Aga Khan Award for Architecture’s 13th Cycle (2014 – 2016)

kmaherali
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At Aga Khan awards, modest architecture wins

A humble library in China and an outwardly plain brick mosque in Bangladesh are among the recipients of the prestigious prize

More...
http://gulfnews.com/culture/architectur ... -1.1911411
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nuseri
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Ya Ali Madad.
Is it true that the awards ceremony is on 06th of November?
I got this information from an Ismaili family staying in Al Ain,UAE.
Any official announcement of dates as they say it came in local newspaper few days back there.
kmaherali
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These 6 beautiful buildings have been awarded for setting new standards of architecture

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture celebrates new structures around the world that successfully address the needs and aspirations of the societies they serve.

The award originated in the Middle East origin and is given every three years. It focuses on communities where Muslims have "a significant presence."

It's considered one of the most important awards in architecture and past cycles have recognised mosques in Austria, surgery centres in Sudan, and historic bazaars in Iran.

This year, 348 nominations were whittled down to find just six winners which were announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

Photos at:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/aga-khan- ... re-2016-10
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nuseri wrote:Ya Ali Madad.
Is it true that the awards ceremony is on 06th of November?
I got this information from an Ismaili family staying in Al Ain,UAE.
Any official announcement of dates as they say it came in local newspaper few days back there.
It is in the first week of November.

Why all the secrecy on the date of a public even anyway... paranoia!
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UAE Jamat embraces the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

https://www.theismaili.org/heritage-exp ... chitecture

TheIsmaili.org

4 November 2016

Anticipation has been growing in the United Arab Emirates since the announcement in October that the country will host the presentation ceremony of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Mawlana Hazar Imam’s arrival in Dubai ahead of the weekend’s events is adding to the excitement.

Also see:
» Mawlana Hazar Imam arrives in the UAE for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture ceremony
» Aga Khan Award for Architecture announces winning projects for 2016
» Hanif Kara looks back on four decades of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

The award ceremony takes place on Sunday and will be held at at the Al Jahili Fort, a World Heritage Site in Al Ain. Located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the garden oasis of Al Ain is the fourth largest city in the country and the birthplace of the nation’s late founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918–2004). It is said that the values that shaped the ruler during his childhood in this area are those with which he forged the peoples of the United Arab Emirates into a nation.

It is therefore apt that the city should host the Aga Khan Award, which prizes architecture for the values it embraces above all else. And “people” are central to those values, as Rozina Padamsee learnt at an information session about the Award held at the Ismaili Centre, Dubai.

“Apart from understanding how culture is preserved through the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, one thing I learnt was that the projects selected for the Award speak to people,” says Padamsee. “They are about people, and will be seen by people who are yet to come, whether it is the bridge in Tehran or the tiny library in Beijing.”

Organised by the Ismaili Council for the UAE, the information session recounted the history and background of the Award, the role of the Steering Committee and the Master Jury, the processes that guide the selection of projects, and the criteria for finalising the winning projects. Attendees watched videos about the six winning projects and had an opportunity to discuss the merits and diversity of the projects.

The presentation also raised seminal questions about the concerns and issues that guide the discussion of the built environment in Muslim cities, and how Muslim architects can be inspired by the rich legacy of Islamic architectural heritage to build meaningful public spaces for cosmopolitan societies.

Last weekend, some 40 Ismaili youth from across the UAE travelled to Al Ain to visit the Al Jahili Fort, which is currently hosting a public exhibition about the winning projects from the current cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Ten-year-old Hasnain Ali gained a better understanding of the Award and its impact.

“I learnt the reason and significance of the work of the [Aga Khan Award for Architecture] and how it preserves culture and encourages others to build such effective structures,” he says. He also had a chance to find out about some of the cities that hosted past cycles of the Award, and was impressed with the venue for the 2016 ceremony.

“The fort was beautiful," he says.

For Ali Zain Babul, who is 14, the visit shed light on how the selection process keeps community needs at the forefront. “I especially liked how in Zaha Hadid’s project, the building worked around nature and did not interfere with the trees that were already on the campus,” he said, in reference to the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut.

The local Jamat will gather on Saturday to celebrate and watch a specially curated video about the Award proceedings. Together with many people across the UAE and around the world, they will be paying keen attention to Sunday’s award ceremony.
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5 November 2016

Aga Khan Award for Architecture - Winners Seminar today in Dubai




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Dubai 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, presentation of winning projects -

Mowlana Hazar Imam attended in Dubai the event on this 5th of November with Prince Amyn and his sons Prince Husain and Prince Aly Muhammad .

Look at the video of the Noorani family leaving the auditorium after the event.

http://ismaili.net/timeline/2016/dubai- ... 161105.mp4

Few seconds of the end of the speech, taken by unknown person in the audience. Hazar Imam asking to think how we can better manage the environment for the future.

http://ismaili.net/timeline/2016/dubai- ... wa0019.mp4



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GW Marriott Marquis Hotel



Aga Khan warns climate change will affect Muslim world

Spiritual leader claims ‘band of land’ where many Muslims live could be wiped out

Published: 19:12 November 5, 2016
Gulf News
Paul Crompton, Staff Reporter


Dubai: Climate change threatens to wipe out areas of the Islamic world within two decades, the spiritual leader of around 25 million Muslims said on Saturday.

Many of the world’s Muslims live in a “band of land” under threat from natural disasters caused by climate change, the Aga Khan told a hushed audience gathered at a Dubai hotel. “We’re beginning to see in many parts of the Muslim world … how global warming is beginning to create situations where life is at risk, where it was not at risk before.”

“We’re seeing villages are being wiped away by earthquakes, by landslides, by avalanches, we’re seeing people moving to dangerous areas in modern environments.” And with more people living in cities than ever before, many end up living in dangerous, unsafe conditions, he added.

The 79-year-old spiritual leader told the audience, made up mostly of urban planners and architects gathered from around the world, that they can help.

“I would ask you to try to bring this issue forward so that we address it in good time,” he said. “I see these crises of change as being badly predicted.”

More work needs to be done to educate people living in threatened areas — and more research done to better predict future crises, he added.

The Aga Khan, who was born in Geneva but today spends much of his time in Paris, is the current leader in a centuries-long dynasty which claims spiritual authority over Esmaili Muslims.

