Aga Khan Award for Architecture announces its Master Jury for 2025 Award Geneva, Switzerland, 3 October 2024 – The <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/848" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Award for Architecture</a> has announced the members of its Master Jury for the 2023-2025 cycle. The independent Master Jury will select recipients of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The independent panel, responsible for selecting the winners of the prestigious US$ 1 million Award, will meet in January to evaluate and shortlist projects from hundreds of nominations worldwide.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The nine members of the Master Jury for the 16th Award cycle (2023-2025) are:&nbsp; <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/3263" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Azra Akšamija</a>, Professor&nbsp;&amp; Director, Art, Culture and Technology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/8874" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop</a>, Advisor for Heritage Projects, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Manama, Bahrain&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11424" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lucia Allais</a>, Director, Buell Center, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, USA&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11428" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Basulto</a>, Founder, ArchDaily, Santiago, Chile and Berlin, Germany&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11425" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yvonne Farrell</a>, Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio, Switzerland; Founder and Partner, Grafton Architects, Dublin, Ireland&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11426" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kabage Karanja</a>, Co-founder, Cave_bureau, Nairobi, Kenya; Assistant Professor of Architectural Design, Yale University, New York, USA&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11427" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yacouba Konaté</a>, Professor of Philosophy, University Félix Houphouët Boigny of Abidjan-Cocody, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/6786" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hassan Radoine</a>, Director General &amp; Full Professor, Citinnov SA for Integrated Territorial Planning and Smart Cities, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wong Mun Summ</a>, Professor-in-Practice, Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore; Co-founding Director, WOHA, Singapore&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;Following the selection of the shortlist, projects will undergo rigorous on-site reviews by independent experts, the majority of whom are architects, conservation specialists, planners or structural engineers. The Jury will meet for a second time in summer 2025 to examine the on-site reviews and select the final winners.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The selection process emphasises architecture that not only provides for people’s physical, social and economic needs, but also stimulates and responds to their cultural aspirations. Particular attention is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is governed by a Steering Committee chaired by&nbsp;His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V. The other members of the Steering Committee are:&nbsp; <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/8861" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Meisa Batayneh</a>, Principal Architect, Founder, maisam architects and engineers, Amman, Jordan&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/10128" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Souleymane Bachir Diagne</a>, Professor in the departments of French and Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, USA</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/10915" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lesley Lokko</a>, Founder &amp; Director, African Futures Institute, Accra, Ghana&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/1279" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gülru Necipoğlu</a>, Director and Professor of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/1475" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hashim Sarkis</a>, Dean, School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/10129" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sarah M. Whiting</a>, Dean, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;Farrokh Derakhshani is the Director of the Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;For more information, please contact:&nbsp;Nadia Siméon, Deputy Director, Aga Khan Award for Architecture&nbsp;<a href="mailto:nadia.simeon@akdn.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nadia.simeon@akdn.org</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NOTES&nbsp;&nbsp;The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), which integrates cultural heritage into its broader development strategies.&nbsp;&nbsp;AKTC works to preserve and promote the cultural and material heritage of Muslim societies, ensuring that culture plays a central role in improving economic prospects and providing hope to vulnerable communities. Its programmes include the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme, which works to revitalise historic cities in the Muslim world, both culturally and socio-economically. For three decades, it has been engaged in the rehabilitation of historic areas in Cairo, Kabul, Herat, Aleppo, Delhi, Zanzibar, Mostar, northern Pakistan, Timbuktu and Mopti.&nbsp;&nbsp;The programmes of AKTC also include the Aga Khan Music Awards, an interregional music and arts education programme with worldwide performance, outreach, mentoring and artistic production activities; the Education Programme, which aims to promote broader and deeper awareness amongst young people of the philosophy and values that underpin the efforts of the Trust; and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, which provides visitors with a window into the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations to world heritage.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Trust supports the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as <a href="http://www.archnet.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.ArchNet.org</a>, a major online resource on Islamic architecture.&nbsp;&nbsp;More information on the Award, the Trust and other AKDN activities can be found on our website:&nbsp;<a href="https://the.akdn/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://the.akdn</a>&nbsp;

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 16th Cycle: 2025 Master Jury

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The <a href="http://www.akdn.org/architecture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Award for Architecture</a> is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. During the selection process, an independent Master Jury selects a shortlist of projects for further study and in-depth review. On-site project reviewers are commissioned to examine each of the shortlisted projects in detail, verifying project data and seeking additional information such as user reactions. The projects in this collection have extensive documentation, including images, architect and client reports, presentation panels and in some cases videos. Projects are listed in the order, by cycle, in which they were selected.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture  On-site Reviewed and Shortlisted Projects 1980-2025

