A studio of twelve,
at Alserkal Avenue.
Architects, interior designers and one very patient librarian of samples, working from a converted warehouse in Al Quoz.
Liwan began in 2014 with one villa in Al Barari and a promise to its owners: we would only draw what we could stand behind on site. Twelve years and sixty projects later, that is still how we work.
2014
Founded in Dubai
60
Projects completed
9
Countries
12
People in the studio
The founders
Layla Mansour
Founder and creative director
Layla trained as an architect in Beirut and London and worked for a decade on hotels across the Gulf before founding Liwan in 2014. She leads every project’s concept and still draws the first plans by hand.
James Whitford
Director of interior architecture
James spent fifteen years delivering residences in London before moving to Dubai. He runs the technical side of the studio, from joinery details to the contractors on site.
A library of
2,000 samples
Stone, timber, textiles, metals and plaster from more than a hundred makers, catalogued so every client can hold their house in their hands before a single order is placed.