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 emphasizes 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 organized on the basis of a three-year cycle and is governed by a Steering Committee chaired by the Aga Khan. A new Committee is constituted each cycle to establish the current eligibility criteria for the projects, to provide thematic direction in response to the priorities and issues that have emerged during the recent past, and to develop plans for the cyclical and long-term future of the Award. The Steering Committee is responsible for the selection of the Master Jury appointed for each Award cycle, and for the programmes of such activities as seminars and field visits, the Award Presentation Ceremony Events, publications and exhibitions.
Prizes totalling up to US$ 500,000 – constituting the largest architectural award in the world – are presented every three years to projects selected by an independent Master Jury. The Award has completed nine cycles of activity since 1977, and documentation has been compiled on over 7,500 building projects located throughout the world. To date, the Master Juries have selected ninety-two projects to receive Awards – for more information, please see Previous Award Cycles. The Tenth Award Cycle covers the period from 2005 to 2007.
Award Procedures
Project Eligibility
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture seeks out the broadest possible range of architectural interventions: restoration and social efforts are considered, as are contemporary design projects and those demonstrating the use of appropriate technologies. Although there are no fixed criteria as to the type, nature, location or cost of projects to be considered for the Award, eligible projects must be designed for or used by Muslim communities, in part or in whole, wherever they are located. Eligibility criteria for the Ninth Award Cycle focus on projects completed during the twelve-year period from 1994 to 2005. Accordingly, eligible projects must have been completed and in use for at least one full year between the period 1 January 1994 and 31 December 2005.
For recent cycles, the Award has encouraged exploration of more examples of the new types of architecture that are emerging throughout the Muslim world – projects that may be large-scale or modest in scope but that demonstrate new directions for architecture, planning and landscaping in both urban and rural contexts. Many such projects may not fit easily into any single category but embrace a variety of programmes and building types. The Award has also sought to identify more projects by young architects and projects in the categories of infrastructure, landscaping, community development and public urban spaces. In particular, emphasis has been placed on identifying responses to the growing housing-shortage crisis in many Muslim societies, as well as recognizing projects involving industry, such as factories, plants and processing facilities. New types of projects – productive territories, active landscapes or land-reclamation projects – are also being considered, as well as architecture that reflects the values of pluralism and coexistence.
To ensure the continuing impartiality of the Award procedures, no projects may be considered that are commissioned by His Highness the Aga Khan or undertaken by current members of the Award Steering Committee, Master Jury, or Award staff, or by the Board or staff of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
Submission Procedures
Nomination
Nominations are the official means of enrolment of projects to be considered for the Award, and the submission of a wide range of projects is ensured by a network of nominators designated by the Award for each cycle. This volunteer group comprises architects, professionals, scholars and others who are familiar with current architectural developments in Muslim societies. The identity of nominators is kept confidential, as are the names of nominated projects.
Identification
In addition to the nomination procedures, the project-identification programme permits all persons or institutions to bring projects to the attention of the Award. To register a project, preliminary documentation forms may be obtained by contacting the Award Office or by completing the on-line form. Pr ojects received through the identification programme are forwarded to nominators who may choose – but are not required – to nominate them for the Award.
Documentation
The architects of projects enrolled through the nomination programme receive an Award documentation package that describes the standardized presentation requirements. In addition to submitting photographs, slides and architectural drawings, architects are asked to complete a detailed questionnaire pertaining to use, cost, environmental and climatic factors, construction materials, building schedule, structural integrity and ongoing maintenance, and, more importantly, design concepts and each project's significance within its own context.
Review and Selection Procedures
Master Jury
The review of projects and the selection of Award recipients is the responsibility of an independent Master Jury specially appointed for each Award cycle. Each jury is pluridisciplinary, and brings together specialists in such fields as history, engineering, philosophy, architectural conservation, and contemporary arts, as well as practising architects, landscape architects and urban planners.
For the Tenth Award Cycle, the Master Jury will hold two meetings, the first in January and the second in June 2007, to arrive at its final decisions. At its first meeting, the Jury reviews the submissions enrolled through the nomination programme. The Jurors examine the documentation on each project and select approximately twenty-five to thirty projects for On-Site Project Review by experts selected by the Award.