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Shortlisted Project

This collection contains videos presenting each of the 19 projects shortlisted for the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, representing the 16th cycle of this prestigious triennial award.&nbsp;

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2025 Shortlisted Projects Videos

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Video Introduction to Khudi Bari

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s chars are a landscape of constantly shifting rivers and sandbars with a population of people living in a permanent state of precarity. Aggravated by climate change, the annual monsoons and river erosion bring frequent floods that destroy homes and livelihoods. In 2018, a self-initiated research project by Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) into land rights led them to these agrarian communities, and sparked the idea of creating a flexible, affordable, self-build housing solution adapted to their needs. And so the Khudi Bari – Bengali for “Little House” – was born, through extensive consultation with char community members. Its simple, space-frame structure using chevron-braced bamboo is joined together with specially designed steel connectors fabricated in a Dhaka foundry that has a long working association with the architects. The upper storey, essential to ensure storage and sleeping space even during floods, has front and rear openings for cross ventilation. The roof is of corrugated tin produced in Chittagong – chosen by the community in preference over thatch, for its durability and reusability. Wood-framed panels are provided for the upper facade, while the lower walls are left to the owner-users’ initiative: from grasses or sticks to jute fabric or salvaged corrugated metal sheets. Allocated by the communities themselves to those in greatest need, the basic Khudi Bari kits cost the equivalent of only US$450 – a fraction of the roughly US$2,500 starting price of commonly available wooden prefabricated houses already being produced in Dhaka. Ongoing monitoring assesses the structures’ performance over time, and MTA established the non-profit Foundation for Architecture and Community Equity (FACE) to facilitate their take-up. By early 2025, over seventy-eight structures had been erected at various locations. Owners attest that they fulfil their promise of being buildable within three days and dismantlable within three hours. Some have already withstood several cycles of flooding and/or removal to new sites. MTA have also successfully scaled up the modular system to create several strikingly and thoughtfully designed women-led or women-oriented facilities in Bangladesh’s vast Rohingya refugee camps, whose predominantly Muslim communities have fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar. Fast-growing and abundantly available across Bangladesh, the bamboo is treated in the char communities by soaking in water for twenty-four hours. In the Rohingya camps, it is treated with borax and boric acid to protect against fungal decay and insect infestation, in a special facility created by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Jury citation “The Khudi Bari project has been granted the Award for developing a flexible system that addresses global challenges with vernacular solutions, reframed through a contemporary lens to evolve and scale up so as to deliver a wider, regional impact. Based on a module of elementary geometry, its rationalisation – paired with the adaptation of vernacular bamboo techniques – puts humanity before aesthetics, and it is humble enough to allow for an open-source use that enables communities to build and localise by themselves. Its easy and rapid deployment and disassembly provide an engaging solution for the nomadic condition of the climate-displaced communities in the flood-plains of Bangladesh, for whom it was first designed, already impacting the lives of hundreds of families. As it grows into larger-scale communal projects, the Khudi Bari maintains the simplicity of its structure while still delivering grace and beauty, reminding us that design for survival doesn’t exclude architectural quality. Thanks to the flexibility and open-endedness of its geometry, the design allows for the individual module to scale from a single shelter into collective communal buildings, widening its impact from personal dignity to social infrastructure, in the form of classrooms, community kitchens, and humanitarian aid centres. The project has a deep ecological framing, contributing to the global advancement of bamboo as a material. A living, regenerative resource widely available across the Bamboo Belt in the Global South, it is increasingly being adopted as perception changes from that of a precarious material to a viable, scalable, sustainable solution, delivering value that goes beyond style. Clear and powerful architectural ideas have the possibility to reach and inspire others worldwide, but then have to be downloaded into specific contexts to be built with local resources. Ideas can and should go global, but materials need to stay local. The Khudi Bari project is profoundly optimistic, as it reframes the role that architecture can and should play in times of difficult global realities – as a hopeful, actionable, and human-centred solution that is grounded and systemic.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Khudi Bari

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Video Introduction to West Wusutu Village Community Centre

