Aga Khan Award For Architecture Research Articles

In Conversation with Yara Sharif

Yara Sharif is a Senior Lecturer and a practitioner with an interest in design as a means to facilitate and empower “forgotten” communities, while also interrogating the relationship between politics and architecture. Combining research with design, her work runs parallel between the architecture practice Golzari-NG Architects and the school of architecture at the University of Westminster. Sharif co-founded Palestine Regeneration Team (PART), which is a design-led research group that aims—through speculative and live projects—to search for creative and responsive spatial possibilities to heal the fractured landscape. Sharif’s work has won a number of awards including the RIBA’s President’s Award for Research 2016 on “Cities and communities” category. Sharif has also contributed to several collaborative projects with Palestinian NGO Riwaq which won the Holcim Commendation Award for Sustainable Construction in the MENA Region 2014—Beit Iksa Eco Kitchen, and The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2013 for the Regeneration of Birzeit Historic Centre.

In Conversation with Salima Naji

Salima Naji is a registered architect (Paris La Villette School of Architecture, Paris) with a PhD in social anthropology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. She is based in Morocco and has been working on projects to protect southern Morocco’s oasis heritage for the past twenty years. She has designed, restored, or built over thirty bioclimatic buildings in unfired clay and/or stone: maternity hospitals, cultural and women’s centers, eco-lodges or hostels, boarding schools, museums, etc. She established her practice in Morocco in 2004, a studio specializing in the innovative use of sustainable raw materials and biosourced technologies (earth, stone, and palm tree fiber). In addition to her professional work, she also participates in sustainable research and action programs for environmental development in collaboration with local communities. She has published extensively, both in academia and for a larger audience, in French, English, and Arabic. Naji was awarded the Young Architects Prize from the EDF Foundation (Paris, 2004), the Holcim Prize for Sustainable Development, Africa-Middle East (2011), Takrim of the Order of Architects of Morocco (2010 and 2019), and the Chevalier Arts & Lettres de la République Française (2017). She was also twice shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2013 and 2022).

Analysis of Passenger Satisfaction on Green Airport Blimbingsari International Service

Since 2019, Blimbingsari Airport has been designated as an International Airport with a green airport concept. This airport has received the most prestigious award in The 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Several energy efficiencies and conservation program initiatives certainly have an impact on the service facilities provided. However, this program implies an increase in the number of passengers. This increase certainly requires attention to be studied further because it is related to the airport's ability to serve the needs of service users. This study was conducted to determine the service quality of Blimbingsari International Airport based on passenger perceptions. 100 respondent were randomly selected to be the research sample. This study uses 5 (five) service quality dimensions which include 7 service variables to measure airport service quality. Data collection was carried out in mid-June 2022 by distributing a Likert scale 5 questionnaire. Data analysis used the IPA and Servqual gap methods. Based on the results of data analysis, it can be seen that there are 7 (four) service variables that are important to determine the quality of airport terminal services, namely (1) the ease of passengers in obtaining information, (2) the reliability of airport facilities and equipment, (3) the coolness and comfort of the airport terminal. , and (4) a clean airport terminal room. The servqual gap shows that 5 (five) dimensions of service quality are positive. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the service quality of Blimbingsari International Airport is very satisfying for passengers.

New architectural intervention in historically sensitive contexts: humanistic approach in historic Cairo

