Aga Khan Award for Architecture

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture

https://the.akdn/en/how-we-work/our-agencies/aga-khan-trust-culture/aga-khan-award-for-architecture

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. Through its efforts, the Award seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant p

resence. The selection process emphasizes architecture that not only provides for people's physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural expectations. 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. The Award is governed by a steering committee chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. A new committee is constituted each cycle to establish the eligibility criteria for project submissions, provide thematic direction in response to emerging priorities and issues, and to develop plans for the future of the Award. The steering committee is responsible for the selection and appointment of the master jury for each Award cycle, and for the Award's programme of international seminars, lectures, exhibitions and publications.

30/07/2026

In the rural village of Kamanar, Senegal, this secondary school grows naturally from its landscape, bringing together climate-responsive design, local craftsmanship and affordable construction.

Designed by Dawoffice, the school is built around a series of vaulted classrooms made from compressed earth bricks, using clay - one of the region's most abundant resources - to create naturally cool learning spaces. Existing trees shape the campus and provide shaded areas for gathering and play, while passive ventilation and evaporative cooling enhance thermal comfort throughout the year.

Rather than imposing itself on the site, the project works with the landscape, preserving its natural features and transforming them into part of the educational experience.

Several years after receiving the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Kamanar Secondary School continues to show how architecture can create lasting value by building with the climate, the land and the knowledge already rooted in a place.

👉 Find out more here: https://bit.ly/4vYV0O7

Photos:
©Amir Anoushfar
©Pablo Gallastegui

Foundawtion

22/07/2026

From wasteland to natural capital. This week in our Living Lessons series, we travel to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to discover how thoughtful architecture helped restore a fragile ecosystem while creating a place for learning, conservation and connection with nature.

What was once a waste dumping ground is today a thriving wetland and a place where people can reconnect with nature.

Designed by X Architects as part of a wider ecological restoration initiative, Wasit Wetland Centre provides information and education about this unique environment while encouraging its long-term preservation. Carefully embedded within the landscape, the visitor centre supports an experience where the restored ecosystem remains at the heart of every visit.

More than a decade after its completion, the project continues to show how architecture can become a catalyst for ecological restoration, transforming degraded land into natural capital that generates lasting environmental, educational and social value.

👉Link in bio for more information about the project.

Photos:
©Nelson Garrido - X Architects
©Fernando Guerra - X Architects
©Aga Khan Trust for Culture - Photographer Deed Studio

14/07/2026

Every project tells a story.
Every site visit offers a new perspective.

As an on-site reviewer during the 2023–2025 Award cycle, Raafat Majzoub experienced firsthand how the Aga Khan Award for Architecture extends far beyond recognising outstanding architecture. In this edition of Voices of Change, we share an excerpt from his contribution to Optimism and Architecture:

"The Aga Khan Award isn’t just about honouring excellence, it’s a long-term investment in architectural culture, a structure for legacy and a test bed for imagining the futures that architecture can shape."

Explore more thought-provoking reflections in Optimism and Architecture: https://architangle.com/book/optimism-and-architecture

09/07/2026

This week in our Living Lessons series, we travel to Cordoba, Spain, to revisit a project that continues to inspire the relationship between architecture, heritage and place.

Built beside the remains of the tenth-century palace city of Madinat al-Zahra, one of the world's most significant early Islamic archaeological sites, the museum demonstrates how architecture can reveal history by becoming part of the landscape itself.

Designed by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, the project unfolds as a sequence of courtyards, walls and gardens that seem to emerge from the earth, creating a seamless dialogue between architecture, archaeology and landscape. Natural light and a restrained palette of concrete, limestone and iroko wood evoke the experience of excavation while guiding visitors through spaces for exhibition, research and conservation.

More than fifteen years on, the Madinat al-Zahra Museum remains a defining reference in museum architecture, showing how contemporary design can preserve and interpret heritage by allowing the landscape itself to tell the story.

👉Link in bio for more information about the project

Photos: Fernando Alda - fotografía de arquitectura & Cemal Emden Architectural Photograpy

01/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the UIA World Congress of Architects Barcelona 2026

Building on the conversations initiated at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture joined five fellow international architecture awards to reflect on the evolving role of architectural awards and their contribution to shaping the future of architecture.

We are grateful to our moderators, Front-Row Peers, and all those who took part in this timely exchange.

