.
A finalist for the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the project was recognised for its ability to integrate contemporaneity and memory in a sensitive, non-literal way, offering a replicable model for interventions in living heritage contexts.
Another highlight is the Jafar Centre at Dubai College, a LEED Gold-certified school building that has set a new benchmark for sustainability in the MENA region. Spanning 5,200 m², it unites the Art, Computer Science, and Mathematics departments within a seamless, collaborative environment centered around a garden atrium, with open staircases, walkways, and meeting areas that dissolve boundaries between disciplines. Abundant natural light is paired with a 58% reduction in lighting power density, high-efficiency HVAC systems with heat recovery, and features such as rainwater and condensate reuse, low-VOC materials, and high-reflectance roofs that help mitigate heat island effects. Under LEED v4 BD+C: Schools, the project earned an impressive 74 points, the highest score in the MENA region, the 4th highest in the world outside the USA. Out of the six LEED Gold-certified schools in the UAE, four were designed by the office.
Jafar Centre at Dubai College. Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
The Space at Dubai College. Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
In the hospitality sector, The Chedi Al Bait in Sharjah offers a nuanced approach to adaptive reuse. Located in the historic Al Mureijah neighborhood, the project transforms five traditional Emirati homes into a 53-key boutique resort, preserving the original urban logic defined by sikkas (narrow lanes), internal courtyards, shaded walkways, and inward-facing façades, while adding three new volumes carefully positioned to respect the site’s layout and spatial hierarchy.
The Chedi Al Bait in Sharjah. Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
The Chedi Al Bait in Sharjah. Image Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson
The design recreates the atmosphere of the old village as a hospitality experience, assigning each historic building a specific function — library, restaurant, and café — and combining the preservation of original elements such as coral and stone walls, timber ceilings, and plaster cornices with discreet contemporary insertions. “Each structure was treated as an artifact: we restored what we could, revealed what was necessary, and reinterpreted with respect,” says Jason Burnside, Managing Director. The result is an ensemble that acts as a catalyst for urban revitalization, bringing new life to a still-inhabited historic area, stimulating the local economy, and setting a regional precedent for heritage-based hospitality development.
Godwin Austen Johnson’s work is guided by a clear vision: to create spaces that inspire, endure, and make sense. More than buildings, the firm designs experiences where architecture serves as a medium rather than an end, and where it does not impose itself or overshadow the life that unfolds within.