ABSTRACT All previous researches and studies that dealt with the issue of inserting new architectural development in the historic areas have focussed on the formalistic approaches of the intervention. On the other hand, design principles and guidelines issued by local authorities to control and guide the new architectural intervention in these areas focusses on character, expression and façade’s detailing. Yet, the new architectural intervention in historically sensitive contexts has not been researched at the level of humanistic approach with its socio-cultural and economic implications. This research aims to tackle this issue and establish principles and guidelines for dealing with new architectural intervention in these contexts through a humanistic approach with its reflections on the physical and nonphysical aspects. The research aims also to answer the question; are design guidelines issued by local authorities for historic areas adequate in capturing the difficult questions of integrating new and historic buildings. To attain the research objectives and answer its questions, an in-depth field study carried out at MSA University in historic Cairo is analyzed, investigated and discussed. Through this analysis and investigation, the intervention approaches are examined and assessed to establish principles and guidelines that could be followed in dealing with the issue of new architectural intervention. The case study analysis is guided by significant principles that followed in a relevant project in old Cairo that received international recognition and awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its perfect integration with the historic context. The research also examines and discusses the appropriateness of the design guidelines issued by local authorities in historic Cairo to deal with the new buildings. The results of this research are expected to help those involved in making decisions affecting the quality of the historic built environment at all levels.

Revitalization and Adaptive Re-use in Cappadocia: A Taxonomy of Creative Design Solutions for Uchisar Boutique Hotels

The "architecture without architect" in Cappadocia has always been fairy due to its volcanic stone formations and transforming silhouettes. In 1973, French architect Jack Avizou highlighted the essence of cave houses as vernacular building types and their potentials for local tourism beyond conventional notions of architectural heritage. Upon completing the restoration of cave houses in Uçhisar and transforming them to boutique hotels, he was nominated for Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2010. On the other hand, Aga Khan Award winner Turkish architect Turgut Cansever had also been advising for Argos Hotel project in Uçhisar since 1996. He gave importance to the concept of "protection" and preserved vernacular identity and characteristics despite the demands of the tourism sector. This paper aims to explore Avizou and Cansever’s design solutions in Uçhisar’s local context. Building and spatial relations in interiors will be analyzed with cluster analysis and ranked according to levels of novelty. Hence, the achievement of creativity through transformation, combination and variation of original designs, will be displayed. Understanding Avizou’s and Cansever’s visions on revitalization and adaptive re-use are substantial since their creativity shall be a source of inspiration for future sustainable tourism and building practices in a local and global context.

Architectural Competitions: Creating Dialogues and Promoting Excellence?

Abstract Architectural competitions have become a major way of commissioning buildings, especially for corporate and government structures. They belong to a practice that dates back to ancient Greece. This editorial essay ponders some of the critical issues raised by the two major types – project competitions and ideas competitions – through representative case studies of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the recent competition for master plan and buildings for the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science. The notions discussed are based on the author's personal experiences over four decades, and the roles played by the major players involved in the process – the client or sponsor, the competition organizers, the designers/architects, and the architectural juries. The article ends with a consideration of why architectural competitions are valuable in the lessons they offer and the discourses they raise, and their significance for architects and architecture more broadly.

Superkilen: exploring the human–nonhuman relations of intercultural encounter

ABSTRACT Superkilen is a much-lauded contemporary urban public space that has been widely photographed and the subject of public talks, articles, interviews, short films, books and awards, including the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2016. Although it was designed to improve social cohesion in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Nørrebro, it remains largely unresearched in how well its built form contributes to this goal. This paper provides an empirical examination of how the built form of Superkilen enables and constrains intercultural encounter. The paper begins with an exploration of literature on encounter in public spaces, and the agency of built form in mediating such interactions. The paper then presents three key findings based on ethnographic fieldwork using actor-network theory. This paper is critical of the design concept behind Superkilen, claiming that it privileged spatial representation above spatial practice. However, the findings also show how such encounters can be triangulated, shaped and programmed. It is hoped these findings will better inform urban designers in shaping public space for intercultural encounters in Western cities.

