Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

2010 AKAA Finalist

The 19 finalists for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture are to be announced this afternoon during an event at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Chosen by a nine-member master jury, the projects on the shortlist range from textile factory in Turkey to a women’s health center in Burkina Faso.

Established in 1977 and given every three years, the prestigious Aga Khan Award recognizes notable projects in communities where Muslims have a significant presence. The program was created by His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The prize fund totals $500,000.

The shortlist of 19 nominees for the 2010 cycle of Aga Khan Award for Architecture was recently announced by the Master Jury. The final Award recipients will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar in October 2010. The range from a textile factory in Turkey to a school built on a bridge in China.

With its emblematic high-tech architecture, the University of Technology Petronas provides an inspiring structure for progressive education in this rapidly developing nation. The Award will be presented to the architects, Foster + Partners and GDP Architects, and the Petronas Corporation (the Petronas Towers won an Award in the 2004 cycle).

Koudougou's Central Market introduces simple improvements to a traditional material - stabilised earth - to create an important space for civic exchange and economic opportunity, helping enhance and strengthen a mid-sized town in Burkina Faso. The Award will be shared by the Koudougou Municipality, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the architects, Laurent Séchaud and Pierre Jéquier.

Hand-built in four months by the local community and volunteer architects from Germany and Austria, the School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh, makes use of easily available local materials to create a new model for school construction that is beautiful, simple and humane. The architects Anna Heringer and Eike Roswag will share the Award with the craftsmen and volunteers who assisted in the building, and the Bangladeshi NGO for sustainable rural development, Dipshikha.