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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Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winner

This collection contains video presenting each of the 7 winners for the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, representing the 16th cycle of this prestigious triennial award.&nbsp;

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winners 2025 Video

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16th Cycle: 2023-2025&nbsp; Recipients of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture are: Bangladesh<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21974" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Khudi Bari</a>, in various locations, by<a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/11594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marina Tabassum Architects</a><a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>– a replicable solution built with bamboo and steel for displaced communities affected by climatic and geographic changes. The Jury recognised the project’s deep ecological framing, contributing to the global advancement of bamboo as a material. China<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21975" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">West Wusutu Village Community Centre</a>, in Hohhot, by<a href="https://admin.archnet.org/admin/authorities/11740" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/11740" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Inner Mongolian Grand Architecture Design Co</a>., Ltd – a centre built from reclaimed bricks that provides social and cultural spaces for residents and artists, while addressing the cultural needs of the local multi-ethnic community, including Hui Muslims. The Jury noted that the project generates a valuable shared and inclusive communal microcosm within a rural human macrocosm. Egypt<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21976" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Revitalisation of Historic Esna </a>by<a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/7101" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Takween Integrated Community Development </a>– a project that addresses cultural tourism challenges through physical interventions, socioeconomic initiatives and innovative urban strategies, transforming a neglected site into a prospering historic city. The Jury acknowledged the ways the project is stimulating a historic urban metabolism to cope with the contemporary challenge of improving human conditions. Iran<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21981" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Majara Residence and Community Redevelopment,</a> in Hormuz Island, by <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/9356" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ZAV Architects</a> – a colourful complex whose domes reflect the rainbow island's ochre-rich soils, providing sustainable accommodations for tourists who visit the unique landscape of Hormuz Island. The Jury described the project as a vibrant archipelago of varying programmes that serve to incrementally build an alternative tourism economy.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21980" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jahad Metro Plaza</a>, in Tehran, by <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/11606" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KA Architecture Studio</a> – a once dilapidated station transformed into a vibrant urban node for pedestrians. The Jury highlighted the use of local handmade brick as strengthening the connection with Iran’s rich architectural heritage, while its warm subtle texture emphasises the station’s status as a new urban monument. Pakistan<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21988" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vision Pakistan,</a> in Islamabad, by <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/11619" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DB Studios</a> – a multistorey facility boasting joyful facades inspired by Pakistani and Arab craft, while housing a charity that aims to empower disadvantaged youth through vocational training. The Jury noted that the building not only contains a new type of education, but is full of light, spatially interesting and economically efficient. Palestine<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/21989" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wonder Cabinet,</a> in Bethlehem, by<a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/6604" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> AAU Anastas</a> – a multipurpose, non-profit exhibition and production space built with the input of local artisans and contractors, to become a key hub for craft, design, innovation and learning. The Jury found that the building provides a model for an architecture of connection, rooted in contemporary expressions of national identity, and asserts the importance of cultural production as a means of resistance. “Inspiring younger generations to build with environmental care, knowledge and empathy is among the greatest aims of this Award. Architecture today must engage with the climate crisis, enhance education and nourish our shared humanity. Through it, we plant seeds of optimism – quiet acts of resilience that grow into spaces of belonging, where the future may thrive in dignity and hope.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, AKAA Steering Committee Chair&nbsp;

Winners of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture 

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Mosaic 2025 Winners.jpg

This collection and the child collections in contains will show you all the new media added to Archnet in the 2025 calendar year.

New in 2025: Media

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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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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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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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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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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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Pakistan

