Filipino architect Junar Aquino on 20 years in the UAE and site work at Sobha Realty

Junar Aquino, a Filipino architect who has spent 20 years in the UAE, told Expat Media about his site work as a Senior Associate Architect at Sobha Realty and the Architects Basketball Association, where he is a founding committee member.

Junar Aquino, a Filipino architect who has spent the past 20 years in the UAE, is a Senior Associate Architect at Sobha Realty, where he leads a team and helps ensure that designs move successfully from drawings to completed buildings, Expat Media reported in a profile of him.

Site work at Sobha Realty

His work covers the full design execution process, from landscape and architecture to interiors, according to Expat Media. On site, he reviews and approves drawings, methodologies, mock-ups and other technical details, working closely with designers, consultants, contractors and facility management teams.

Aquino described the architect's role on site to Expat Media this way:

“As architects, we act as site consultants. We make sure the design is properly implemented and that what was approved is what is actually built.”

He joined Sobha Realty in 2022 as a site architect and has since been promoted three times. In 2026, he received the company's Catalyst of the Year award. Among the projects he has worked on is Sobha Waves, a trilogy of luxury waterfront residential towers in the Waterfront District of Sobha Hartland in Mohammed Bin Rashid City. His current project is Sobha Reserve Villas in Dubailand, a development of more than 300 luxury villas, Expat Media said.

Two decades in the UAE

Aquino's UAE story began in Ras Al Khaimah, where he spent almost a year before moving to Dubai. He initially worked as a draftsman before progressing to roles as a technical coordinator and architect, and was later assigned with a friend to lead a project in Oman, working as a site architect on a managerial camp for Sohar Airport. Over his UAE career, he worked for six companies before joining Sobha Realty, according to Expat Media.

He is currently working on a major project where he is the only Filipino on his team, and sees it as an opportunity to demonstrate what Filipino professionals can bring to an international workplace. “We can work with anyone. We can handle any job,” he told Expat Media.

A business back home and a basketball league in Dubai

Aquino established JA Design and Build in Nueva Vizcaya in 2003, several years before moving to the UAE. The business stalled after his Dubai move, and he revived it in 2018. Today, he continues to maintain a construction team in the Philippines while working full-time in the UAE, Expat Media said.

He is also a founding committee member of the Architects Basketball Association (ABA), which Expat Media said was established in 2011, started with about 40 players, all architects, and has grown to more than 400 members, including engineers. Every year, it conducts a charity drive in the Philippines to help children continue their education. An earlier Filipino Times report listed Junar Aquino among the ABA Committee officers who hosted the opening of the association's Season 8 Intercolor tournament at Al Ahli Club Stadium, and another Filipino Times report described the ABA Interschool Tournament as featuring architect players from different architecture schools from all over the Philippines.

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