Aga
Khan Award for Architecture
The Ninth Award
Cycle, 2002 - 2004
Recipients
of the 2004 Awards
Bibliotheca
Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt
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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a revival
of the legendary ancient library built in classical
Greek times. The rebuilding of the library has returned
Alexandria to its former status as a centre for learning
and exchange and provided the city with a landmark building.
The spirit of international cooperation in which the
library was conceived, funded, designed and implemented
has been maintained in its management to create an institution
that is truly global in its outlook. At the same time,
the building is technically outstanding. Click on link
above for more information.
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| Gando
Primary School, Gando, Burkina Faso |
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This school is the result of one man’s
mission to improve conditions in his village. Not only
did he design the school and raise the funds to build
it; he also secured government support to train people
in building with local materials, and drew on the strong
tradition of community solidarity to engage all of the
villagers in the construction of this school for their
children. Click on link above for more information.
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| Sandbag
Shelter Prototypes, various locations |
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The global need for housing includes
millions refugees and displaced persons – victims
of natural disasters and wars. Iranian architect Nader
Khalili believes that this need can be addressed only
by using the potential of earth construction. Click
on link above for more information.
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| Restoration
of Al-Abbas Mosque Asnaf, Yemen |
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Al-Abbas Mosque is a testimony to the
living traditions and architectural achievements of
one of the world’s earliest civilizations. Built
over 800 years ago, the mosque is situated on the remains
of a pre-Islamic shrine or temple on a site considered
sacred since ancient times. Its cubic form also has
ancient precedents, including the Kaaba in Mecca. The
local population continues to revere the mosque and
the site today still holds special significance for
them. Click on link above for more information.
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| Old
City Revitalization Programme Old City, Jerusalem |
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Jerusalem has an extraordinarily long
and varied history, but the urban fabric of the old
city is threatened by overcrowding, lack of maintenance
and poor services. The Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization
Programme aims to rehabilitate the city, to preserve
its heritage and to create a better quality of life
for its inhabitants. It is a comprehensive project aimed
at every aspect of human life, with several components,
including restoration, training, education and raising
public awareness. Click on link above for more information.
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| B2
House Canakkale, Turkey |
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Two Turkish brothers, Selman and Suha
Bilal, wanted to build a house on Turkey’s north
Aegean coast as a place to spend weekends in a spot
where they could find beauty, tranquillity and seclusion
without travelling long distances from their homes in
Istanbul. Click on link above for more information.
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| Petronas
Towers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
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| The Petronas Towers are the centrepiece
of the mixed-use Kuala Lumpur City Centre complex, set
in the heart of the commercial district of the city.
Rising 452 metres, the towers were certified the world’s
tallest buildings by the Council of Tall Buildings and
Urban Habitat in 1996. They are connected by a sky bridge
at the forty-first and forty-second floors to facilitate
inter-tower communication and circulation, while a multi-storey
shopping and entertainment galleria connects the office
towers at their bases. Click on link above for more
information. |
Introduction
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established
in 1977 by His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th
hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, to enhance
the understanding and appreciation of Islamic culture as
expressed through architecture. Its method is to seek
out and recognise examples of architectural excellence,
encompassing concerns as varied as contemporary design,
social housing, community improvement and development, restoration,
reuse, and area conservation, as well as landscaping and
environmental issues. Through its efforts, the Award
seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully
address the needs and aspirations of societies in which
Muslims have a significant presence.
The selection process emphasises architecture that
not only provides for people's physical, social, and economic
needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural
and spiritual expectations. Particular attention is
given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate
technology in an innovative way, and to projects likely
to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.
The Award is organised on the basis of a calendar
spanning a three-year cycle, and is governed by a Steering
Committee chaired by the Aga Khan. (Members of the
2004 Award Steering Committee will be announced during the
course of 2002.) Prizes totalling up to US$ 500,000
- the largest architectural award in the world - are
presented every three years to projects selected by an independent
Master Jury. The Award has completed eight cycles
of activity since 1977, and documentation has been compiled
on over 7,000 building projects located throughout the world.