Moved by the plight of non-literate young men let down by the system and subject to depression, violence, and/or drug abuse, Rushda Tariq Qureshi decided to devote her zakat donations (tithing) to helping turn lives around through training in tailoring. Relatives and friends joined her, and with their pooled resources she established the Vision Pakistan initiative. After fifteen years operating in rented office spaces, she was able to commission this custom-designed facility in Ghauri Town, a post-2000 development about 10 kilometres from Islamabad. Alongside the vocational training, its holistic year-long programme supplies meals, teaches literacy, and uses daily chores to instil skills for social independence such as critical thinking, time management, cleanliness, and tolerance, while also encouraging a peace-focused understanding of Islam. Qureshi’s chosen architect was Mohammad Saifullah Siddiqui, who had designed her family home. Together they swiftly agreed on an efficient plan to house five flexible classrooms, a dining room, recreation spaces, management offices, exhibition areas, two shops, and a rooftop prayer area with a student-maintained kitchen garden. The shops offer students the chance to take their first commercial orders, and some spaces can be rented out, for financial sustainability. The structural system – in-situ concrete frame with brick infill – is seismic-resistant. A triple-height staircase atrium, with a tall anchor tree and other greenery, unifies the spaces and, along with operable windows, helps drive passive ventilation. Although Qureshi first suggested Pakistan’s historic brick architecture as stylistic inspiration, Siddiqui drew primarily from Islamabad’s 1960s modernism. The facades are a layered grid. Pierced window screens (jaalis) lend privacy and an element of joy. Repeated in the stairwell, these screens were locally made and powder-coated in colours that reference neighbourhood vernacular features. Each pattern is symbolic: the blue jaalis, of Islam; the green ones, of Islamabad’s modernist buildings; the yellow rattan-like ones, of craft; and the plain-weave red ones, of the school itself. The care in detailing is exceptional for such a low-cost project. The grid continues inside through fine strips of marble inlaid in the hard-wearing terrazzo flooring, and the entrance steps have marble trim – all locally donated offcuts. Even the ceiling-mounted electrical conduits align with the same grid. With forty to fifty male students aged sixteen to thirty-five benefiting from the school each year, Qureshi hopes to extend her initiative’s reach by building a women’s facility on an adjacent empty site. Jury Citation “Two people – one an experienced educator, the other a young practising architect – work together and invent a new wellspring of respect, a new skills training centre, a place where young people feel that they matter, where not-yet-discovered talents will be trained and encouraged.The educator, Rushda Tariq Qureshi, had a vision: to educate, to involve the youth, and to form a community where students will feel useful and valued. The architect, Mohammad Saifullah Siddiqui of DB Studios, was trusted with the task of understanding Rushda’s vision. Together they transformed a plot of land close to public transport and invented a building that would not only contain a new type of education, but be full of light, spatially interesting, economically efficient, and highly distinct. The six-storey building’s two lowest floors, with their future-proofing storefronts, are designed to relate to the major street. Arranged across the storeys above, the cared-for, plant-filled classrooms and prayer hall interlink and are visually connected through the 10-metre-high atrium. Students can see each other, benefiting from being able to observe each other’s training and progress, aware that they are part of a caring community. The roof-level dining area and kitchen provide precious opportunities for further personal development beyond the vocational programme. The life within this three-dimensional cube is held by strategically important environmental values: good natural light, cross ventilation, solar protection, low maintenance costs, and robust materials. The architectural expression of this new building is provided by its concrete screen, held in front of the two street facades. This applied grid of 9 squares high and 10 squares long both protects the interior and expresses this contemporary building to the city. It does this by reinterpreting the familiar and historic jaalis, metal screens, both in various geometric patterns and in different colours. This combination of interpreting history to provide a visually controlled, yet joyful facade gives this building an easily recognisable and distinct surface.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Vision Pakistan