Many members of the Esmaili sect are scattered across Pakistan and India, while others live in Central Asia and the West.

As part of his role, the Aga Khan runs a non-profit Dh2.3 billion development network which aims to boost developing countries.

One of these arms, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, seeks to promote buildings and structures that benefit Muslim communities. The award, which started in the late 1970s, hands out Dh3.67 million every three years to the architects and clients behind the winning structures.

The six winners of this award cycle include a mosque and social space in Bangladesh, a children’s library in China, an urban park in Denmark, a university building in Lebanon, and a bridge in Iran. The architects and backers of the six winning projects will be awarded at a ceremony held on Sunday at a historic fort in Al Ain.

The current batch of winning projects shows how Muslim communities have spread across the world, said Mohammad Al Asad, a member of the award’s steering committee. The committee is a de facto board of trustees chaired by the Aga Khan.

“The world is changing drastically, [and] we have become more interested in issues relating to infrastructure, urbanism, to multiculturalism, to the presence of Muslim communities in diasporas,” the Jordan-based urban planner said.

And despite a critical need, regional conflicts that have caused millions to flee Muslim-majority countries, few useful structures and buildings had been designed to help them, Al Asad added.

“You have large numbers of people being displaced, and a number of projects were submitted that addressed this issue, but I don’t think the jury felt they were of the quality that [they wanted],” he said.



BOX

Who is the Aga Khan and what does he do?

As well as being the spiritual leader of millions of Esmaili Muslims, the current Aga Khan has for five decades lead a huge charitable foundation, the Aga Khan Development Network. The network is a group of private development agencies aims to improve living conditions and opportunities, with a focus on central and south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

With an annual budget of Dh2.3 billion, the foundation claims to work for the common good of everyone, regardless of their gender, origin or religion.

One of the foundation’s arms is the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Every three years, the award gives out Dh3.67 million in prize money to the architects and backers of buildings and structures around the world that benefit Muslim communities.

The award, considered one of the most generous competitions in architecture, has been running for close to four decades.
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Domingo 06 de novembro de 2016 05:57

Prémio Aga Khan: o mundo muçulmano vai do Irão à Dinamarca

O parque público Superkilen em Copenhaga, na Dinamarca


IWAN BAAN


Estes seis projetos venceram o galardão. Entre eles há um parque em Copenhaga com uma fonte de Marrocos

Entre uma mesquita em Daca, no Bangladesh, uma biblioteca e centro de artes em Pequim, China, um parque público em Copenhaga, Dinamarca, uma ponte pedonal na capital iraniana de Teerão, um instituto universitário em Beirute, Líbano, ou um centro comunitário em Gaibandha, no norte do Bangladesh, Farrokh Derakhshani só ainda não conseguiu visitar este último. São os seis projetos vencedores do Prémio Aga Khan de Arquitetura, o galardão atribuído desde 1977, de três em três anos, ao melhor que a arquitetura faz pelas comunidades muçulmanas do mundo inteiro. Derakhshani é o diretor.

Integrado no Fundo para a Cultura Aga Khan, do príncipe que é líder espiritual da comunidade ismaili - minoria muçulmana xiita - em todo o mundo, o prémio foi entregue na sua penúltima edição, em 2013, no Castelo de São Jorge, em Lisboa. Cidade, aliás, que o atual príncipe Aga Khan, o 49.º imã da família, visitou em maio último, altura em que se ficou a conhecer o lugar da futura sede da Fundação Aga Khan em Portugal: o Palácio Henrique Mendonça, na capital.
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Farrokh Derakhshani é o diretor do Prémio Aga Khan para a Arquitetura

| Álvaro Isidoro/Global Imagens

Olhar para os galardoados com o prémio que, em 1982, mudou para sempre o olhar de Farrokh Derakhshani sobre a arquitetura é fazer uma espécie de volta ao mundo em seis tempos. Os seis responsáveis por tal acontecimento, que dividem entre si um milhão de dólares (cerca de 919 mil euros) do prémio, foram selecionados entre 348 projetos, de 69 países, e venceram numa lista final de 19.

Derakhshani - que estudou arquitetura no Irão e, mais tarde, em Paris - vive na Suíça, país onde nasceu o atual Aga Khan, e talvez por isso se tenha desculpado de forma tão insistente pelo ligeiro atraso que o trânsito de Lisboa causou na sua chegada ao Palácio Pombal, onde, integrada na Trienal de Arquitetura, está patente até 11 de dezembro uma exposição com os projetos finalistas do prémio. É ali que afirma: "Agora o discurso mudou, mas, quando eu estava a estudar, a arquitetura era sobre estética e sobre a forma como o edifício era construído. O lado social da arquitetura, a razão pela qual era construída, era secundário. Mas aqui vemos como é usada, concebida e entendida pelas pessoas. Em vez de olharmos para as fotografias do projeto, vamos lá, falamos com as pessoas que o usam, e vemos se depois de um, dois ou três anos elas ainda estão contentes."

Bem diferente do Pritzker

Falamos de um prémio que nesta edição distinguiu um projeto de Zaha Hadid, a arquiteta que morreu em março último: o Instituto Issam Fares, que pertence à Universidade Americana de Beirute. No passado distinguiu nomes como Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry ou Norman Foster: todos são hoje arquitetos-estrela, todos, como Hadid, galardoados com o prémio Pritzker, considerado o Nobel da Arquitetura. Muito cordial, Derakhshani pede que não repitamos o que dizemos quando o questionamos se, no início da história do prémio, alguma vez o imaginou assim, um dos mais importantes da área, logo abaixo do Pritzker. "Este prémio foi criado antes do Pritzker, e não o damos a celebridades, damos a projetos. Muitos arquitetos tornaram-se muito famosos depois de receber este prémio. Não acreditamos que só um mestre da arquitetura pode criar arquitetura. A mensagem por detrás disso, a do edifício, é o resultado que devemos reconhecer."

Projetar ao lado dos moradores

E se há expressão do que Derakhshani acabava de dizer, ela chama-se Superkilen. O parque em Nørrebro, bairro de Copenhaga maioritariamente muçulmano, tem agora um banco de baloiço que veio de Bagdade, uma fonte com a forma de uma estrela de oito pontas que veio de Marrocos, e mesas de xadrez de Sofia, Bulgária. E não foi o grupo de arquitetos dirigido por Bjarke Ingels, vencedores do prémio, quem escolheu aqueles elementos, como os restantes 117 como eles.

