Basem Al Shihabi is the managing partner of Omrania & Associates and one of its founders. Mr. Al Shihabi received his architectural education at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, graduating in 1967, and completed his postgraduate studies in Landscape Planning at the University of Edinburgh in 1970. Returning to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Al Shihabi joined the firm of Doxiadis Associates where he worked on regional plans for five central region towns in Saudi Arabia, and a kingdom-wide schooling programme for the Ministry of Education. He moved on to establish the Omrania & Associates after jointly winning an international competition to design the headquarters of the General Organisation of Social Insurance in Riyadh 1973. Over the years, Mr. Al Shihabi was instrumental in taking Omrania & Associates to a leading position in the region within the fields of architecture, engineering and planning, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain. The firm has over the years received numerous awards for its work and has a growing partnership base. Its projects range from private residences to high rise office towers, airports and large public commissions, among them the King Abdul Aziz Library and Auditorium, the Kingdom Centre and the Al Rashid Tower and Complex, the Kingdom Hospital, the Prince Salman Transplant and Dialysis Centre, and the Salam Park, all in Riyadh. Current projects at Omrania & Associates include the King Abdullah International Gardens in Riyadh and the Taibah University in Al Madinah. Mr. Al Shihabi was a recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998 for the Tuwaiq Palace project in Riyadh.