Dubai, UAE – 1 November 2022: CRTKL, a global cultural agency specializing in architecture, planning and design, has today announced the senior leadership team that will drive its growth across the Middle East. At the helm is Philip Gillard, an award-winning architect well known from his time at Gensler where he spent two decades as a senior leader before founding the Gillard Design studio.
Gosia Baron, CRTKL Principal and Operations Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said: “Philip’s global design experience and local sensibilities enrich CRTKL’s own. The scale and significance of his work with Dubai Holdings, Aldar, Emaar, Qatar Foundation, Al Ain Tourist Authority, Alshaya Group, Dubai Holdings, Deutsche Bank, TAG, Aston Martin, McLaren Formula One, Apple and Siemens to name a few, are highly regarded and in keeping with the standard of our performance-driven designs.”
“Together with our newly appointed Dubai Office Directors, Stephen Murray and Obada Adra, Philip will harness our robust operating model and the skills and spirit of our specialised local team to advance CRTKL’s position in the GCC and lead our continued expansion into Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait.”
The appointments reaffirm CRTKL’s long-term commitment to the Middle East. Having first established itself there in the 1990s, CRTKL has played a key role in the design and delivery of many of the region’s most significant and awarded projects including Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Hills Mall, Riyadh Front, 360 Mall, Grand Hyatt Kuwait, Central Park at City Walk and Saadiyat Grove.
Philip Gillard, CRTKL Principal said: “CRTKL is paving the way with its design approach, and I feel privileged to be joining a firm that is as committed to quality as it is having a positive impact on its people and planet.”
“CRTKL’s work in the Middle East continues to set the pace and standard for large-scale, mixed-use development. The multidisciplinary team we have here is unparalleled in their understanding of retail, residential and hospitality assets – how they work and succeed individually, but more so how they become a greater sum than their parts when holistically planned and cleverly designed in the context of an inclusive city.”
“We have an opportunity to design a more climate positive, equitable and inspiring future and I look forward to being part of a team and a firm that is actually capable of delivering on such an aspiration.”
For evidence of this and CRTKL’s latest progress, look no further than Avenues Riyadh, where construction commenced this year on what will be one of the world’s largest retail mixed-use projects and the Avenues Khobar, which will reimagine and push the boundaries of the retail experience. Or the three key masterplans for new urban centers in Tabuk, Bahaa and Jazan for the Saudi Downtown Company and vast tracts of residential development in neighbouring locations.