CLUSTER Named Among ArchDaily’s 2026 Next Practices Award Winners

Egyptian urban research and design platform CLUSTER - aka Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research - has been named one of 20 winners of ArchDaily’s 2026 Next Practices Awards, making it the only practice from the Middle East and North Africa recognised this year.

Now in its sixth edition, the awards spotlight emerging practices expanding the boundaries of architecture through new forms of research, collaboration and spatial practice. This year’s selection focuses on ‘agency’, recognising practices that actively respond to social, environmental, cultural and spatial conditions rather than working within conventional definitions of the profession.

Based in Cairo, CLUSTER was recognised for its work across urban research, architecture, art and design, particularly its engagement with the city’s informal urban systems and public spaces. ArchDaily highlighted the studio’s participatory approach, which brings together communities, institutions, designers and craftspeople through critical mapping, action research, tactical interventions and prototyping. Its transformation of Cairo’s Kodak Passageway was cited as an example of how targeted interventions can generate wider urban and social impact.

The recognition also comes as CLUSTER continues to explore how architecture can create new forms of public space. Its Pergola Arts Theatre in Agouza, designed with London-based THISS Studio and Orient Productions, introduced a ten-metre-high open-air performance space using recycled plastic shading, plastic bricks and recycled flooring. Developed with local community input, the structure was conceived as a flexible venue for performances and gatherings within the neighbourhood.

CLUSTER joins practices from across the world whose work reflects ArchDaily’s broader view of where architecture is heading, from ecological and material experimentation to community-led and socially engaged forms of practice.