Jordan: Meisa Batayneh

Meisa Batayneh is the founder and principal architect at maisam architects, based in Amman, Jordan, and in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE, 1987–).  She holds a bachelor’s of science in architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. Batayneh was named the leading Arab Woman Architect by the committee for Arab Women Architects and Engineers (2015). The work of maisam architects has earned international recognition with the Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award (2015) and the LEAF Award (2014); the firm also won the World Architecture Festival’s Future Projects for “School in a Park” (2019). Batayneh is also a founding partner of Design Jordan (c. 2006), a founding member of the Jordan Green Building Council, and a founding member of the Middle East Leadership Association (MELA).

Batayneh has served on the Master Jury of the 14th cycle of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture (2019); she was appointed a member of its Steering Committee for the 15th cycle (2022) and sixteenth cycle (2025). Additionally, Batayneh has served on the board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction (2020), as a juror for the Global Holcim Foundation Awards (2015 and 2021), and as a juror of the Holcim Foundation Awards for Middle East and Africa (2017 and 2023). She is a member of the Board of Trustees at the King Abdullah II Center for Excellence, was the first president of Jordan’s Business and Professional Women’s Association (2019), and was a member of the Board of Trustees at the World Monuments Fund.