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China

The long-standing presence of China’s Hui Muslim community around the Inner Mongolian capital Hohhot is evidenced by its early seventeenth-century Great Mosque – one of eleven mosques in the city. However, West Wusutu Village, adjacent to Hohhot and officially recognized as an exemplary 'Ethnic Minority Characteristic Village' of pluralistic coexistence, has long lacked public spaces such as a community centre or a mosque，capable of accommodating the everyday life of its multi-ethnic community within reasonable walking distance. Many of the village’s working-age natives migrate to the city. Conversely, its abundant apricot blossoms and mountain scenery have long brought a regular influx of visiting artists. A government rural revitalisation initiative initiated in 2018 saw several vacant vernacular buildings transformed into premises for artists, while others were demolished. Among the architects involved was Zhang Pengju, whose rapport with residents made him the natural choice when they secured permission for a cultural and social space to be built on the site of a former Buddhist temple. Villagers and artists together raised the necessary funds. The project took just seven months from design to completion, coming in below even the modest budget that had been set. Instrumental in its low cost was the approach of building it almost entirely of bricks salvaged from the earlier demolitions. A neighbourhood café and restaurant opens directly onto the side street. The rest of the facilities are accessed via a narrow entrance corridor that leads straight into the off-centre circular courtyard. Forming the heart of the plan’s sophisticated geometry, its sunken central area can be turned into a temporary pool through a mechanism to block the rainwater drainage channel. From the courtyard, visitor circulation is fluid throughout, with no solid divisions between spaces. Yet, it is choreographed in such a way that outsiders coming for cultural events or art exhibitions are unlikely to disturb the locals’ communal activities – mahjong or cards for the older generation, pottery for the youth. Breaking into the courtyard’s circular shape, a staircase leads to a roof terrace where seating steps invite social gathering, and from which people can watch performances in the courtyard below. This is also a place for children’s play, and the forms of the four ventilation towers – which are connected to an underground cooling system – make this open space fun and intriguing, as well as signalling the centre’s presence from a distance. The centre has already boosted the local economy by attracting more tourists and sparking the opening of new guesthouses and restaurants. Jury citation “The West Wusutu Village Community Centre shifts the paradigm of contemporary architectural design beyond object-based and aesthetic end-results, orienting it towards translating users’ daily community needs into a well-conceived architectural vehicle. The dynamics of this project significantly enhance social interaction, cultural experience, and environmental resilience. Thus, by integrating diverse users and embracing a high multifunctional articulation through its fluid spaces, the centre has generated a valuable shared and inclusive communal microcosm within a rural human macrocosm. The project’s architectural performance is based around integrating multiple communal activities not through rigid functional and confined spaces, but rather through a permeating circular courtyard at its core. Beyond its tangible form, this courtyard orchestrates continuous circulation and orientation to different, openly linked rooms. With a ramp linking the ground level and the rooftop as a continuous public space, the architectural ensemble ingeniously rethinks notions of public and private spaces as well as rigid level boundaries. Accordingly, it demonstrates how sensitive and sensible design can be in a rural open environment, by encapsulating villagers’ communal interactions in a compact physical envelope to generate inclusiveness, resilience, sustainability, and well-being. The project pursues a spatial-articulation strategy which has been painstakingly translated via a material form, yet being careful not to fall into a dichotomy of space versus function. In addition to its highly optimised form, the structure presents a transcendent, impactful landmark in the village’s landscape. The architecture takes advantage of the beauty of its natural environs, with its views towards the Daqing Mountains, while remaining anchored to the site by surviving trees as a marker for villagers’ collective memory. In terms of tectonics and feasibility, the West Wusutu Village Community Centre embraces a clear, non-alienating geometry where horizontal and vertical permeability are exemplary. Whereas the cooling towers enhance the overall aesthetics of the envelope, they also link the ventilation systems to enhance passive performance. In addition, the large-scale reuse of bricks conveys a critical message of sustainability – especially in a rural context, where nature is predominant.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

West Wusutu Village Community Centre

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Video Introduction to Revitalisation of Historic Esna

