About — Söul Design

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The studio

One team, answerable for the whole villa — from the first line to the keys.

Söul Design is an integrated architecture and interior design studio in Dubai, delivering ground-up private villas across the UAE. Six disciplines sit under one roof, under one contract, so the design that leaves our studio is the design that gets built.

RIBA Chartered Architect SBID Accredited Designer 10+ years in the UAE

Why we exist

A villa rarely fails on design. It fails on coordination.

Most private builds in Dubai are run as a chain of separate appointments — an architect, an interior firm, a landscape consultant, engineers — each responsible for their piece and no one responsible for the whole. The gaps between them are where projects lose money, months and intent.

Söul Design was founded to close those gaps. Bishoy Hanna, an RIBA chartered architect with more than a decade shaping high-end residences across the UAE, and Salma Tarek, whose ten years of luxury interior expertise bring the detail and refinement, lead a multidisciplinary studio that fuses rigorous architectural thinking with artful interiors.

We listen closely, translate aspirations into distinctive concepts, and deliver timeless spaces that balance beauty, functionality and effortless sophistication. You are not managing five firms. You are briefing one.

10+

Years designing and delivering residential work in the UAE.

Disciplines under one roof, coordinated before anything reaches site.

Chartered principals, personally on every project from brief to handover.

Contract, one programme, one number to call when a question arises.

What we do

Six disciplines. One accountable roof.

Architecture, interiors, landscape, lighting, structure and MEP are designed together, in one studio, under one contract. Every drawing is coordinated before it reaches site — and when a question arises, there is exactly one number to call.

Architecture

Massing, orientation and the architectural idea — plus authority strategy, so the villa that is designed is the villa that is permitted.

Interior Design

Interiors conceived with the architecture, not applied after it — spatial planning, material language, joinery and the final object on the shelf.

Landscape

Plot, pool, shade and planting treated as rooms without a ceiling — the part of a Gulf villa that is used most and designed last, everywhere else.

Lighting Design

Daylight first, then layered artificial light drawn into the ceiling details early — so no fixture is an afterthought cut into a finished slab.

Structure

Spans, slabs and cantilevers resolved alongside the plan, so the openness you were shown survives the engineering.

MEP Engineering

Cooling, water, power and home systems coordinated into the ceiling voids and risers on paper — not negotiated on site.

How we work

How a villa actually comes together.

Six phases, roughly eight to ten months of design and approvals followed by sixteen to twenty-two months on site. You make a handful of decisions well, at the right moments — we carry the rest.

Concept design

Massing, orientation, spatial planning and the architectural idea — where 80% of what your villa will feel like is decided.

4–6 weeks

Schematic design

The concept is resolved into real rooms, elevations and interior direction. Structure and MEP begin shaping the design — not correcting it later.

6–8 weeks

Detailed design & IFC

Every junction, material and fixture documented in a fully coordinated Issued-for-Construction set — the document that protects your budget on site.

10–14 weeks

Authority approvals

Dubai Municipality, utility authorities and community developer NOCs — run in parallel with design, not after it, so nothing waits.

In parallel

Construction & supervision

Contractor tendering, then site supervision by the same team that drew the villa — design intent defended weekly, on site.

16–22 months

Handover

Snagging, completion certification, and a villa delivered as one finished thought — architecture, interiors and landscape together.

4–6 weeks

The principals

Two chartered principals. Personally on every project.

Bishoy Hanna

Co-Founder & Principal, Architecture · RIBA Chartered

Ten years designing and delivering residential work in the UAE, including private residences on Palm Jumeirah. Leads every villa's architecture, engineering coordination and authority strategy personally.

Salma Tarek

Co-Founder & Principal, Interiors · SBID Accredited

The other half of the offer: interiors conceived with the architecture, not applied after it. Leads every interior scheme from spatial planning through joinery detail to the final object on the shelf.

What we hold to

Five things we do not trade away.

Discretion is the sixth. Nothing about your project — name, location, imagery — is published or shared without written consent, and most of our work never appears publicly at all.

Authenticity

Every design answers to your life, not to a house style we repeat.

Creativity

Ideas that push the plot further than expected, without chasing novelty.

Quality

Documented to the level where contractors price accurately and surprises stay rare.

Integrity

A fixed fee agreed before we start, and honest answers when the news is inconvenient.

Collaboration

Structured review points, so you are involved exactly as much as you want to be.

Client words

What our clients say.

“Working with Bishoy and Salma was very easy. They brought the architecture and interiors together beautifully, and the house now feels calm and complete.”

T.S.

“Söul Design understood exactly what we wanted. The Japandi style, light wood and neutral tones made the home feel warm without being too minimal.”

E.V.

“The concepts were great, but the execution impressed us even more. Everything was well detailed, and the contractor had clear drawings to work from.”

J.W.

“Salma has a great eye for materials. The travertine she selected for our living area made a huge difference to the overall space.”

F.H.

“A very professional and discreet team. Communication was clear throughout, and the final result feels completely tailored to us.”

M.I.

“Bishoy understood the modern organic look we wanted. He improved the natural light and flow of the house without making it feel overdesigned.”

S.J.

“We love how our living room turned out. It feels elegant but still comfortable and practical for everyday use.”

O.Q.

“We really appreciated working directly with Bishoy and Salma. They were involved throughout the project and always made time for our questions.”

A.S.

“Renovating can be stressful, but Söul Design made the process much easier. They coordinated everything well and kept us updated throughout.”

O.H.

“Great taste, thoughtful planning and a lovely team to work with. Our home feels refined and luxurious, but still feels like us.”

N.M.