Architecture critics:
* Federica Zambeletti, Founder and Managing Director of koozarch
* Christele Harrouk, Editor in Chief of Archdaily
* Amit Gupta, Founder and Editor in Chief of STIR

Front-Row Peers:
* José Pablo Ambrosi, Co-founder of Taller Capital
* Tatiana Bilbao, Founder of Tatiana Bilbao Estudio
* Gabriela Carrillo, Founder of Taller Gabriela Carrillo & Co-Founder of Colectivo c733
* Loreta Castro, Co-founder of Taller Capital
* Alejandro Echeverri, Architect, Distinguished Professor in Urbanism, TEC Monterrey
* Margarita Jover, Co-founder of Aldayjover
* Rahul Mehrotra, Founder Principal of RMA Architects of Mumbai + Boston
* Kate Orff, Founder of SCAPE Studio
* Mauricio Pezo, Co-founder of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
* Gustavo Utrabo, Founder of Estúdio Gustavo Utrabo
* Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of Aga Khan Award for Architecture
* Marleen van Driel, Director of Ammodo Architecture
* Ivan Blasi, Director of EUMies Awards
* Laura Viscovich, Executive Director of Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction
* Dirk Denison, Director of Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize
* Jesper Eis Eriksen, Executive Director of OBEL Award

Ammodo Architecture
EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Awards
Holcim Foundation
MCHAP
Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA)

25/06/2026

This week in our Living Lessons series, we explore how projects deeply rooted in their local context can offer lessons that resonate far beyond their immediate surroundings.

Built in a dense neighbourhood on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bait Ur Rouf Mosque reveals how architecture can create spaces of profound spiritual and social value through simplicity rather than monumentality.

Designed by Marina Tabassum, the mosque departs from conventional Islamic forms, relying instead on geometry, natural light and carefully crafted brickwork to shape the experience of worship. A defining feature of the project emerged from a fundamental challenge: the site was not aligned with the qibla. Rather than privileging either the urban grid or the requirements of prayer, Tabassum developed a design in which the outer volume responds to the geometry of the site while the prayer hall rotates to face Mecca. The space created between these two geometries becomes an integral part of the building, accommodating circulation, ventilation and moments of transition.

Responding to Dhaka's tropical climate, the mosque uses passive ventilation, filtered daylight and locally sourced brick to create a comfortable environment with minimal reliance on mechanical systems. Commissioned and funded by the local community, it serves not only as a place of worship but also as a gathering space that strengthens social ties and collective identity.

Ten years after its completion, Bait Ur Rouf Mosque remains a compelling example of how architecture can respond to social, environmental and spiritual needs with equal care, transforming constraints into opportunities for generosity, dignity and collective life.

👉Link in bio for more information about the project.

Photos: © Asif Salman

23/06/2026

Behind every decision is a process of listening, discussion, and exchange.�In this Behind the Award episode we explore how dialogue shapes the jury process of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture — where diverse perspectives come together to evaluate architecture across cultures, geographies, and lived realities.

Featuring in order of appearance:
David Chipperfield
Kareem Ibrahim
Maisa Batayneh
Edhem Eldem
Mona Fawaz

17/06/2026

This week in our Living Lessons series, we explore how heritage-led regeneration can reconnect communities with their cultural landscape and shape more inclusive cities.

Initiated through a series of restoration and adaptive reuse interventions, the Revitalisation of Muharraq gradually evolved into a wider urban programme aimed at reconnecting the city with its communities, cultural memory and public life.

Located within Bahrain’s UNESCO World Heritage pearling site, the project reactivates the historic centre of Muharraq — once the global heart of the pearling economy that shaped the region’s social, cultural and economic identity for generations. Through the preservation and reuse of sites ranging from modest divers’ houses to grand courtyard residences, the project demonstrates how architectural heritage can remain active and meaningful within contemporary urban life.

Connected by the “Pearling Path”, restored buildings, cultural venues and newly landscaped public spaces create an urban network that encourages community engagement and invites residents back into the historic city.

In an era of rapid urban transformation, the project demonstrates how restoration and adaptive reuse can reconnect communities with their cultural landscape while shaping a more inclusive urban future.

👉Link in bio for more information about the project.

Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities

Photos: Cemal Emden Architectural Photograpy

12/06/2026

A look back at a recent ceremony in Hohhot, celebrating the West Wusutu Village Community Centre - one of the seven winning projects of the 2025 Award cycle.

03/06/2026

Through our Living Lessons series, we revisit projects recognised by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture — not as fixed historical achievements, but as living ideas that continue to inform how we build, care, and live today.

Our next focus is the 2007 winner: The Walled City.
At its core, it raises a simple but urgent question: how can architecture become a tool for coexistence?

In Nicosia, the rehabilitation of the historic walled city became more than a conservation project. It evolved into a forward-thinking urban initiative where rehabilitation acted as a catalyst for positive coexistence, bringing together opposing communities through a shared civic vision.

Developed collaboratively by Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot planners, architects, and institutions, the project sought to preserve the cultural and architectural legacy of the divided historic centre while restoring its role within contemporary urban life. Through the careful rehabilitation of streets, infrastructure, housing, public spaces, and historic buildings, the initiative gradually reactivated the social and economic vitality of the city.

Nearly two decades later, The Walled City remains a living lesson in how architectural intervention can foster social sustainability through dialogue, continuity, shared space, and collective memory.

👉Link in bio for more information about the project.

Photos: © Dimitri Vattis and Hasan Huyesen

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