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.
The Award is governed by a steering committee chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. A new committee is constituted each cycle to establish the eligibility criteria for project submissions, provide thematic direction in response to emerging priorities and issues, and to develop plans for the future of the Award. The steering committee is responsible for the selection and appointment of the master jury for each Award cycle, and for the Award’s programme of international seminars, lectures, exhibitions and publications.
About the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, AKDN
The Award has a regular programme of international seminars that address issues and themes that emerge during the course of the Award cycle. The seminars are designed to address current developments in the architecture and built environment of Muslim societies and bring together government officials, architects, academics, planners, social scientists and designers and architectural writers among other experts.
Aga Khan Award for Architecture, AKDN
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“The goal was to create an intellectual space – something we might think of as a beautiful bustan in which there would be no possibility of suffocation from the dying weeds of dogma, whether professional or ideological; where the flowers of articulation and challenging ideas could grow without restraint; where the new plants of creativity and risk-taking could blossom in the full light of day; where beauty would be seen in the articulation of difference and for seeking diverse solutions in the form of plants of different sizes, shapes, textures and colours, presented in new configurations and arrangements; a bustan whose glory would stem from the value and legitimacy of the pluralism of the infinite manifestations of culture in the human community.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
Presentation of awards of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Aleppo, Syria
November 6, 2001
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN
“The Award recognises the efforts of architects and their clients, builders – large and small, governments, planners, international organisations, granting agencies, village organisations and individuals. All of them are collectively responsible for the creation of a humane and socially-supportive built environment that is so important to our quality of life.
One other area in which Architecture can play a connecting role is through the bridging of man and nature, between the natural and the built environments. For Islam particularly, this bridging objective is a religious imperative. The Quran commands us to be good stewards of Allah’s natural creation – even as we employ His gifts of time and talent to shape our surroundings. Neither environmental protection nor economic development can be long sustained unless both objectives are prioritized.
His Highness the Aga Khan
Presentation of awards of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, New Delhi, India
November 27, 2004
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN
“In my view, a healthy life, for an individual or a community, means finding a way to relate the values of the past, the realities of the present, and the opportunities of the future. The built environment can play a central role in helping us to achieve that balance.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
Presentation of awards of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
September 4, 2007
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN
“We have come a long way from a careless confidence that the built environment would somehow take care of itself. We are increasingly aware that the quality of our buildings can transform the quality of our lives, both spiritual and material….our geographical focus must be more inclusive. For centuries, most of our important buildings have been located in capital cities. But recent population growth has concentrated in what I would call secondary cities, often neglected by the global spotlight, but in need of intelligent planning.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
Presentation of awards of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Doha, Qatar
November 24, 2010
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN
“….architecture has a capacity to transform the quality of human existence. More than that, we believed that our Quranic heritage gave us the responsibility, as good stewards of the Divine creation, to shape and reshape our earthly environment in the service of humankind.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
Presentation of awards of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Lisbon, Portugal
September 6, 2013
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN
Compiled by Nimira Dewji
Ismailimail 