"Como arquitetos nós quase assumimos o papel de curadores, para comissariarmos as propostas que vinham do público", explicou ao DN o arquiteto dinamarquês. "Demos um passo mais à frente: dos encontros públicos, redes sociais, campanhas publicitárias para encorajar as pessoas a recomendar elementos do seu país de origem, a caixa de correio gigante no meio da praça onde as pessoas podiam submeter propostas, até às interações diretas com a comunidade", continua.

O júri do prémio Aga Khan viu esse "passo em frente". Com o dinheiro do prémio, adianta Ingels, "talvez seja interessante documentar agora algumas das histórias do que acontece em Superkilen." Num trabalho desenvolvido com o grupo de artistas Superflex, o Bjarke Ingels Group contactou ainda diretamente, durante o processo, com cinco pares "pouco representados nas reuniões locais". Entre eles, "um rapaz jamaicano e o seu amigo, uma rapariga palestiniana e a sua amiga, e um velho casal dinamarquês." O resultado é um parque onde se ouvem 120 vozes e que, visto do ar, se divide em três cores: a zona vermelha, para o mercado e a cultura, a zona preta, que é uma espécie de sala de estar urbana, e a verde, dedicada ao desporto e diversão.

Ainda com Derakhshani, falamos de Suad Amiry - a arquiteta e escritora palestiniana que nesta edição integra o júri do prémio - a propósito da arquitetura e do mundo muçulmano atual - pense-se no seu livro Sharon e a Minha Sogra, que conta 42 dias de cerco israelita - quando Derakhshani lembra que ela mesma, com a fundação que criou, a Riwaq, venceu o prémio em 2013 pela reabilitação do centro histórico de Birzeit, na Palestina. Também Marina Tabassum, uma das vencedoras, pela mesquita que projetou no Bangladesh, poderia entrar na conversa.

Por email, a arquiteta conta ao DN que Bait Ur Rouf, o nome árabe da mesquita, significa "Casa dos Compassivos". Conta que aquele terreno era da sua avó, que o doou para algo de que a comunidade precisava, naquele sítio de Daca que cresceu depressa e sem planeamento. Acabaria por morrer antes do projeto ficar concluído.

Ajudada por outros, Marina conseguiu reunir os 150 mil dólares que precisava para levar a cabo a obra. Usando materiais e técnicas tradicionais do seu país, Tabassum criou um lugar de oração que a luz do sol vai pintando (e salpicando) de forma diferente ao longo do dia. Não queria símbolos. Não há cúpulas nem minaretes naquela mesquita. "Acredito que a quintessência da tradição não é adorar cinzas, mas preservar o fogo", explica. Ela mesma muçulmana, diz que o país está a recuperar do atentado de julho: "Na altura em que vivemos temos de nos preparar para todas as situações. Não é medo o que se sente no ar, mas ansiedade." Com o dinheiro do prémio que lhe coube, e que é dividido entre "arquiteto, cliente, engenheiros, etc.", planeia "construir um pequeno edifício, uma oficina para pesquisa de material local, tecnologia, etc."

Em breve, todos os vencedores devem juntar-se na cerimónia do prémio, no forte de Al Jahili em Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.
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More: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture presented by Mawlana Hazar Imam at a ceremony held at the Al Jahili fort in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates on Sunday, 6 November 2016. Our Imam was accompanied by Prince Amyn, Prince Hussain and Prince Aly-Muhammad. Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai joined H.H. The Aga Khan to present the awards.

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Prince Amyn and Prince Aly Muhammad at the AKAA 2016

http://ismaili.net/timeline/2016/dubai- ... wa0009.mp4


Video of Mowlana Hazar Imam leaving at the end of the aga Khan Award for Architecture ceremony. Cut and paste the link in your browser

https://www.facebook.com/IsmailiHeritag ... 075698058/

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http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/culture/mo ... -1.1925346

Mohammad presents Aga Khan Awards in Al Ain

Muslim world’s six best new structures scooped up a Dh3.67m prize in a sparkling ceremony at the historic Al Ain fort


Paul Crompton, Staff Reporter

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Shaikh Mohammad and Aga Khan with the winners after the presentation of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Published: 20:26 November 6, 2016

Al Ain: The people behind the creation of what has been judged the Muslim world’s six best new structures scooped up a Dh3.67 million prize on Sunday, in a sparkling ceremony held at the historic Al Ain fort.

The prizes for the 20 winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture were presented by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Shaikh Mohammad and his entourage had earlier arrived at Al Jahili fort, its towering walls bathed in flood-lit green to mark the occasion.

As he walked through 125-year-old fort’s arched stone entrance, a hushed silence fell over the crowd of architects, urban planners, award officials and journalists.

Joining Shaikh Mohammad on the stage to present the prizes was Prince Kareem Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of around 25 million Muslims and the award’s creator.
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SPEECH - The Aga Khan Award for Architecture presented by the Imam of the Ismailis at a ceremony held at the Al Jahili fort in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates on Sunday, 6 November 2016.

VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQJknKj ... e=youtu.be


The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Ceremony

http://www.akdn.org/speech/his-highness ... 6-ceremony

SPEECH DELIVERED BY His Highness the Aga Khan

LOCATION - Al-Ain, UAE (6 November 2016)

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Your Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai
Your Highnesses
Excellencies
Distinguished guests

As-salaam-o-aleikum

It is a genuine pleasure to welcome you to the 2016 ceremony of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

As you may suspect, I have the privilege of attending many wonderful ceremonies as I carry out my responsibilities. But this Architectural Award Ceremony is one of those that I look forward to with a special sense of anticipation.

Perhaps that is partly because it happens only once every three years – there is more time for the anticipation to build up! But there is a much more important reason: Architecture is the only art form which has a direct, daily impact on the quality of human life.

Again this year, the award shines a spotlight on six architectural masterpieces – calling attention to them not only within the professional community, but with the global public as well. In doing so, we believe the Award can help instruct and inspire those who will shape the future of Global Architecture. The Award seeks to guide and inspire better building in the future.

At the same time, of course, the Award Ceremony gives us a welcome opportunity to look back. The purpose of the Award when it was first launched was to help renew one of the world’s great cultural legacies, the rich traditions of Islamic architecture. Those traditions were being lost, we feared, amid a rush of modernising, westernising enthusiasms - depriving people everywhere of the insights, the intuitions and the idioms of some of the richest cultures in world history.

