New team to lead Aga Khan Award for Architecture

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced members of the steering committee for the 2020-2022 cycle.

The members include Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, who is the president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities in Manama; Emre Arolat, the founder of EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture, Istanbul; and Meisa Batayneh, the principal architect and founder of Maisam architects and engineers in Amman.

Others are Sir David Chipperfield of David Chipperfield Architects, London; Souleymane Bachir Diagne of Institute of African Studies, Columbia University in New York; Prof Nasser Rabbat of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Marina Tabassum of Marina Tabassum Architects, Dhaka; and Sarah M Whiting, the Dean of Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. The committee is chaired by the Aga Khan.

As the governing body of the Award, one of the committee’s key tasks is to select an independent Master Jury which, in turn, chooses the award recipients from nominated projects. It is also responsible for establishing the eligibility criteria for project nominations, providing thematic direction to the award, and developing plans for its cyclical and long-term future.

Established in 1977, 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. It seeks projects that represent the broadest possible range of architectural interventions, with attention given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways, and those that are likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

Projects can be anywhere in the world but must successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies in which Muslims have a significant presence. Over 9,000 projects have been documented.

Ceremonies to announce the winning projects and mark the close of each triennial cycle are always held in settings selected for their architectural and cultural importance to the Muslim world.

The award has a prize fund of $1,000,000. The rigour of its nomination and selection process has made it, in the eyes of many observers, one of the world’s most important architectural prizes.