This book focuses on the unfolding of the qualities that connect architecture and life. It highlights a series of buildings and projects located within a diversity of cultures and geographies that make a significant contribution to the understanding of our values and to the daily lives buildings of their users.

The selected projects – shortlisted and premiated by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in its 12th Cycle – address a variety of functions at a diversity of scales, from residential to institutional, from public space to infrastructure. The ethos of these projects is consistent with that of the Award: they all place an emphasis onthe importance of design as an indispensable component of social transformation.

Essays by internationally recognised practitioners and scholars address the broader context of contemporary architectural practice with special reference to Muslim communities and geographies.

Source: Lars Muller Publishers and Aga Khan Award for Architecture