Sarah Alfraih is a Kuwaiti architect, researcher, educator and avid explorer of cities. Currently based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, her interdisciplinary design approach focuses on the ways in which we can re-imagine the future socio-cultural conditions of our cities. At a time when concerns about our urban surroundings can be contentious, Sarah is an active promoter of design practices that offer a more contextual understanding of the built environment where different forms of creative speculation can also be applied.
Sarah is a graduate of The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London; obtaining a Bsc.(Hons) in Architecture in 2007, followed by a Graduate Diploma and M.Arch in 2011. Her professional experience includes working for London-based as well as Kuwaiti architectural firms, such as AGi Architects Kuwait.
Sarah was a member of the teaching faculty at the College of Architecture, Kuwait University, from 2012-2017; where sh ran collaborative Design Studios with practicing architects in the field and lectured on Architectural History, Theory and Urbanism.
In 2014, Sarah co-founded “Madeenah”; a multidisciplinary platform based in Kuwait City, that curates cultural walking tours and delivers spatial studies that promote a more engaged, critical understanding of the urban environment. Since their launch “Madeenah” has offered walking tours in Kuwait, San Francisco and the cities of Jeddah and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. As creative director, Sarah has organised a series of workshops, presented at local conferences and lectured in Kuwait and the GCC on topics of architecture and the role of the common individual in the shaping of cities. In 2016 “Madeena” was awarded the “Youth Excellence and Creativity Award” for excellence in the field of Architecture by the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs.
As a researcher, Sarah has written short essays for local Kuwaiti publications and was the senior research assistant and a writer on the housing research study entitled “Spaces of Living: Urban Reflections of Kuwaiti Society”.