FOUNDER BIOGRAPHY — ARCHITECT HADI KHATIB

Architect Hadi Khatib is the Founder & CEO of KCO, a full-service architectural and engineering practice delivering complex, multidisciplinary projects across the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. With 26 years of experience and a D.E.S. in Architecture from the Lebanese University (2000), he has directed major aviation, infrastructure, hospitality, mixed-use, and high-end residential programs from inception through commissioning—including the Hamad International Airport expansion in Doha, KAIA–Jeddah, AMI Airport–UAE, the Luanda Airport expansion, the Doha Metro Green Line, and Lusail Towers–related infrastructure. In parallel with program leadership, Hadi maintains a hands-on design practice that spans an office building in Beirut Downtown as well as confidential high-end commissions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and bespoke mixed-use and hospitality schemes in Gabon and Cameroon. His design approach couples clear narrative and contextual response with rigorous delivery: he leads architectural design and design-development workflows that take concepts systematically through Preliminary Design and Final Design to fully coordinated IFC documentation, covering technical detailing, performance specifications, constructability studies, and value engineering. A bilingual leader (Arabic/English) and advanced BIM practitioner (Revit/Navisworks), he is recognized for cross-disciplinary coordination (Architecture/MEP/Structure/Landscape), stakeholder alignment, cost and program control, and QA/QC processes that reduce risk while safeguarding design intent. Hadi’s portfolio demonstrates a consistent ability to transform complex briefs into buildable, efficient, and enduring environments—balancing client objectives, operational logic, code compliance (IBC/NFPA/IATA where applicable), and sustainability aspirations (e.g., LEED/GSAS targets). His leadership style is collaborative and outcomes-focused: setting clear design criteria, locking scope early, structuring decision gates, and driving multi-party teams—consultants, contractors, and suppliers—toward coordinated, clash-free models and precise issue sets. Whether steering a multi-terminal airport package or shaping a signature commercial building in an urban context, he brings meticulous attention to detail from early massing and interface control to shop-drawing readiness and site support, ensuring that quality, cost, and time remain aligned all the way to handover.