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Palestine

Exploring and promoting new forms of making based on Palestine’s rich but threatened heritage of both craft and industrial production, the Wonder Cabinet is a non-profit cultural and educational platform established and designed by local architects Elias and Yousef Anastas. Despite being known primarily for their work in stone, they here sought material anonymity by using a simple, rough-finished concrete grid frame. Glazed, extensively openable front and rear facades, along with a largely open-plan interior with just a few glass partitions, ensure transparency throughout and natural climate control through airflow. The focus is entirely on the making, as a means to support fulfilling livelihoods that sustain Palestinians’ presence here in the West Bank, and on the landscape setting.&nbsp;Nestled into a hillside at the edge of Bethlehem – a city that previously lacked any dedicated contemporary arts venue – the building looks out over the Al-Karkafeh Valley. Its views towards the Jordanian mountains on the horizon are interrupted by an Israeli settlement on a once-forested hilltop in the near distance.&nbsp;A giant mural by the artists Somnath Bhatt and Ayed Arafeh adorns its west elevation. The street facade gives access to the upper level, housing a café and a shop showcasing locally made products. Between the two, a diagonal void that cuts through and connects all three levels draws the gaze downwards, offering a sweeping perspective of the multiple activities taking place inside, and on to the valley beyond.&nbsp;The architects’ studio and several other open offices are also accommodated on the upper floor. The mezzanine below hosts a production area, artist workstations, a radio station, and a restaurant. The lower level mainly houses a performance and production space, with facilities for various craft activities, from wood- and metalworking to casting, textiles, and photography. An outdoor patio offers a relaxed spot for socialising or informal meetings.&nbsp;The only enclosed areas of the rear facade are the masonry-walled sound studio and the metal-fronted staircase bay, which has two conical protruding porthole windows. Crafted by Mohammad Husni, who specialises in steelwork for factory silos, these windows are angled to frame particular parts of the surrounding landscape. Furniture, lighting, and other details are likewise made by local artisans, including the prominent rooftop installation by Bishara al-Hadweh, of staggered stainless-steel letters spelling out “WONDER CABINET” that gently spin – weather-vane-like – on tailor-made ball-bearing mechanisms. Jury citation “Initiated by the architects to fill a gap in the cultural offerings for youth in the city, this project expands the agency of architects to the roles of client, designer, cultural practitioner, and activist. Designed as an open, flexible, and transparent beacon of cultural production and resilience in the Al-Karkafeh Valley, the spatial organisation of the building facilitates exchange, dialogue, and community-building. With a mixed programme of artists’ studios, production spaces, a radio station, a restaurant, and the architects’ offices spread over different platforms, the cross-sectional void traversing its three floors encourages physical and visual connections, both within the building and towards the surrounding landscape. Borrowing from the contemporary language of the concrete frame construction prevalent in Bethlehem and its environs, the project demonstrates that spatial complexity and richness can be achieved through the judicious application of standardised construction methods and minimal material use. The concrete grid becomes an inhabited infrastructure of cultural production as well as a domestic monument – anonymous in its expression and scale, yet monumental in its impact. The building manages to both blend in with the other buildings in the city through its architectural expression and stand out through its transparency as an open and welcoming gesture in the landscape. Its bare concrete frame is complemented by locally produced artisanal elements such as the spinning signage, portholes, and murals that celebrate contemporary Palestinian production. Firmly nestled within a deeply charged setting, the Wonder Cabinet offers new horizons: reintroducing making, music, wonder, and joy in the city. By imagining both the cultural institution and the physical structure that hosts it, the architects have created a building that transcends its immediate political context, providing a model for an architecture of connection that is rooted in contemporary expressions of national identity and asserts the importance of cultural production as a means of resistance.” Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Wonder Cabinet

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Archnet is an Open Access resource, provided to the public to facilitate cultural understanding and excellence in both scholarship and practice. Content from Archnet.org may not be published, displayed, or appropriated for commercial use without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder. Unless otherwise noted, Archnet material is available for instructional, nonprofit use, and personal use on the terms of a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International</a> (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Please contact Archnet to request permission to use the Archnet.org website and its contents beyond the scope outlined above. High-resolution images may be available by contacting us using <a href="mailto:archnet@mit.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">archnet@mit.edu</a>. The content available on Archnet, including but not limited to information, text, graphics, logos, and multimedia related to the the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/1903" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Trust for Culture’</a>s programmes, such as the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/54" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Historic Cities Programme</a>, the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/848" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Award for Architecture</a> and the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/132" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Music Programme</a>, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights and laws, whether owned by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, its affiliates, or third parties. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or display of this content is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the respective copyright or trademark holder. Violation of this prohibition may result in legal penalties.

