Godwin Austen Johnson was established in the UAE in 1989 by Chairman Brian Johnson and is now led by Managing Director Jason Burnside, drawing on a British design lineage dating to 1847. The practice employs 110 multinational professionals across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and the United Kingdom, working across disciplines with technical rigor, contextual analysis, and collaborative digital methodologies. Projects follow the RIBA Plan of Work and ISO-certified Quality Management Systems, using BIM, parametric modeling, and environmental performance simulations. Sustainability is embedded from concept, guiding passive strategies, material specification, and long-term thermal, acoustic, and operational performance. The Sharjah Art Foundation project retained about 40% of the original fabric, creating inward-looking galleries organized around courtyards, skylights, and precise apertures.
Established in the UAE in 1989 by Chairman Brian Johnson and now led by Managing Director Jason Burnside, Godwin Austen Johnson draws on a British design lineage dating back to 1847 and has contributed to the development of the Middle East's built environment for over three decades. Its 110 multinational professionals, based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and the United Kingdom, work across disciplines, combining technical rigor, contextual analysis, and digital methodologies within a collaborative design process.
The practice structures its work around the RIBA Plan of Work, supported by internal Quality Management Systems (QMS) and ISO-certified procedures. From concept to delivery, design development is informed by contemporary digital tools, including BIM, parametric modeling, and environmental performance simulations. Sustainability principles are integrated from the outset, shaping passive design strategies, guiding material specification, and ensuring long-term thermal, acoustic, and operational performance across the building's lifecycle.
Among the firm's most emblematic works is theSharjah Art Foundation (SAF), situated within the historic core of Sharjah.This ensemble of galleries and interconnected courtyards was carefully integrated into the existing urban fabric, retaining approximately 40% of the original built environment. The result is a spatial experience that is restrained, intimate, and deeply grounded in place. Comprising six galleries of differing scales, the architecture is inward-looking, with subdued external façades giving way to interior spaces shaped by hidden skylights and precisely placed apertures.
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