About Us

Dar Arafa Architecture (DAA) is a design-and-build architecture studio established in Cairo, Egypt, in 2006 by Egyptian architect Waleed Arafa, who proudly leads a team of young Egyptian architects. He was joined later by Nisreen Moustafa, principal for interior design and Daniel Kaldas, principal for architectural design.

Dar Arafa Architecture’s first project; Dar Arafa Residence, earned a nomination for the Aga Khan Award 2010 & the Hassan Fathy Award, 2009. The Basuna Mosque project, completed in 2019, has been internationally celebrated as a finalist and winner of many international awards, such as Archmarathon Stone Award, Italy, 2019, Construction21 Green Solutions Award, France, 2019, Abdullatif Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture 2020 and World Architecture Festival 2021. DAA’s principal Waleed Arafa has also been selected as a finalist for the Middle Eastern Architecture Personality of the year by the Mohammed Makkyiah Tamayouz Award 2019, the Architectural Digest Middle East 50 Power List 2020, as well as being one of the honorees of the Arab & African Youth Forum, 2019, handed to Waleed by H.E Abdel Fatah al-Sisi President of Egypt.

In 2001, Arafa earned a B.Sc. in Architecture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. In 2015 he earned a postgraduate degree in the Conservation of Historical Buildings, from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, UK. His thesis was entitled: “The Mosque in Britain: British Heritage?”. He is currently an MA researcher, History of Islamic Art & Architecture, at the American University in Cairo.

Nisreen Joined Dar Arafa Architecture (DAA) in 2022 and has been involved in the consultancy and design curation of local and international projects. Most recently the exhibition “Urban Spaces of Cairo’ at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which she co-designed as part of Cairo Urban Week/Word Urban Forum 2024.

Before joining DAA Nisreen worked in London with Metaphor, working on international competitions in Brussels and Masterplanning projects located in London and across the region of England. With her background in Museum design and display she was also a part of the Grand Egyptian Museum design team enabling her experience to be practiced at a much larger scale.
The beginning of her journey in the world of museums began in Kuala Lumpur, where Nisreen worked for just over 4 years as the Head of Display at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM). This opportunity gave here full reign over the redesign of the museum’s 13 permanent galleries and the design of 9 temporary exhibitions that included collaborations with the Victoria and Albert Museum.
After graduating in architecture, Nisreen lived in Cairo for just over a year where she worked with Community Design Collaborative (CDC) on the regeneration of an Aga Khan awarded children’s park, masterplanning of the new campus of the American University in Cairo, and several University design competitions.

Daniel Kaldas graduated from the Architecture and Urban Design program at the German University in Cairo in 2020. He has been a member of Dar Arafa Architecture since then, becoming a partner in 2024. In addition to his professional role, Daniel has served as an Assistant Lecturer in Interior Architecture at Coventry University, Cairo – TKH since 2022. His work includes a research project initiated in 2021, focused on archival processing and documentation of the chapel at College De La Salle, Daher, an ongoing endeavor in architectural research.