There was a genuine sense of urgency about the effort to reclaim that precious heritage.

How appropriate it is that we meet this evening at this magnificent Fort, a beautiful example in its own right of thoughtful historic preservation.

As we gather in this special place – and for this special purpose – we hope to remind people everywhere, of all backgrounds and identities, of a powerful lesson: The way in which a thoughtful concern for the built environment can characterise an entire civilisation.

When I speak of a thoughtful concern for the built environment, I think of several qualities which the Award seeks to honour and to promote. Let me mention just four of them.

I think, first, of how great architecture can integrate the past and the future – inherited tradition and changing needs. We need not choose between looking back and looking forward; they are not competing choices, but healthy complements. We can learn valuable lessons from history without getting lost in history; we can look boldly ahead without ignoring what has gone before.

Secondly, I think of how architectural excellence can integrate the Gifts of Nature and the potentials of the Human Mind. Natural Blessings and Human Creativity are Divine gifts – and it is wrong to embrace one at the expense of the other. The best architecture teaches us to engage with Nature respectfully; not by conquering or subduing it, nor by isolating ourselves away from it. Our host country, the United Arab Emirates, itself offers impressive examples of integrating well the natural and the human environments.

A third quality we see in the projects we honour tonight is the balance between aesthetic inspiration and practical utility. Throughout history, the challenges of change have been central to the architectural mission. But today, the pace of change has been accelerating so fast that it sometimes seems overwhelming.

Technological changes have revolutionised our lives in communication and travel, industry and agriculture, medicine and education. Natural changes – including Global Warming – also present central challenges. In a globalised world, dangerous threats can circulate more widely and quickly: weapons and pollution, drugs and crime, disease and terrorism, poverty and violence. One result has been an unprecedented increase in the migration of displaced peoples.

Some of these problems directly challenge the architectural world. At a time when old ties of community seem to erode, a sense of discipline and personal responsibility can also be diluted. In such contexts, we hear more about professional incompetence, deteriorating engineering and building standards, and even dishonest contracting practices.

All of these realities – technological, economic, social and ethical – present important challenges for responsible architecture. The projects we honour tonight have addressed such challenges, each engaging with the particular demands of its own time and place, while expressing the important values of cultural continuity.

A fourth major value that the Award for Architecture seeks to highlight is the Spirit of Pluralism – an approach to life that welcomes difference and diversity – one that embraces diversity itself as a Gift of the Creator, honouring cultural differences as the valued legacies of our predecessors.

The Spirit of Pluralism has been central to the great achievements of past Islamic cultures, and it remains a central principle for these Awards.

One of the questions we addressed four decades ago was how the selection process for the Award could best reflect the pluralism of peoples and of their habitats.

One response was to set up a three year selection cycle – a schedule that would encourage wide-ranging discussion among a diversified array of participants. Through the years, they have included architects, philosophers, artists, and historians from diverse faiths, cultures and places – people of different generations and genders. I am happy to underline that three of the awardees this year are women architects. We have drawn upon governmental and foundation friends, urban planners and village leaders, educators and researchers, engineers and financiers, and builders large and small.

To all who have contributed their time and talents to the Award process over the past three years – and down through all the years – we extend our deepest appreciation.

The Spirit of the Award has been an inclusive one, valuing all manner of buildings and spaces from skyscrapers to mud huts, from residences to work and gathering spaces, from reforestation and financing projects to cemeteries, bridges and parks, from the accomplishments of signature architects to those of anonymous craftsmen. This pluralistic approach may not echo the usual definition of the word “architecture”, but it is the closest we can get to the central inclusive message we want this Award to convey.

The jury again this year has explored projects that extend the boundaries of the architectural discipline itself, recognising that new knowledge sometimes emerges in the lines between old categories. In doing so, they have acknowledged how the architectural endeavour can provide stages on which the tensions of our time can be choreographed and negotiated, bridging, for example, the gap between the cosmopolitan and the local. Great architecture can remind us that Pluralism begins with difference, and that it does not require us to leave behind our cherished identities. That is why Pluralism, the fourth of the qualities I have discussed, is so important to the architectural mission.

These four qualities, I would submit, are worth bearing in mind as we mark the Thirteenth Presentation of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture: The integration of the Past and the Future, the harmony of Nature and Humanity, the Adaptation to Unprecedented Challenges, and the dedication to Pluralistic Ideals.

The six architectural projects we celebrate this evening reaffirm the Award’s Founding Principles, even as they help us project those principles into the programme’s fifth decade.

The Holy Quran commands humankind to shape our earthly environment, as good stewards of the Divine Creation. In that spirit, in moments both of elation and disappointment, we hope that the Aga Khan Award for Architecture will always point towards an architecture of optimism and harmony, a powerful force in elevating the quality of human life.

Thank you.
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Winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture celebrate inclusivity and pluralism

Al-Ain, UAE, 6 November 2016 – The winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture were celebrated in a glittering tribute at the Al Jahili fort in Al-Ain, UAE, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Chairman of the Award, and various dignitaries from the United Arab Emirates and abroad.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards in architecture. It was established by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.

In the speech he delivered at the ceremony, His Highness the Aga Khan said that “the spirit of the Award has been an inclusive one, valuing all manner of buildings and spaces, from skyscrapers to mud huts, from residences to work and gathering spaces, from reforestation and financing projects to cemeteries, bridges and parks, from the accomplishments of signature architects to those of anonymous craftsmen. This pluralistic approach may not echo the usual definition of the word ‘architecture’, but it is the closest we can get to the central inclusive message we want this Award to convey.” He also reaffirmed his belief that “the spirit of pluralism has been central to the great achievements of past Islamic cultures - and it remains a central principle for these Awards.”

The winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, which were first announced on 3 October 2016 at the Al Jahili fort in Al Ain, are:

BANGLADESH

Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka (Architect: Marina Tabassum): A refuge for spirituality in urban Dhaka, selected for its beautiful use of natural light.

Friendship Centre, Gaibandha (Architect: Kashef Chowdhury / URBANA): A community centre which makes a virtue of an area susceptible to flooding in rural Bangladesh.