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Egypt

Located by the Nile about 60 kilometres south of Luxor, Esna is best known for its temple devoted to the ram-headed Ancient Egyptian creator god Khnum. The small city’s dense and richly layered urban fabric – from the Graeco-Roman, Coptic, Islamic/Fatimid, and Mamluk-Ottoman periods through to nineteenth- and twentieth-century vernacular domestic architecture – testifies to millennia as a commercial and cultural hub. Yet its entire historic core had been earmarked by the government for demolition, left dangerously fragile through decay since a river barrage built in the 1990s had caused a 95 per cent reduction in the cruise-ship tourism on which it had come to depend. Egypt’s national planning body invited the Cairo-based urban development company Takween, experienced in participatory upgrading, to offer an alternative vision. The strategy they devised to save this precious living heritage site is one of understated yet transformative urban acupuncture: small interventions in the living urban tissue, combining cultural sustainability with inclusive economic development. The initial phase, titled Rediscovering Esna’s Cultural Heritage Assets (RECHA), received USAID funding – a first for an Egyptian-led cultural heritage initiative. It focused on restoring and/or adaptively reusing some twenty key historic structures, employing the region’s traditional techniques – from mud brick to lime plastering, terracotta tiles, and fine wood-carving – and using salvaged materials wherever possible. Among these structures are the Wakālat al-Geddāwī – an eighteenth-century caravanserai that had been closed to the public since 1951 – and the vast Qīsāriyya Market, with its 144 shops, frequented by locals and visitors alike. The Temple of Khnum was also upgraded, improving accessibility and public services to the site that is sunken some 10 metres below today’s ground level. A second phase, Value Investment in Sustainable Integrated Tourism in Esna (VISIT-Esna), went on to establish a broader socio-economic urban revitalisation framework by developing small and micro businesses alongside tourism services and cultural branding. Two of the new businesses are entirely female-led – the Okra kitchen restaurant, serving distinctive local dishes that visitors will not find in other parts of Egypt, and a woodworking workshop – empowering many women who previously had no paid employment. A model of bottom-up sustainable development, the project has reversed Esna’s decline and created hundreds of lasting jobs for locals, revitalising age-old crafts and passing them on to a new generation. Since its launch, visitor numbers have tripled. Jury Citation﻿“The initiative to revitalise historic Esna goes beyond the usual limits of an urban conservation project that is formally framed in advance and instead presents a bottom-up strategy through an inclusive, socially structured programme to gradually improve the heritage environment. Hence, residents play a major role in maintaining the urban synergy through its living heritage, sparking sustainable regenerative momentum in what had become dilapidated built fabric. By restoring or reusing buildings – commercial, residential, and spiritual – the project is stimulating a whole historic urban metabolism to cope with the contemporary challenge of improving human conditions and working infrastructure for craftspeople. Its community-driven initiatives are a catalyst for upgrading the local economy through small and micro enterprises. Accordingly, the project echoes local techne and know-how through innovative small and accumulative results to actively generate the conservation of the urban core, the city’s identity, cultural dynamism, and economic resilience. In doing so, the project clearly shifts the paradigm of urban conservation to another level, prioritising the role of residents’ collective intelligence in transforming their challenging and derelict built environment. Rather than only addressing monuments and other tangible historic fabric, the focus is also on intangible cultural capital as leverage to revitalise both the material and immaterial dimensions. The key gain from the revitalisation of historic Esna is how it reactivates historic spaces through incremental and accumulative actions to synergise the social, cultural, environmental, and economic potentials through the community’s ingenuity. Thus, it introduces social innovation as a creative tool for urban upgrading, such as the Okra women-run initiative for gender inclusion and local economic growth. With its highly participative approach towards urban heritage conservation, the project became the first “conservation plan” for a non-monumental urban area to be approved by the Government of Egypt. Unprecedented in its combination of adaptive reuse with community empowerment while stimulating the local economy, it could bring balance to Egypt’s otherwise more formal heritage conservation strategies and policies.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Revitalisation of Historic Esna

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Video Introduction to The Arc at Green School

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Indonesia

On the campus of Green School Bali, the Arc is a new community wellness centre designed on the existing foundations of a former temporary gymnasium. Other all-bamboo buildings on the campus feature post-and-beam construction while the Arc employs a pioneering system of bamboo arches interconnected with anticlastic bamboo grid-shells that curve convexly along a longitudinal plane and concavely along the perpendicular section. The arches are very steep on the sides and reach a height of 14 metres; the free span of the interior area is 19 metres, allowing for the space still to be used as a gymnasium as well as for a community centre for all of the campus students and teachers. The construction is 100% bamboo and results in a fully open-air tropical structure whose passive design, featuring high ceilings, open ends, and deep overhangs, ensures natural ventilation and year-round comfort. It is the culmination of over a decade of research into the use of bamboo as a versatile and sustainable construction material. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

The Arc at Green School

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Video Introduction to Islamic Centre Nurul Yaqin Mosque

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In 2018, an earthquake and tsunami struck Palu City, causing widespread destruction, including of the original Nurul Yaqin Mosque. A new mosque was conceived in response, both to rebuild what was lost and to create a new space for the community that symbolised the city’s resilience. The mosque serves as a place for daily prayers and religious events. Across two buildings, the project features a prayer hall as well as utility spaces for visitors and the imam. Furthermore, there is a communal outdoor space, offering a place to relax or host community events. A shallow pond of water surrounds the mosque, giving the impression that it is 'floating', and highlighting the importance of working in harmony with nature. When the mosque reaches full capacity, the pond can be drained and utilised as additional prayer space. The mosque is primarily made of concrete and bricks, with blue terrazzo flooring. Ornamentation is kept modest, and the design emphasises natural ventilation and minimal maintenance. The barrel-vaulted prayer hall is designed to evoke the traditional mosque dome but with a modern twist. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Islamic Centre Nurul Yaqin Mosque