On-Site Project Review
The Project Reviewers are architectural professionals specializing in various disciplines, including housing, urban planning, landscape design and restoration. Their task is to examine on site each of the projects shortlisted by the Master Jury, verifying project data and seeking additional information such as user reactions. The Reviewers must consider a detailed set of criteria in their written reports, and must also respond to 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
At the second week-long meeting of the Master Jury, the Project Reviewers make personal presentations on the projects they have reviewed. 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 organizations, 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.
Announcement of Awards
Ceremonies to honour the winning projects and mark the close of each triennial cycle are held in historic settings selected for their importance to Islamic architecture: Shalimar Gardens in Lahore (1980), Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (1983), Badi' Palace in Marrakesh (1986), Saladin's Citadel in Cairo (1989), Registan Square in Samarkand (1992), Karaton Surakarta in Solo (1995), the Alhambra in Granada (1998), the Citadel of Aleppo (2001), and the Gardens of Emperor Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi (2004). A seminar to present the awarded projects to a wider public is organized following each ceremony and provides a forum for the participants to debate issues of contemporary architecture. A major monograph bringing together descriptions of the winning projects, the Jury deliberations, and essays by both Master Jury and Steering Committee members is published on the occasion of the Award Ceremony.
Cyclical Calendar
Identification and Nomination of Projects April 2005 – 15 September 2006
Submission of Documentation June 2005 – 15 October 2006
Master Jury Meeting I January 2007
On–Site Project Review February – April 2007
Master Jury Meeting II June 2007
Award Announcement Ceremony Autumn 2007
Chairman's Award
The Chairman's Award was established to honour accomplishments that fall outside the scope of the Master Jury's mandate, and has in the past been made in recognition of the lifetime achievements of distinguished architects. The Chairman's Award has been presented on three occasions: in 1980, to the Egyptian architect and urban planner Hassan Fathy; in 1986, to Rifat Chadirji, an Iraqi architect and educator; and in 2001, to the Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. For more information, please see previous recipients of the Chairman's Award.
International and Regional Seminars
To reach out to a wider audience, the Award organizes international and regional seminars during each cycle. International seminars examine the trends and implications of architectural transformations in the Islamic world, while regional seminars explore architecture in Islamic cultures in a specific area. Designed to address developments in the built environments of Muslims, they bring together government officials, architects, academics, planners, social scientists, designers and architectural writers.
Since the Award's inception, twenty-one seminars have been held in various parts of the world, including Paris, Istanbul, Fez, Jakarta, Amman, Beijing, Dakar, Sana'a, Kuala Lumpur, Cairo, Dhaka, Granada, Malta, Zanzibar, Yogyakarta, Almaty, Baku, Beirut, Moscow, Yazd and Tehran.
Archives
Conserving the documentation of the building projects that have come under consideration has been one of the goals of the Award, and the materials gathered over each three-year Award cycle form the major part of the library and visual collections of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The visual collections consist of over 250,000 slides, prints and negatives, as well as the special portfolios of Award projects. The library consists of books, information on architects and firms, reports, special case studies, and ongoing subscriptions to architectural periodicals, along with newsletters, bulletins, journals, chronicles and unpublished reports. The library allows interested individuals access to the collections by appointment, and responds to requests for information from external sources.
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 the publications page.
The most recent cyclical monograph, entitled “Architecture and Polyphony : Building in the Islamic World Today” and featuring the recipients of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, is available from the publishers, Thames & Hudson. The publisher can be contacted by email or by facsimile at (44.171) 845.5050. For information about distribution in North America, please see the WWNorton website.
The previous cycle's monograph, Modernity and Community: Architecture in the Islamic World, can also be ordered from Thames & Hudson. It includes full descriptions and illustrations of the nine winning projects of Eighth Cycle of The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as well as essays by Kenneth Frampton and Charles Correa. The publisher can be contacted by email or by facsimile at (44.171) 845.5050.
The monograph featuring the 1998 cycle of the Award, entitled "Legacies for the Future: Contemporary Architecture in Islamic Societies" (Cynthia C. Davidson, editor), was published in January 1999 by Thames and Hudson. Copies of the book may be ordered from Thames and Hudson by e-mail 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.
The Award Logo
“Allah” rendered in square Kufic script forms the basis of the logo, designed by Karl Schlamminger.
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).