To date, the Master Juries have identified eighty-four projects
to receive Awards. The Ninth Award Cycle covers the
period from 2002 to 2004.
Review
and Selection Procedure
Master Jury
The
Master Jury Report
Video
of Master Jury Deliberations and Process of Selection
Members
of the 2004 Master Jury
On-Site Technical Review
The Technical Reviewers are architectural professionals
specialised in various disciplines, including housing, urban
planning, landscape design, and restoration. Their
task is to examine on-site each of the projects short-listed
by the Master Jury, verify project data, and seek additional
information such as user reactions. The reviewers
must consider a detailed set of criteria in their written
reports, and must also respond to the specific concerns
and questions prepared by the Master Jury for each project.
To ensure maximum objectivity, reviewers report on projects
located outside their native countries.
Selection of Award Recipients
The Master Jury studies the findings presented
by the Technical Reviewers on each short-listed project
during a final week-long meeting. After evaluating
the projects in closed sessions, the jurors select the Award
recipients and determine the apportionment of the US$ 500,000
prize fund. Since the success of a winning project
may be the product of efforts by diverse individuals, groups,
and organisations, the Master Jury apportions prizes among
the contributors - architects, other design and construction
professionals, craftsmen, clients, and institutions - whom
it considers most responsible for the success of each project.
The decisions of the Master Jury are final
2004 Award Steering Committee
The members of the
2004 Award Steering Committee are:
His Highness the Aga Khan,
Chairman;
Akram Abu Hamdan,
Director General, National Resources Investment and Development
Corporation, Amman;
Charles Correa,
Principal, Charles Correa Architects, Mumbai;
Abdou Filali-Ansary,
Director, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations,
Aga Khan University, London;
Jacques Herzog,
Partner, Herzog & de Meuron Architects, Basel;
Glenn Lowry,
Director, The Museum of Modern Art, New York;
Mohsen Mostafavi,
Chairman, The Architectural Association School of Architecture,
London;
Babar Khan Mumtaz,
Reader in Housing Studies, University of London; and
Peter Rowe, Dean,
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Publications
The Award publishes the proceedings of its international
and regional seminars as well as cyclical monographs recording
the recipients and discussions of each Award cycle. Most
Award publications are available in English; some are also
published in Arabic, Turkish, French, and Chinese. Further
information may be obtained by contacting the Award Office
or visiting our publications
page.
The most recent cyclical monograph, entitled “Architecture
and Polyphony : Building in the Islamic World Today”,
features the recipients of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture,
and is available from the publishers, Thames & Hudson.
The publisher can be contacted by email
or by facsimile to (44.171) 845.5050.
The monograph featuring the 2001 cycle of the Award, entitled
“Modernity and Community: Architecture in the Islamic
World”, is also available from the publishers, Thames
& Hudson. The publisher can be contacted
by email or
by facsimile to (44.171) 845.5050.
Many Award publications are now available at the ArchNet
Digital Library, which is an on-line resource focusing on
architecture, urban design, urban development, and related
issues in the Muslim world. The site is a collaboration
between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Massachuetts
Institute of Technology, but many other institutions have
contributed to building the database. For more information,
visit the ArchNet
website.
Related Programmes
Historic
Cities Support Programme, which focuses on the physical,
social, and economic revitalisation of historic sites in
the Muslim world.
Aga
Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, which is dedicated
to the study of Islamic architecture, visual arts, conservation,
urban design and rehabilitation. It aims to improve the
teaching of Islamic art and architecture, promote excellence
in professional research, and enhance the understanding
of Islamic architecture and urbanism in light of contemporary
developmental issues.
ArchNet.org,
an on-line resource focusing on architecture, urban design,
urban development, and related issues in the Muslim world
(in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
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