Aga Khan Award for Architecture announces 2025 shortlist, 19 projects in 15 countries, from Senegal to China. The 19 shortlisted projects were selected by an independent Master Jury from a pool of 369 projects nominated for the 16th Award Cycle (2023-2025). The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established by His Late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence. Since it was launched 48 years ago, 128 projects have received the award and nearly 10,000 building projects have been documented. The AKAA’s selection process emphasises architecture that not only provides for people’s physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural aspirations. Bangladesh-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21974" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Khudi Bari</a>, in various locations, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marina Tabassum Architect</a>, is a replicable solution for displaced communities affected by climatic and geographic changes, which can be easily disassembled and reassembled to adapt to the users' circumstances. China-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21975" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">West Wusutu Village Community Centre</a>, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, by <a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11596" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zhang Pengju</a>, provides social and cultural spaces for residents and artists, while addressing the religious needs of the local Hui Muslims. Built from reclaimed bricks, it comprises indoor and outdoor multifunctional spaces that foster community cohesion. Egypt-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21976" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Revitalisation of Historic Esna</a>, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/7101" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Takween Integrated Community Development</a>, addresses cultural tourism challenges in Upper Egypt through physical interventions, socioeconomic initiatives, and innovative urban strategies, transforming Esna from a neglected site centred on the Temple of Khnum into a prospering historic city.&nbsp;Indonesia-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21979" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Arc at Green School</a>, in Bali, by<a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11603" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> IBUKU</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11604" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elora Hardy</a>, is the produce of 15 years of bamboo experimentation at the Green School Bali. The Arc is a new community wellness centre designed on the existing foundations of a former temporary gymnasium. The structure bridges high-precision engineering and local craftsmanship.-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21977" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Islamic Centre Nurul Yaqin Mosque</a>, in Palu, Central Sulawesi, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11598" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dave Orlando and Fandy Gunawan</a>, is erected on the site of a former mosque destroyed by a tsunami. In 2018, the new Islamic Centre serves as a space for gathering and worship. Open to the landscape, it is surrounded by a shallow reflective pool which can be drained to accommodate more people.-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21978" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Microlibraries</a> in various cities, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/8750" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SHAU</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11600" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Daliana Suryawinata</a>, <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11601" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Florian Heinzelmann </a>who initiated the project, engage with stakeholders at every level to offer quality public spaces in several Kampung and parks in Indonesia. Six have been built so far, and 100 are envisioned by 2045.&nbsp;Iran-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21981" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Majara Complex and Community Redevelopment</a>, in Hormuz Island by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/9356" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ZAV Architects</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11608" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mohamadreza Ghodousi</a> is famous for its colourful domes which provide sustainable accommodations for tourists who visit the unique landscape of Hormuz. Built by upskilled local workers, it also offers new facilities for the islanders who come there to socialise, pray, or use the library.-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21980" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jahad Metro Plaza </a>in Tehran, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11606" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KA Architecture Studio</a>, is built to supersede the poor-quality existing structures. It transformed the site into an appreciated landmark designed for pedestrians. Clad in local handmade brick, the arched vaults vary in height to allow light and air into the space they shelter. Israel-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21982" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Khan Jaljulia Restoration</a> in Jaljulia by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11611" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elias Khuri</a>, is an economical intervention, situated among the remains of a fourteenth century Khan. It reconnects the people to their cultural heritage by transforming the deserted historical site into a vibrant public space for communal activities. Kenya-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21984" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Campus Startup Lions</a>, in Turkana by<a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11613" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Kéré Architecture </a>is an educational and entrepreneurial hub which provides a space for technology-driven education, business incubation and community engagement. Built with local volcanic stone, the design integrates rainwater harvesting, solar energy and tall ventilation towers reminiscent of surrounding termite mounds. Morocco-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21985" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Revitalisation of Lalla Yeddouna Square</a> in the medina of Fez, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11408" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mossessian Architecture</a> and <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11615" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yassir Khalil Studio</a> aims to reconnect to the riverfront, and enhances pedestrian circulation in the area. Existing structures were preserved and new spaces designed for the benefit of local residents, artisans, and visitors from around the world.&nbsp;Pakistan-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21988" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vision Pakistan</a>, in Islamabad by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11619" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DB Studios</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11620" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mohammad Saifullah Siddiqui</a>, accommodates a tailoring training centre operated by Vision Pakistan, a charity that aims to empower disadvantaged youths. Located in a dense area, this multistorey facility echoes the city's architecture from the 1960s while boasting flamboyant jaalis inspired by Pakistani and Arab crafts.