CHINA

Micro Yuan’er Children’s Library and Art Centre, Beijing (Architect: ZAO / standardarchitecture, Zhang Ke): A children’s library selected for its embodiment of contemporary life in the traditional courtyard residences of Beijing’s Hutongs.

DENMARK

Superkilen, Copenhagen (Architects: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Topotek 1 and Superflex): A public space promoting integration across lines of ethnicity, religion and culture.

IRAN

Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran (Architect: Diba Tensile Architecture / Leila Araghian, Alireza Behzadi): A multi-level bridge spanning a busy motorway has created a dynamic new urban space.

LEBANON

Issam Fares Institute, Beirut (Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects): A new building for the American University of Beirut’s campus, radical in composition but respectful of its traditional context.

The Venue for the Award Ceremony: Al Ain

Ceremonies to announce the winning projects and mark the close of each triennial cycle are always held in settings selected for their architectural and cultural importance to the Muslim world. Today’s ceremony was held at the Al Jahili Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.

Construction of Al Jahili Fort began in 1891 under Sheikh Zayed the First. Completed in 1898, it remained a residence of the Al Nahyan family for many years. It underwent a comprehensive rehabilitation between 2007 and 2008 by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage with the collaboration of Eike Roswag, an Aga Khan Award for Architecture winner in 2007. The Fort was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.

Previous venues for Award ceremonies encompass many of the most illustrious architectural achievements in the Muslim world, including Shalimar Gardens in Lahore (1980), Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (1983), Badi’ Palace in Marrakech (1986), the Citadel of Saladin in Cairo (1989), Registan Square in Samarkand (1992), Karaton Surakarta in Solo (1995), the Alhambra in Granada (1998), the Citadel of Aleppo (2001) and the gardens of Emperor Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi (2004).

About the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Over the last 39 years of the Award, prizes have been given to projects across the globe, from France to China. Architects and planners from New York to Dhaka have received one of 116 awards. During the nomination process, more than 9,000 building projects were documented.

Over the course of the last 39 years, most of the great architects of our time have either won the Award or served on its Master Jury or Steering Committee, from Zaha Hadid to Norman Foster, Charles Correa to Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel to Hassan Fathy.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture selects projects – from slum upgrading to high rise “green” buildings – that not only exhibit architectural excellence but also improve the overall quality of life. Because these achievements typically involve successful collaboration between many people, the Award recognises mayors, builders, clients, master craftsmen, engineers and end-users – as well as architects.

The 2016 Master Jury

The Master Jury was completely independent in the selection it made from the 348 nominated projects in 69 countries. Projects commissioned by the Aga Khan or any of the institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network were ineligible. The nine members of the 2016 Master Jury are:

Suad Amiry, Founder, Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation, Ramallah; Emre Arolat, Founder, EAA – Emre Arolat Architecture, Istanbul; Akeel Bilgrami, Sydney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York; Luis Fernàndez-Galiano, Editor, Architectura Viva, Madrid; Hameed Haroon, Chief Executive Officer, Herald Publications, Karachi; Lesley Lokko, Head, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg; Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge; Dominique Perrault, Founder, Dominique Perrault Architecture, Paris; and Hossein Rezai, Director, Web Structures, Singapore.

The 2016 Steering Committee

The Award is governed by a Steering Committee chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan (please see the biographies of Steering Committee). The current members of the Steering Committee are:

His Highness the Aga Khan (Chairman); David Adjaye, founder and principal architect of Adjaye Associates, which has offices in London, New York and Accra; Mohammad al-Asad, the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment in Amman, Jordan; Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO, Paris, France; Hanif Kara, a practicing structural engineer and Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University; Kamil Merican, founding partner of GDP Architects Malaysia; Azim Nanji, a social scientist who is Special Advisor to the Provost at the Aga Khan University and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa; Professor Gülru Necipoglu, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art at Harvard University; Brigitte Shim, a principal in the Toronto-based design firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects and Professor at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto; and Yu Kongjian, founder and dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape and the Changjiang Chair Professor of Design, at Peking University. Farrokh Derakhshani is Director of the Award.

The Award Book

A monograph, which includes essays on issues arising raised by the Master Jury’s selections of the shortlist and the winners for the 2016 Award, is available from Lars Müller Publishers. The book, Architecture and Plurality, which was edited by Mohsen Mostafavi, includes descriptions and illustrations of the six winning projects. For more information, please see: https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/

For more information, please see the Press Kit: www.akdn.org/2016AwardWinners, the website (www.akdn.org/architecture/) and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In). The iPhone app is available from the iTunes store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aga-kha ... 96765?mt=8

For a full on-line press kit, which includes briefs on each of the winning projects, high resolution images, broadcast-quality video (for use by television stations and websites) and other information, please see www.akdn.org/2016AwardWinners. For further information, please send an email to the press contacts listed at the bottom of this press release.

On 5 November, a seminar drawing in municipal planners, architects and architect students from around the globe was held in the Dubai Ballroom at the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai. Each of the winning architects discussed the process by which they came to design their buildings.

Press contact:

Sam Pickens
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
PO Box 2049, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Telephone: (41.22) 909.72.00
E-mail: info@akdn.org Website: www.akdn.org/architecture

NOTES

His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the founder and chairman of the AKDN, is the 49th hereditary Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. He is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the first Imam, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. In Islam’s ethical tradition, religious leaders not only interpret the faith but also have a responsibility to help improve the quality of life in their community and in the societies amongst which they live. For His Highness the Aga Khan, this has meant a deep engagement with development for over 50 years through the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which has a wide range of activities aimed at the preservation and promotion of the material and spiritual heritage of Muslim societies. As the cultural agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the Trust leverages cultural heritage as a means of supporting and catalysing development. Its programmes include the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme (HCP), which works to revitalise historic cities in the Muslim world, both culturally and socioeconomically. Over the last decade, it has been engaged in the rehabilitation of historic areas in Cairo, Kabul, Herat, Aleppo, Delhi, Zanzibar, Mostar, northern Pakistan, Timbuktu and Mopti. The Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) is an interregional music and arts education programme with worldwide performance, outreach, mentoring, and artistic production activities. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto presents an overview of the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions that Muslim civilizations have made to world heritage. The Trust also supports the Muslim arts and architecture departments of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as www.ArchNet.org, a major online resource on Islamic architecture.
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The Aga Khan Award for Architecture presented by the Imam of the Ismailis at a ceremony held at the Al Jahili fort in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates on Sunday, 6 November 2016. - More Photos

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http://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/ ... ure-awards

The National, UAE - Sunday, November 6, 2016 | Safar 6, 1438

Aga Khan in Al Ain for architecture awards

Nick Leech

November 6, 2016 Updated: November 6, 2016 11:14 PM



AL AIN // "The holy Quran commands humankind to shape our earthly environment as good stewards of the divine creation."

