Architecture projects in Muslim societies around the globe are honoured for helping to bring communities together, regardless of skin colour, religion or politics, writes Maria Cook.
Maria Cook
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A mud and bamboo school in Bangladesh, a sleek highrise in Singapore, a tranquil public square in Beirut — this year’s winners of the Aga Khan Awards for architecture reflect a sweeping view of architecture and its potential to make people’s lives better.
The award ceremony, held in Kuala Lumpur yesterday at the Petronas Towers, among the tallest buildings in the world, recognized nine exemplary projects in Muslim societies around the globe.
They are: Samir Kassir Square in Beirut; the rehabilitation of the city of Shibam in Yemen; the Central Market in Koudougou in Burkina Faso; the University of Technology Petronas in Bandar Seri Iskandar in Malaysia; the restoration of the Amiriya complex in Rada in Yemen; the Moulmein Rise residential tower in Singapore; the Netherlands embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the rehabilitation of the Walled City in Nicosia in Cyprus; and a school in Rudrapur in Bangladesh.
Of 343 nominations, the jury shortlisted 27 for onsite review and, from these, selected nine for recognition. All qualifying projects had to have been completed between 1994 and 2005.
“What we spotlight through this award is an all-encompassing sweep of human endeavour, shaping an infinite variety of human spaces,” the Aga Khan told about 600 international guests, who included the Malaysian prime minister.
The award, given every three years, has a prize fund of $500,000 U.S., making it the world’s largest architecture award. The Aga Khan established the award in 1977, to encourage building ideas that address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies.
Among the nine-member international jury was Toronto architect Brigitte Shim. “The projects tackle a lot of issues in contemporary society and modernity around the world,” she says. “That’s partly what makes the award relevant.”
Among the projects she found most powerful were the market in Burkina Faso, which used earth bricks to create vaulted spaces, and the school in Bangladesh, which the jury described as “beautiful, simple and humane.” It was built in four months by craftsmen, pupils, teachers, parents and experts from Germany and Austria.
“The deep understanding of the community allows the architecture to be not just beautiful buildings, but to have the potential to contribute to the lives of the people it serves,” says Ms. Shim.
This could be a lesson for Canada, she says. “Being accountable to a community is something that is often missed in the North American context. Maybe because so much of what we do is developer-driven.”
Three of the projects involved restoration of historic spaces. In Yemen, Shibam, with its 500-year-old multi-storey mud buildings, was becoming a ghost town. Restored houses and modernized sewage have helped to keep it a living city. Some of the loudest applause at the ceremony was for one of the construction workers, an older man in white cap and sandals.
The 500-year-old Amiriya complex, which encompasses a prayer hall, school and sultan’s living quarters, is considered one of the richest examples of Islamic architecture in the world. It was falling into ruin 25 years ago, until renowned Iraqi archeologist Selma Al-Radi declared, “We have to save it.” The restoration saw the revival of lost techniques of building and ornamentation. More than 500 craftsmen were trained and employed.
In Nicosia, the only remaining divided capital in the world, the rehabilitation of the walled city has been successful in bringing Greek and Turkish community members together to work for a common purpose. They have restored historic monuments and buildings and attracted economic investment to the area. In the long run, they hope to re-create a city where Turks and Greeks can live in harmony.
“In today’s society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how things look,” says Robert Ivy, editor of Architectural Record magazine in the United States. “Architecture is deeper than that. It involves the entire context of how people live and the economics that make that life possible. This award helps all of us define what matters.”
In Ottawa, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada is building a new home on Sussex Drive which is due to open next year. Designed by distinguished Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, it will house the Aga Khan Development Network, which spends about $320 million U.S. a year on development.
The Aga Khan is also taking over the former site of the war museum on Sussex Drive for a Global Centre for Pluralism, a think-tank devoted to promoting culturally diverse societies. “It reflects a real confidence on his part about what this country is and what Canada represents in the world,” said Khalil Shariff, director of Aga Khan Foundation Canada.
The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of the Ismailis, a branch of Shia Muslims. There are about 15 million Ismailis living in 25 countries, including about 80,000 in Canada.
Architecture, the Aga Khan said yesterday, helps connect people. “I think of people of different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds with different skills and temperaments, from different classes and social sectors, all of whom can come to understand one another better by experiencing one another’s architecture.”
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
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