-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/sites/21986" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Denso Hall Rahguzar Project</a>, in Karachi by<a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/6742" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Heritage Foundation Pakistan</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/39" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yasmeen Lari</a>, a heritage-led eco-urban enclave, was created by using low-carbon materials, in response to the harsh climate of Karachi, prone to floods and heatwaves. The handcrafted terracotta cobbles absorb rainwater and irrigate the newly planted "forests", which in turn cool and clean the air. Palestine-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21989" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Wonder Cabinet</a>, in Bethlehem by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/6604" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AAU Anastas</a>, is a multi-purpose, non-profit exhibition and production space in Bethlehem, founded by the architects. Built with the input of local artisans and contractors, the three-floor concrete building is becoming a key hub for craft, design, innovation and learning. Qatar-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21990" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Ned Hotel</a>, in Doha by<a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11623" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> David Chipperfield Architects</a>, a Middle Eastern brutalist architecture once hosted the Ministry of Interior, before being carefully adapted into a 90-room boutique hotel, therefore contributing to architectural regeneration in the area. Saudi Arabia-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21991" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Shamalat Cultural Centre</a>, in Riyadh, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11625" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Syn Architects</a> / <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11626" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sara Alissa</a>, <a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11627" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nojoud Alsudairi</a>, is a cultural space on the periphery of Diriyah, developed from an old mud house transformed by artist Maha Malluh. Juxtaposing old and new, the centre offers a sensitive perspective on heritage conservation in the region, aiming to integrate historic spaces into everyday life. Senegal-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21992" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rehabilitation and Extension of Dakar Railway Station,</a> in Dakar by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11629" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ga2D</a>, to accommodate the passengers of a new express railway line, creates a deliberate contrast between the old and new structures. Vehicular circulation was relegated at the back of the site, giving back the forecourt to pedestrian travellers. Türkiye-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21993" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rami Library</a>, by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11633" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Han Tümertekin Design &amp; Consultancy</a>, the largest library in Istanbul. It took up quarters in the former Rami Barracks, a large single-storey structure with high volumes, built in the 18th century. A minimal intervention approach was chosen to preserve the original spatial qualities of the structure while accommodating new library functions.&nbsp;United Arab Emirates-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/sites/21987" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Morocco Pavilion Expo Dubai 2020</a>, by <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/6911" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oualalou + Choi</a>, has been designed to outlive the Expo 2020 and to be converted into a cultural facility. The pavilion pioneers the advancement of large-scale rammed earth construction methods. It obtained the gold LEED certification for its use of passive cooling strategies which keep mechanical air-conditioning to a bare minimum. The shortlisted projects have undergone rigorous reviews, at the site of each project, by independent experts, including architects, conservation specialists, planners and structural engineers. The Master Jury meets again this summer to examine the on-site reviews and determine the final recipients of the Award.&nbsp;The nine members of the independent Master Jury who selected the 19 shortlisted projects are: <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/3263" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Azra Akšamija</a>, Director, Art, Culture and Technology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, United States of America; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/8874" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Noura Al Sayeh-Holtrop</a>, Advisor for Heritage Projects, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Manama, Bahrain; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11424" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lucia Allais</a>, Director, Buell Center, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, United States of America; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11428" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Basulto</a>, Founder &amp; Editor, ArchDaily, Santiago, Chile &amp; Berlin, Germany; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11425" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yvonne Farrell,</a> Visiting Professor, Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio, Switzerlan; Founder and Partner, Grafton Architects, Dublin, Ireland; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11426" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kabage Karanja</a>, Co-founder, Cave_bureau, Nairobi, Kenya; Assistant Professor of Architectural Design, Yale University, New York, United States of America; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11427" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yacouba Konaté</a>, Professor of Philosophy, University Félix Houphouët Boigny of Abidjan-Cocody, Abidjan, Ivory Coast; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/6786" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hassan Radoine</a>, Director General, Citinnov SA for Integrated Territorial Planning and Smart Cities, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco; and <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/1955" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mun Summ Wong</a>, Professor-in-Practice, Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore; Co-founding Director, WOHA, Singapore. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is governed by a Steering Committee chaired by <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/11635" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V</a>. The other members of the Steering Committee are <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/8861" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Meisa Batayneh</a>, Principal Architect, Founder, maisam architects and engineers, Amman, Jordan; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/10128" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Souleymane Bachir Diagne</a>, Professor of Philosophy and Francophone Studies, Columbia University, New York, United States of America; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/10915" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lesley Lokko</a>, Founder &amp; Director, African Futures Institute, Accra, Ghana; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/1279" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gülru Necipoğlu</a>, Director and Professor, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States of America; <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/1475" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hashim Sarkis</a>, Founder &amp; Principal, Hashim Sarkis Studio (HHS); Dean, School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America; and <a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/10129" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sarah M. Whiting</a>, Partner, WW Architecture; Dean and Josep Lluís Serp Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States of America.<a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/9822" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Farrokh Derakhshani</a> is the Director of the Award.&nbsp;

