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.
Ismailimail 