RIBA has named INTBAU Qatar Chair, Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya, an Honorary Fellow for 2026, recognising his contribution to sustainable architecture and the promotion of traditional building practices.

The Royal Institute of British Architects awards Honorary Fellowships each year to individuals who are not architects but have made a significant contribution to the advancement and cultural promotion of architecture and the built environment. The fellowship recognises those who have helped improve the quality of design, supported the creation of more sustainable and humane environments, and contributed to the development of future generations.

Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya has been widely recognised for his leadership in advancing traditional architecture, craftsmanship, and human-centred urbanism, particularly through the work of the Caravane Earth Foundation, which supports social, cultural, and ecological initiatives in communities around the world.

Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya and the establishment of INTBAU Qatar

In 2022, INTBAU Qatar was established by His Excellency as an entity hosted by the Caravane Earth Foundation, with the aim of preserving and promoting Qatari and Gulf traditional architecture and urbanism and presenting these traditional methods as viable models for contemporary living.

Caravane Earth and the Qatar Chapter are aligned with INTBAU in their vision of creating humane and harmonious buildings and places that respect local traditions. While the world looks to extensive exploitation and new technologies to solve its self-made problems, INTBAU Qatar believes that tradition and traditional approaches to architecture and living offer the most effective solutions to these global, contemporary challenges.

INTBAU Qatar is based at Heenat Salma Farm, a flagship project of the Caravane Earth Foundation dedicated to hospitality, regenerative agriculture, traditional architecture, and community development.

INTBAU Qatar Winter School

In 2024 and 2025, INTBAU Qatar organised an immersive programme bringing together over 40 students and lecturers from Qatar and beyond, including South Africa, Austria, Pakistan, Libya, Lebanon, the USA, the UK, Singapore, and Oman.

Through lectures, field study, workshops, and design practice, participants explored Qatar’s craft and building traditions—from mud and palm construction to seafaring and nomadic architectures—and reinterpreted them as strategies for adaptation in a warming world.

Over fourteen intensive days, students and professionals collaborated on a pilot design intervention, combining traditional wisdom with contemporary sustainability. Each edition of the programme has left a measurable legacy: new documentation, new partnerships, and a growing network of practitioners devoted to building with care, context, and continuity.

In January 2026, Ambassador Fahad Al-Attiya hosted H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums and a leading figure in global cultural development, for a visit to Heenat Salma Farm to explore Neighborhoods for Belonging, an exhibition of the final works produced by students and teachers at the INTBAU Qatar Winter School 2025. The works explore how architecture can foster social cohesion and shared community life.

I am sincerely grateful to the RIBA for this honour. It affirms my belief that traditional architecture and urbanism are not relics of the past, but foundations upon which a more humane and ordered future may be built. Through platforms such as the Caravane Earth Foundation and INTBAU Qatar, we aim to encourage hands-on exploration of how these principles can inform contemporary practice and support thriving communities. 

— Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya

INTBAU warmly congratulates Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya on being named a RIBA Honorary Fellow for 2026. This recognition reflects his outstanding commitment to advancing traditional architecture, sustainable design, and the creation of humane, culturally rooted built environments. Through his leadership and vision, he has played a pivotal role in promoting approaches that place people, place, and tradition at the heart of contemporary practice.

We are proud to count him as Chair of INTBAU Qatar and look forward to his continued contribution to the global INTBAU Network.

Sources and Further Information:

• Ambassador Fahad Al-Attiya named RIBA honorary fellow for 2026
• INTBAU Qatar
• Documentary Architecture, Ecology and Tradition | INTBAU Qatar Winter School at Heenat Salma Farm
• INTBAU Qatar Winter School at Heenat Salma Farm: Craft, Environment, and Community
• Heenat Salma Farm
• Fahad Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah at Earthna