Shireen Hamdan

Shireen is a Senior Principal and a member of the firm’s Global Board of Directors. Her experience spans stadium, arena and convention centre design for projects in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, as well as mixed-use sports masterplans and Olympic and FIFA overlay design. In 2016 she was awarded the RIBA Rising Star Award for achievements in architectural design and innovation.

Fluent in Arabic, Shireen oversees Populous’ Middle East operations. Her work in the region includes the design of the Kuwaiti Sports City and Al Ahly Stadium masterplans; the refurbishment of Sheikh Zayed Stadium, upgrading the facilities to comply with FIFA regulations in preparation for 2009 and 2010 Club World Cup matches; and the Qatar Sports Venue Masterplan, an audit of all the competition venues in the state of Qatar and a complementary initiative to the Qatar 2030 vision.

Shireen was involved in the design, planning, and delivery of the Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Club Court 1 extension and Court 3 development, together with the redevelopment of Centre Court to include a retractable roof. Most recently, she has been the Project Leader for the design of a 30,000-seat for one of Kuwait’s top football clubs.

Shireen has spoken at a range of conferences in the Middle East on how the design of sports facilities and masterplans can be used as a catalyst for rapid urban development and social integration. Her interest in the relationship between rapid urban growth and social cohesion stems from her thesis, which was a collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Together they developed a prototype high-density refugee shelter and new rapid growth masterplanning systems for dense urban environments.