So said Prince Karim Aga Khan – the 49th hereditary Imam of the world Shia Imami Ismaili community and a spiritual leader who claims direct descent from the Prophet Mohammed – on Sunday night at a moonlit ceremony at Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain.

"And as we gather in this special place for this special purpose, we remind people of all backgrounds and identities of a powerful lesson, the way in which a thoughtful concern for the built environment can characterise an entire civilisation."

The 79-year-old statesman and spiritual leader made the remarks at the award ceremony for the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, an event that was as much a meeting of Muslim leaders as a celebration of the built environment.

The audience included Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Also there were Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, and Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed, the Abu Dhabi Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region.

It was first official visit by the Aga Khan to the UAE since 2008, when he opened the Ismaili Centre in Dubai on a plot of land donated in 1982 by Sheikh Mohammed in celebration of the Aga Khan’s silver jubilee.

Established to recognise architectural excellence and encourage projects that address the needs of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence, the US$1 million prize, awarded every three years, was launched in 1977.

In its 39 years, the award has documented more than 9,000 projects and recognised 116, including Jean Nouvel’s Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Azem Palace in Damascus, Louis Khan’s National Assembly Building in Dhaka, and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Unusually, it recognises projects as a whole including their clients, developers, builders and the communities that benefit from them.

Now, in its 13th cycle, six more winners were added to that list.

Originally announced at Al Jahili last month, these include Superkilen, a 30,000 square-metre park in Copenhagen, Denmark; the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh; the Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge in Tehran, Iran; the Micro Yuan’er children’s library and art centre in Beijing, China; the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and a rural training centre built for NGO Friendship in Gaibandha, Bangladesh.

Since the first award ceremony, which was held at the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore in 1980, the awards have been hosted at the Islamic world’s most prestigious historic monuments.

They include the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Citadel of Aleppo in Syria, and now Al Ain’s Al Jahili Fort.

The awards ceremony followed a seminar on Saturday in Dubai, which was attended by a panel of the award winners, master jurors and members of the UAE’s architectural and design community.

There, the Aga Khan voiced his concern about the mounting urban and environmental challenges facing the Muslim world.

"This award has as its objective to cause people to think about the processes of change in our world and to see how we can best influence those," he told an audience of 550, among them Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance.

"We are beginning to see in many parts of the Muslim world – and if you look at the map you can see it quite clearly in an expanding band of arid land – how global warming is beginning to put life at risk where it was not at risk before.

The Aga Khan spoke of the responsibility that all those connected with the environment – designers, planners, academics and politicians – shared in rising rise to the challenges posed by the change.

"I would ask you to try to bring this issue forward so that we can address it in good time, and not find ourselves 10 or 20 years from now with large numbers of towns and villages at risk from dangers that should have been taken into account much earlier."
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H.H. The Aga Khan and the Award for Architecture in the News:

Muslim world’s best projects receive Aga Khan architecture prize from Shaikh Mohammad


Published on 18:14 November 7, 2016

The six best new structures in the Muslim world feted in a ceremony at Al Ain's Al Jahili fort.

GULF NEWS

VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

https://youtu.be/8yaz5jrzhP0

Last edited by Admin on Tue Nov 08, 2016 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Exclusive: A Transcript of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Extempore Remarks Made at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Seminar Held in Dubai on November 5, 2016

Clockwise from bottom: A seminar session for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in progress in the Ballroom of the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Dubai on November 5, 2016; His Highness the Aga Khan arriving for the seminar; and His Highness the Aga Khan delivering ex tempo remarks at the conclusion of the seminar. Photo Credits: Gulf News (2 top photos), bottom photo: Simergphotos.

The actual presentation of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture to six winning projects that have been pictorially summarized above was preceded by an architectural seminar which was attended by urban planners and architects from around the world. It was held at the Ballroom of Dubai’s Marriot Marquis on November 5, 2016. The seminar was divided into two separate sessions. The first was moderated by Nasser Rabbat, Professor of Islamic Architecture at MIT, and included a panel discussion comprising three of the winners (Zhang Ke, Marina Tabassum and Patrick Schumacher), a member from the Aga Khan Award’s Master Jury and two members of the Award’s Steering Committee. The second session was moderated by Andreas Ruby, Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum, and included a panel discussion comprising three of the winners (Leila Araghian, Bjarke Ingels and Kashef Chowdhury), a member of the Master Jury and two members of the Steering Committee.

At the conclusion of the morning’s events, His Highness the Aga Khan spoke extempore and in his remarks stated how climate change and global warming are posing a fundamental threat to bands of Muslim countries, where villages are being wiped away by earthquakes, by landslides, and by avalanches.

Simerg has prepared a transcript of his lucid remarks, and we are pleased to share the transcript with our readers. Our version that appears below contains most of the closing remarks, with the exception of a couple of sentences and words that we were not able to follow.

(The following transcript of His Highness the Aga Khan’s extempore remarks has been prepared by Simerg)

“I would like to take this occasion to thank all the men and women who have participated with me during the past years to build this Award, and to make it better known in terms of its goals for impacting the processes of change around us, and particularly in the Muslim world. As people living in a given time, we are observers of that time. We have the ability to affect the future…

“And one of the exciting aspects of this Award, I think, is particularly that precise opportunity to build for the future, to look forward to processes of change which are thought through, which are evaluated, which are affected upon in terms of impact on society, impact on cultural history, impact on personal enjoyment in public spaces or private spaces. So, this Award really has, as its objective, to cause people to think about the processes of change in our world, and see how we could best influence them.

“I have been particularly curious about schools of architecture. Because it seems to me that the developing world, in particular, needs to concentrate on strengthening its schools of architecture, its schools of land planning. There are not many of them, they have a few international links, but not many…….And I hope that academics, who are following the work of the Award, will come forward, seek the support of the Award, offer their knowledge to various centres which are educating young men and women who will impact our future in the developing world.