2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Shortlisted Projects

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Video Introduction to Microlibraries

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Microlibrary Warak Kayu_200090.jpg

The Microlibraries is a series of environmentally friendly reading facilities, under 250 square metres, built on kampung (urban village) and park locations around Indonesia to facilitate public places of identity and community. Qualities shared by all include passive climate strategies (sun shading, rain protection, cross ventilation) and contextually conscious but eye-catching design, while each has a unique approach towards the notion of public education, reading, and playing. Of the six built so far, some employ traditional local materials while others have facades inventively composed of ice-cream buckets, PVC pipes, porous folded textiles, or Zollinger-inspired, waffle-like wooden frameworks. One includes a rooftop vegetable garden and a slide; another features a net where children can lie to read, and a giant swing suspended beneath. To reach remote locations and ensure affordability, the architects are investigating a different, standardised, modular timber 'flat-pack' approach with possibilities for customisation. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Microlibraries

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Majara Residence_203403.jpg

Iran

A fifth of global oil supplies are shipped via the Strait of Hormuz. Long plagued by the political and military tensions that come with such a strategic position, Hormuz Island’s population of under 6,000 people were living mainly from fishing and illegal goods trafficking. Recognising its potential for eco-tourism, in 2008 a group of Iranian artists led by Ali Rezvani launched an annual “Soil Carpet” land-art event on the island using natural ochres from its spectacularly colourful mountains and valleys. Unfortunately, this did not bring the hoped-for economic boost, tending only to attract day-trippers and backpackers due to the basic nature of available accommodations. Seeking a more structured strategy, they turned to the Tehrani artistic producer Ehsan Rasoulof, who brought a multidisciplinary team of experts on board, including ZAV Architects. The new approach, also known as “Presence in Hormuz”, began with gradual small interventions of architecture and urbanism, to empower the community to develop organically. So as to encourage interaction between islanders and outsiders, the Rong Cultural Centre was then built next to the dock where tourists arrive. It is formed of two domes – one containing a café serving south-Iranian dishes, the other a visitor centre – connected by a strip of stepped seating as a social gathering place or vantage spot for open-air cultural activities. The construction technique, known as “superadobe”, involved layering bags filled with local earth, sand, and a little cement for cohesion, here reinforced with steel and covered in a weather-resistant, cement-based finish. Labour-intensive but with low material cost, it is a method that favours employment opportunities and was executed by locals trained on the job. The same construction method was used to create the initiative’s largest element, the Majara Residence: a gateless complex comprising 200 domes of varying sizes, their shapes recalling both the mountains and the local vernacular water storage structures. Their colours, too, echo the landscapes – although with artificial paint, avoiding overuse of natural resources. Interconnected in clusters with pathways meandering around and over them, they host accommodations for up to seventy-five guests and ten artist residencies, plus service spaces and open-to-all functions from restaurants and art/craft retail to a worship space and a public library. Still ongoing, the project now includes Typeless, a plain, flexible hub used mainly for activities related to monitoring the overall initiative’s impact, and Ozar, an old boat fragment transformed into a mobile film projection facility amongst new elements. Jury Citation “Set within a breathtaking geological context that dates back millions of years, these projects on Hormuz Island, Iran, are framed in relation to a vast mountain range typified by colourful mineral and salt deposits. So, while being intricately geo-referenced to the site, they are meaningfully embedded within the social and cultural fabric of the land. The project can be understood as a vibrant and colourful archipelago of varying programmes that serve to incrementally define a truly alternative model for tourism in this context and beyond. Following on from its first new structure – the simple viewing and interpretation organisation called Rong Cultural Centre – the Majara Residence presents an offer within a growing global industry. Choosing not to follow a hyper-luxurious and resource-demanding typology, it leans instead towards a pluralist and inclusive framework that counters excess and becomes part of a community-driven evolutionary process of growth. Predominantly built using a sandbag “superadobe” structural system, alongside more conventional building processes, the project exploits knowledge systems that leverage both local and wider global expertise, realised with the community. It complements the remoteness of Hormuz with a comprehensive off-grid suite of solutions that reduce pressure on the island’s limited energy and water resources. As well as the new structures, which include the “Typeless” building used largely for activities related to monitoring the scheme’s impact, the ongoing urban acupuncture interventions in the town of Hormuz are another key strength of the initiative. While the Majara Residence project has won many awards and has received worldwide attention on social media, what has tended to remain unsaid until now is how it sits at the intersection between geology, community life, and tourism – an industry which can be so destructively globalising. In its deep sensitivity to context, this project exemplifies how architecture can become a formidable force of optimism and rigorous resolve to shift the social, cultural, and material pendulum.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Majara Residence and Community Redevelopment

