Walaa is a Syrian architect based in Stuttgart, Germany. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Damascus University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Design and Engineering from University College London (UCL), UK. She also completed a second research-based Master’s in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA), UK, where she examined the interrelationships between domestic architecture, inhabitants, and climate in Damascus.
Walaa currently works as a sustainability consultant at Transsolar Klimaengineering in Stuttgart, where she develops strategies for climate-neutral buildings across a range of scales and geographic contexts. In parallel, her independent research investigates urban sustainability under conditions of stress, focusing on the interplay between natural environments, urban infrastructures, and socio-spatial dynamics.
Her work explores the tensions between fragility and resilience, identifying patterns that inform context-sensitive and adaptive approaches to urban recovery. With a particular focus on Syria, Walaa engages critically with questions of reconstruction, working at the intersection of architecture, environment, and social behaviour. Her research examines how architecture and society respond to environmental urgency and fragile conditions while remaining grounded in local landscapes and lived realities.
Walaa’s practice operates at the intersection of environment and urban recovery. Based in Stuttgart, her work is shaped by a dual engagement: her professional involvement in climate-responsive and low-tech building strategies, and her research practice on post-war Syria. Her practice explores how environmental constraints, resource scarcity, and socio-spatial dynamics inform the production of architecture. Combining technical expertise in material flow, daylight, and passive architecture with an interest in lived realities and spatial practices, she investigates context-specific approaches to design and reconstruction. Through field research, writing and spatial storytelling, her work examines how local landscapes, infrastructures, and everyday practices can guide resilient architectural responses.
Walaa will be mentoring a 5 day workshop together with a Young Palestinian Architecture Fellow as well as hold a keynote.