“I am also worried about the process of warming. We are beginning to see, in many parts of the Muslim world – and if you look at the map, you can see quite clearly, there is a band of land – how warming is beginning to create situations where life is at risk, where it was not at risk before. We are seeing villages which are being wiped away by earthquakes, by landslides, by avalanches. We are seeing people moving to dangerous areas in mountain environments. And very often these populations do not have access to good knowledge about the way these environments are predicted to change over time. And they are therefore leaving areas of risk, but not really understanding that very often they are moving to other areas of risk. So public knowledge about change processes is something which I consider very important indeed. I would like to see that as part of general education. I would like to see that as part of secondary education, so that all young people have a better understanding, particularly in our world, in the Islamic world, of the spaces in which they live, how they can ensure the security of their habitat, how they can practice good construction in these areas. In the work that I do, I see these processes of change as being badly predicted and not really forecast in terms of the human and economic resources that are needed to underwrite good processes of change.

“In this audience, and people following the Award, there are many well-placed men and women who can impact public thinking on these issues. And in your respective academic and professional activities, I would ask you to try to bring these issues forward so that we can address them in good time, and do not find ourselves ten or twenty years from now, with large numbers of towns and villages at risk, which really should have been taken into account much earlier.

“Finally, I would like to thank the Steering Committee and the Jury, and everyone else connected with this Award, for the wonderful work that they do. If you think about it, the Award is simply a reflection of the time which men and women give to thinking about the change processes in our environment. And I want to say how happy and grateful I am for this wonderful support which enables us to continue to reflect over our environment, and how we can better manage it for future generations. Thank you very much to everybody who is a supporter of the Award, and I hope we can continue for many years. And I wish you safe continuation in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you.” — His Highness the Aga Khan, November 5, 2016, Marriot Marquis Hotel, Dubai, UAE)

~~~~~~~
https://simergphotos.com/2016/11/07/spe ... -ceremony/
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Aga Khan Award for Architecture at Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi UAE on November 6, 2016 Performed: "Raga Madhuvanti" Music Composed By: Homayoun Sakhi Performed by: Homayoun Sakhi : Rubab Wu Man : Chinese Pipa:Salar Nader : Tabla Basel Rajoub : Saxophone Andrea Piccioni :Tambourine:Feras Charestan : Qanun #ragamadhuvanti #akmi #akmiallstars #homayounsakhi #salarnader #akdnarchitect #akdn #ismailimail #baselrajoub #wuman #akf #ferascharestan #andreapiccioni #salarsystem #dubai#abudhabi #uae #ismailicenterdubai #rubab #fairouznishanova @akdnarchitect @akmi @homayoun_sakhi @akdn @wumanpipa @salarnader @salarsystem @rajoubbasel @ferascharestan @andreapiccioni1@nathaliedegroot

https://www.facebook.com/homayoun.sakhi ... 838711716/
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VIDEO: Mawlana Hazar Imam hosts AKAA dinner and concert at Ismaili Centre

https://www.theismaili.org/ismailicentr ... nd-concert

TheIsmaili.org

12 November 2016

On the evening of Saturday, 5 November, Mawlana Hazar Imam hosted a dinner and concert at the Ismaili Centre, Dubai for the international attendees of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Also see:
» Through six winning projects, Aga Khan Award for Architecture looks boldly ahead
» UAE Jamat embraces the Aga Khan Award for Architecture
» AKDN coverage of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Prince Amyn, Prince Hussain and Prince Aly Muhammad joined Hazar Imam, who welcomed guests, including members of the Steering Committee, the Master Jury and the winners of the Aga Khan Award, as well as the Ismaili Leaders’ International Forum.

The feature of the evening was a rare musical encounter between the talented and innovative artists from Afghanistan, China, Italy, and Syria. Produced by the Aga Khan Music Initiative, the concert featured Homayoun Sakhi, Wu Man, Basel Rajoub, Salar Nader, Andrea Piccioni, and Feras Charestan performing on the Afghan rubab, pipa, saxophone, tabla, frame drums and the qanun. The group's newly created compositions, improvisations and contemporary arrangements were inspired by the ancient musical traditions that they each draw upon.

The highlight of their performance was the final piece, Madhuvanti, composed by Homayoun Sakhi and arranged for a unique combination of instruments that represent the Eastern and Western ends of the historical Silk Route. Madhuvanti was performed again at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Award Ceremony on Sunday in Al Ain, together with the recitation of a poem celebrating the history and achievements of the United Arab Emirates.

The Aga Khan Music Initiative is an interregional music and arts education programme that supports talented musicians and educators in preserving, transmitting and further developing their musical heritage in contemporary forms. First launched in Central Asia, the programme has expanded to include artists and audiences in the North and West Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
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Friendship Centre and Bait Ur Rouf Mosque receive 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture

On November 6, 2016, the winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture were celebrated in a glittering tribute at...

On November 6, 2016, the winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture were celebrated in a glittering tribute at the Al Jahili fort in Al-Ain, UAE, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Chairman of the Award, and various dignitaries from the United Arab Emirates and abroad. Runa Khan, founder and executive director of Friendship, received the award for Friendship Centre in Gaibandha and Architect Marina Tabassum received the award for Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka. These two projects from Bangladesh are among the six winners from 348 nominated projects in 69 countries. The winners were first announced on October 3, 2016 at the Al Jahili fort in Al Ain, and are from Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Iran and Lebanon.

The Friendship Centre in Gaibandha, Bangladesh has been designed by the prominent Architect Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury which was completed in December 2011. It was built for Friendship, a non-governmental organisation, which works to restore the dignity and hope of marginalised communities living in the remote and unaddressed areas of northern Bangladesh and as well as in the southern coastal belts. The centre is a community training centre which makes a virtue of an area susceptible to flooding in rural Bangladesh. The Centre provides services for the marginalised community of the region. It was designed to provide an inviting and accessible space for those who use the Centre’s services. It is situated on two acres; the complex is designed to blend with the natural environment while echoing the ruins of Mahasthan, a Buddhist dwelling from the third century BC, located nearby. It is constructed and finished primarily with one material local handmade brick, and individual pavilions, courtyard, pools, and green spaces are woven throughout.

Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka was designed by Architect Marina Tabassum. As a refuge for spirituality in urban Dhaka, the project was selected for its beautiful use of natural light.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards in architecture. It was established by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.

http://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/201 ... hitecture/
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Four African projects, including collapsed Makoko floating school up for international awards

The Makoko floating school in Lagos, Nigeria this year receives global recognition for its design and architectural structure.

The school founded and designed by Kunle Adeyem, the school was shortlisted in the Aga Khan Award for Architecture event recently held in Dubai.