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Video Introduction to Jahad Metro Plaza

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Jahad Metro Plaza_203619.jpg

Unchecked, car-oriented urban expansion in the four decades since the Iranian Revolution had seriously diminished Tehran’s liveability, and the role that public spaces have played in past political demonstrations had fed the authorities’ reluctance to invest in them. Aiming to foster a “pedestrian-oriented city” through multiple small-scale interventions, a group of urban specialists, together with members of the previous municipal administration, embarked on a project titled “Meydangah” to identify and activate underused spaces that could be made into vibrant urban nodes. One of the 100 sites that they pinpointed was Jahad Metro Plaza. They sought out young architecture practices for the commissions – in this case KA Architecture Studio, led by Mohammad Khavarian. The original idea was simply to redesign the pavement in front of the metro entrance, but the architects successfully argued the case for a more impactful intervention that also involved replacing the entrance building. Located at the intersection of Valiasr Street, which runs north–south through the city’s historic core, Dr Fatemi Street and Ghazali Street, with its buildings dating back to 1980s urban planning initiatives, the triangular site offered a prime location for a structure that would resonate with its cultural and historical setting. An assembly of interlocking barrel vaults, both monumental and welcoming, has transformed the metro entrance into an all-weather social hub that buffers traffic noise. In a series of indoor or outdoor spaces that offer varying levels of intimacy, people can take a restful pause, gather to chat, or listen to street musicians. Differences in vault heights make the building permeable to both air and light, while establishing strong visual and functional connections across the site levels. Construction was completed economically in just seven months, using a modular steel-mesh framework on which traditional bricks, handmade in the primary contractor’s local workshop, were applied – a familiar technique requiring no specialist skills. Subtle variations in the brickwork reference Iran’s history of geometric brick patterning. For resistance to vandalism, there are no loose furnishings, and lighting is embedded in ceilings and walls. The plaza in front is organised for street vendors, including Afghan immigrants who previously operated illegally and can now continue to work in a safe, officially approved setting. Jury Citation “With 159 stations and a length of over 250 kilometres, the Tehran Metro is one of the most extensive in the world, carrying millions of passengers every day. As critical urban infrastructure, the functionality and appeal of the Metro are central concerns for the municipality, the client for this project. The redevelopment of the station entrance transformed a once conventional and modest access point into an open public space: a plaza that encourages passage, encounters and events. Unlike the former structure, which closed off stairways at ground level, the new design opens the station to the sky and neighbourhood, converting former stair areas into a pedestrian zone with direct street access and improving accessibility. The wide facade enhances ventilation and provides a welcoming space for public interaction, informal commerce and urban life, acknowledging the need of metro passengers for space beyond transit. The project’s architecture is characterised by its striking volume and integration of vaults, arches and circular forms, which reference Iran’s rich civilisational heritage. The use of brick further strengthens this historical connection, and its warm, subtle texture emphasises the station’s status as a new urban monument. At the same time, the station blends in with its contemporary surroundings, standing out among the newer buildings that frame the site. This renewed identity imbues the station with energy and distinction, establishing it as a landmark within the neighbourhood and the wider city. Its strategic location further enhances its potential to become embedded in the collective memory of Tehran’s residents and visitors. Aesthetically, the design draws upon Iranian architectural traditions. Daylight penetrates through large openings in the ceiling, illuminating the interior and improving the station’s environmental quality. The widened entrance brings in light and air, creating a sense of openness and flow. Through its subtle strength, attention to heritage and craft, and its aim to revive pedestrian space and social interaction, the project exemplifies the role of architecture in shaping public spaces as living dialogues between history, people and ideas.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Jahad Metro Plaza

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Video Introduction to Khan Jaljulia Restoration

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Khan Jaljulia Restoration_201565.jpg

Israel

The Khan Jaljulia Restoration is a Palestinian historical heritage site that is being preserved in a two-step-scheme. Before the Khan’s remains can be restored and adapted for use, the site is transformed into an open market space, in order to raise funds for the restoration. Meanwhile, the site is being used as a social space for cultural and festive events. The project aims at reconnecting the people to their cultural heritage and providing a space for communal activities. The project draws on the modest design of the historical Khan for the simple and low-cost construction plan. It aims to recover the destroyed east side of the Khan. An elevated platform made of local stone features tiered seating for public events made of a simple iron structure. In the centre of the site, a new square platform of 367 square metres has been added that refers to the colonnaded courtyards of Arab mosques and that will in the future host exhibition stalls. It is based on a simple construction system using a grid of columns, found in the Khan’s original design. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Khan Jaljulia Restoration

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Video Introduction to Startup Lions Campus

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2025 Shortlisted Projects Videos

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2025 Shortlisted Projects Videos

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