The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced the master jury for the 2017-2019 award cycle. The jury, a diverse and global group comprising architects, academics, and theorists, will select the recipients of the award, each of whom will, in turn, receive a USD $I million prize for their winning work.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is unique in the crowded field of architectural awards in that it recognizes all parties involved in the conception, design, and realization of a project. Founded in 1977 by Aga Khan IV, it aims specifically to highlight projects of relevance or significance to primarily Islamic societies.
This focus may seem paradoxically broad, but is geared toward elevating projects that not only adeptly meet their functional requirements but “stimulate and respond to cultural aspirations.” Projects that inventively make use of local materials and/or appropriate technologies are given particular attention in the hopes that they inspire equally creative efforts elsewhere.
The jury members responsible for selecting the upcoming cycle of shortlisted and winning projects include, alphabetically by last name:
- Kwame Anthony Akroma-Ampim Kusi Appiah, an Anglo-Ghanaian American philosopher and cultural theorist recognized for his work in 2012 by President Obama
- Meisa Batayneh, founder and principal architect of maisam architects & engineers in Amman and Abu Dhabi
- Sir David Chipperfield, founder and principal of David Chipperfield Architects in London and Berlin
- Elizabeth Diller, co-founder and principal of Diller Scofidio Renfro in New York
- Edhem Eldem, a Professor of History at Boğaziçi University (Istanbul) and International Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History at the Collège de France
- Mona Fawaz, Professor in Urban Studies and Planning, and the director of the Social Justice and the City research programme at the American University of Beirut
- Kareem Ibrahim, Egyptian architect and urban researcher who worked on UNDP’s Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project
- Ali M. Malkawi, professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and founding director of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities
- Nondita Correa Mehrotra, principal of RMA Architects in India and the United States
The award is given in three-year cycles, allowing time for the rigorous on-site reviews by experts in architecture, engineering, and conservation, that the award has become known for. This upcoming cycle will span 2017 - 2019. The winners of the 2014-2016 cycle were:
- Bait Ur Rouf Mosque / Marina Tabassum (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
- Friendship Centre / Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury/URBANA (Gaibandha, Bangladesh)
- Hutong Children’s Library & Art Centre / ZAO/standardarchitecture (Cha’er Hutong #8, Dashilar)
- Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs / Zaha Hadid Architects (Bliss, Lebanon)
- Superkilen / BIG (Copenhagen, Denmark)
- Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge / Diba Tensile Architecture (Tehran, Iran)
News via Aga Khan Development Network.