The Makoko floating school comprises alternative sustainable buildings and structures designed to adapt to the resident communities’ aquatic lifestyle, housing 100 children.

However, in July the structure collapsed after heavy rains pounded the city.

“This settlement was already in a way dealing with these issues although through very poor conditions. But they were already adapting to these issues that I feel are some of the most important challenges of our time,” said Adeyem.

When he set about building the school, Adeyem was well aware the state government would show resistance to it, given the unplanned nature of the community.

Unskilled local workers were hired to build the structure, with the idea that they could then go out and build their own homes with the techniques learned while erecting the school.

Leslie Lokko, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Johannesburg, was among the panel of judges.

She said African architectural space offers a rich resource of dynamism and creative works that often go unnoticed such as the floating school.

“This is a world that is equal to all other worlds. It is not a world that exists somewhere else in a more deprived state. This is absolutely cutting edge. It is as modern as anywhere else and it has a kind of intellectual and cultural prominence which I think gives a lot of confidence to people who are always seen as somehow outside the loop,” said Lokko.

The Casa-Pory in the city of the Casablanca, Morocco; a major transport up was also competing in the contest.

Guelmin School of technology in Guelmin, a remote part of Morocco was also shortlisted. It is an education complex based on classic Berber designs associated with the community living in northern Africa.

However none of these and other three selected African projects made it to the the list of winners.

The award was started in 1977 by his highness the Aga Khan to encourage building concepts that address needs and aspirations of communities, in which Muslims have a significant presence.

http://www.africanews.com/2016/11/25/fo ... -at-the-e/
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Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 - Al Jahili Fort

STAMP

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Name of the Issue Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 - Al Jahili Fort
Release Date 6 November 2016
Denominations AED3
Souvenir Sheet -
Size 30x40 mm in sheets of 6 stamps
Designer Emirates Post Group in co-operation with Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture
Printing Method Offset Lithographic with gold foil
Printer Oriental Printing Press - Bahrain
Quantities Stamp 25,500

http://www.epa.ae/viewproductdetail.php?id=772#
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Great people never forget their heritage

Readers write to Gulf News about issues affecting them and their community

Great people never forget their heritage

The great venue of Al Jahili Fort was selected for this sparkling ceremony of the Aga Khan award, which is a great example of Islamic architecture in itself (‘Six projects win Dh3.67m Aga Khan Award’, Gulf News, November 7). It was built by the grandfather of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE, in 1890s. This award was presented by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who’s great visionary strategy has helped bring the UAE to the top in the world, in many fields. The owner of this award is Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims who always speaks about pluralism, Islamic culture and civilisation, global warming, diversity and unity.

This award is presented after every three years and is a great recognition of superior work done in the field of Islamic architecture worldwide. It will keep alive and encourage the building of rich Islamic cultural alliances with modern technology for future, which emerges with great and unique works in architecture showing Muslim civilisation. This is our cherished identity. This award is not working merely on the criteria of architectural structure in itself, but it also highlights those structures that help all surrounding communities from different cultural backgrounds.

Among six winners, three of the awardees were women architects, which is a great example of women’s contribution in every field. Women are working shoulder to shoulder with men and this is a great example of true Islam, which gives full opportunity to women.

Great people and communities never forget their culture and civilisation. The UAE is one among those and all credit goes to our great leaders. Hats off to them.

http://gulfnews.com/your-say/letters/gr ... -1.1929217
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Aga Khan Program Lecture: Marina Tabassum

VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkKKvodQ4kU

Published on Mar 22, 2017


In projects that range from the scale of the residential block to the master plan, Marina Tabassum prioritizes climate, materials, site, culture, and local history in order to counteract what she finds impersonal and confused in architecture globally. Her Bait Ur Rouf Mosque is a case in point: built over the course of twelve years with a minuscule budget, it is distinguished by its lack of popular mosque iconography, its emphasis on materials, space, and light, and its capacity to function not only as a place of worship but also as a meeting room, school, and playground for an underserved community on Dhaka’s periphery. Tabassum, a graduate of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, founded Dhaka-based Marina Tabassum Architects in 2005 after ten years as a partner and cofounder of URBANA in Dhaka. She has taught and lectured widely and is currently academic director of Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes, and Settlements. In 2016 she was one of six architects to receive the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.


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Education


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Design for Diversity: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Ancient Urbanism: How the Built Environment Influenced Society in the 11th Century Greater Middle East - Monday, October 16, 2017 (6:30 PM - 8 PM)
The Exhibition highlights 19 works of architecture from the 2014-2016 cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. Through its efforts, the Award seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant presence. An emphasis is placed on projects that address pluralistic communities and bringing together diverse populations. As Shiraz Allibhai, Deputy Director of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, puts it, the Award “serves people, serves community.”

The exhibition emphasizes architectural works that not only provide for peoples' physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and respond to their cultural expectations. The exhibition highlights the attention that is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways, and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

https://www.aiadc.com/AgaKhan2017
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Visit the "Design for Diversity" winners exhibition in Boston before it closes Sept 23

The Design for Diversity exhibition highlights six winners and shortlisted works from the 2014-2016 cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Shown in Boston's BSA Space, the projects on display were selected from more than 300 entries. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture supports the preservation and promotion of the material and spiritual heritage of Muslim societies.

More...

https://archinect.com/news/bustler/6794 ... es-sept-23
kmaherali
Posts: 25107
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

October 15 - @BarbicanCentre's Architecture on Stage w Marina Tabassum, architect of Bait ur Rouf Mosque, which secured the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2016 & the Jameel Prize 5 in 2018 https://bit.ly/2wpdfAK

https://twitter.com/Art_Jameel/status/1 ... 1930140672
kmaherali
Posts: 25107
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

Bunateka Libraries - Kosovo

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4e0BYLL7gg

A series of public libraries for disadvantaged youth in rural areas.
More information available at: http://www.akdn.org/architecture/proj...
kmaherali
Posts: 25107
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

Tabiat pedestrian bridge - Iran

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jACVve8DbIc

Infrastructure that connects two parks has become a popular urban space.
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