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<h2>ARCHNET FAQ</h2>1. Will ARCHNET work on my device?Archnet works well on the most recent version of any major browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge), either on a mobile device or computer. It may work on older or less common browsers as well. If Archnet fails to work properly on your machine, please let us know about your experience by clicking the blue feedback button at bottom right!2. Will my URLs from earlier versions of Archnet still work?Yes, if they are from the version launched in January 2013. As of October 12, 2021, all URLs from the old Archnet have been redirected to ARCHNET.&nbsp;&nbsp;3. How do I download a/n:&nbsp;<ul><li>image - Select the image you want to download from search results, a site or an authority. The image will open in your browser.&nbsp;Right click to download.&nbsp;For larger, high-resolution copies, see contact us using archnet@mit.edu.&nbsp;</li><li>publication - Open the page for the publication in your browser and click the download button. Reprinting Archnet publications is permissible only for personal use.&nbsp;Please contact us for any other requests.&nbsp;</li><li>site descriptions and metadata - Site descriptions and metadata can be used for any nonprofit or educational organization with appropriate attribution to the authors and Archnet.&nbsp;</li><li>video - Currently video downloads are not possible. If you'd like to use an Archnet video, please contact <a href="mailto:archnet@mit.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">archnet@mit.edu</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>See our <a href="https://www.archnet.org/pages/terms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a> for information on how you can use Archnnet material.4. Can I contribute material to Archnet?&nbsp;Yes!&nbsp;See our <a href="https://www.archnet.org/pages/contribute" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Contribute</a> page for more information.&nbsp;Calls for specific contributions are also also shared in our social media and on the <a href="https://libraries.mit.edu/akdc/category/contributors/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">web site of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;5. What happened to the Archnet Timeline?&nbsp;Timeline has migrated into the ARCHNET NEXT Collections page&nbsp;<a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/collection_type/3/1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">as a category</a>. These collections provide short introductions for each period, often offering lists of additional resources at the end of the entry. Only the timeline graphic listing the periods along a chronological axis has not migrated.6. My question isn't here.&nbsp;How can I get help?&nbsp;If your issue is with using Archnet, use the blue Feedback button to alert us to your issue. This will allow you to include a screenshot or recording. Please, also, feel free to contact us at <a href="mailto:archnet@mit.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">archnet@mit.edu</a>We are currently developing the help section of ARCHNET NEXT. In the meantime, please use the blue Feedback button in ARCHNET NEXT to send us feedback or other questions. Contact us at <a href="mailto:archnet@mit.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">archnet@mit.edu</a>.&nbsp;

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Welcome to ARCHNET, an open access, interdisciplinary, intellectual resource focused on the built environment of Muslim societies.Focused on the built environment of Islamic civilizations past and present, we seek to:<ul><li>Facilitate excellence in scholarship and professional work by&nbsp;providing reliable information and ready access&nbsp;to vetted, high-quality textual and multimedia resources&nbsp;focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design,&nbsp;heritage&nbsp;conservation, economic and environmental sustainability, community development and resilience in the face of rapid change, and related topics.</li><li>Enable teaching and learning in these domains by providing educators with reliable, effective pedagogical material and teaching aids.&nbsp;</li><li>Serve as a platform through which scholars, practitioners, and institutions can bring their work to new global audiences.&nbsp;</li><li>Promote intercultural understanding and dialogue through reliable, high-quality, peer-reviewed material on the diversity of and pluralism within Muslim societies and the interaction between Islamic and other religious, cultural, and philosophical traditions as it relates to architecture and urbanism.</li><li>Enable easy access to a wide variety of resources via a custom-built, web-based, mobile-friendly platform optimized to minimize financial, infrastructural, linguistic, and other barriers to access.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>Launched in 2002 after several years of development, ARCHNET is a pioneering digital resource that has proven a reliable authority on the built environment of Muslim societies, past and present.&nbsp;ARCHNET is a partnership between the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/1342" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries</a> (AKDC@MIT) and the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/1903" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Trust for Culture</a> (AKTC), with support from the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/50" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture</a> at Harvard and MIT.&nbsp;ARCHNET is developed and maintained by <a href="https://www.performantsoftware.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Performant Software Solutions</a>.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winners 2025 Video

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winners 2025 Video

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