The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced the members of the Steering Committee for the Fourteenth Award Cycle (2017 – 2019). Established in 1977, the Award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture.
The Steering Committee is chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. The other members of the Steering Committee are: Sir David Adjaye, Principal Adjaye Associates, London, Mohammad al-Asad, Founding Director, Center for the Study of the Built Environment, Amman, Emre Arolat, Founder, EAA- Emre Arolat Architecture, New York-London-Istanbul, Francesco Bandarin, Special Advisor, UNESCO, Paris, Hanif Kara, Design Director – AKT II, London, and Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Azim Nanji, Special Advisor, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Brigitte Shim, Partner, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto, and Marina Tabassum, Principal, Marina Tabassum Architects, Dhaka. Farrokh Derakhshani is the Director of the Award.
The Steering Committee is the governing body of the Award. It is 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. For each Award cycle, the Steering Committee appoints an independent Master Jury to select the award recipients from the nominated projects.
The Award seeks projects that represent the broadest possible range of architectural interventions, with particular 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.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has a prize fund of US$ 1 million. The rigor of its nomination and selection process has made it, in the eyes of many observers, one of the world’s most influential architectural prizes. Projects that received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2016 include the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka and the Friendship Centre in Gaibandha, Bangladesh; the Hutong Children’s Library & Art Centre in Beijing, China; the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs in Beirut, Lebanon; the Superkilen in Copenhagen, Denmark; and the Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge in Tehran, Iran.