RIVERBANK SETTLEMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ARCHITECTURE, THE CASE OF MANGUNWIJAYA’S DWELLINGS AND 25 YEARS AFTER, CODE RIVER, YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

Code riverbank has drawn worldwide attention since 90’s when Architect Mangunwijaya involved in the dispute of urban riverside settlement in Yogyakarta. Struggling for the slum between the municipality and the dwellers gradually dwindled, and one of most significant causes was his humanitarian dwelling self-help scheme on Kampung Code. The project, which was later recognized by Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992, was not only purposed for reducing the tension but also promoting appropriate social order by considering the natural environment vulnerability. One of the poorest and most crook riverbank zones of the city had transformed to be a better environment with positive atmosphere afterward. Unfortunately, the project was hardly followed by other dwelling construction either in the site or other parts of the bank. This paper studies how the architecture could cure the social problems as well as resolve the environmental challenges and its sustainability. The social approaches done by Mangunwijaya and how he captured the high-risk of riverbank nature to the dwelling concepts were accessed. The results indicate that in spite of the riverside’s slum controversies, the architecture should be considered as a remedy both for social and natural problems.

Framing a new discourse on the notion of habitat in transforming societies

This paper reveals how the second Iran International Congers of Architects (IICA), held in Persepolis- Shiraz in 1974, and the first UN Habitat conference, held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976 played an instrumental role in shaping a discourse on the notion of regionalism in the design for human habitats, especially in developing countries. Building upon a brief analysis of the works of Nader Ardalan, Kamran Diba, Charles Correa, Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi and Raj Rewal, this paper discussed the incorporation of the ideas published in the Habitat Bill of Rights within their private commissions for large scale housing schemes and master plans in their respective countries, Iran and India. More crucially, this paper argues that both events helped bring together these architects who later, in different capacities, played significant roles as members of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in fostering and promoting an alternative way of adapting modernism to industrializing countries.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Abstract

Appropriating, Reclaiming and Inventing Identity Through Architecture

AbstractLocal received knowledge once ensured buildings had a strong connection with their environment and the surrounding community. With rapid urbanisation and the professionalisation of design and construction, architects working internationally with a finely attuned sensibility to place and context have been able to take up the baton and take the opportunity to develop notions of locality and identity. For the last two decades, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has been recognising the contribution of design teams that have been responsible for producing exceptional architecture for Islamic communities worldwide. Here, the award scheme's director, Farrokh Derakshani, defines some key treatments of identity in architecture.

Adjustment of the architecture to the bioclimatic conditions of the environment on case study of the monsoon modernism of architect Geoffrey Bawa

Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003), not well known in our ambience, was Sri Lanka's most influential architect and South Asia's leading guru of unique style, named tropical architecture. The distinction of his work is outstanding aesthetic sensitivity to site and context, especially to peculiar climatic conditions and demands. For his architectural opus he received in 2001 prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Special Chairman's Award. Although he started to engage in architecture late, in age of 38, soon he became a noted by his inventiveness in forming new canons and prototypes of modern architecture, based on traditional knowledge and perfectly fitted in local surrounding. Bawa created sustainable architecture even before the term started to be used and his masterpieces broke down the barrier between inside and outside space, designing of the interior and landscaping, reducing the building to a series of scenic spaces separated by courtyards and gardens. He is well known by his designs for private villas and hotels, but his portfolio contains public building, as schools and universities, new Sri Lanka's Parliament, sacral, office and industrial structures. Through the presentation of several projects, the paper analyzes his development path and basic characteristics of so called 'monsoon modernism' and special relationship to the bioclimatic conditions of the environment.

MEMBERI SERASA MENERIMA: Dinamika Pondok Pabelan dan K.H. Hamam Dja’far 1938-1993

This article tries to present the perception of Islam among the ‘rural’ inhabitants. Some consider it as a traditionalist perception. However, the differ-ences between traditionalist and reformist or modernist wings in Indonesian Islamic history are still questionable. This Islamic perception especially deals with its education, not only in the matter of ta’lim, or tarbiyah, but also deals with ta’dib. Since it is limited by available space, this article only focuses on the dinamic aspects of the Islamic attitude and practices of Kiai Haji Hamam Dja’far in reviving of Pondok Pesantren Pabelan. His success makes him known not only in the national but also in the international level, as shown in 1980 when Mr. Hamam got The Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Besides receiving this distinghuish award, Pondok Pabelan also got the fund amount of US $ 10.000., this fund was considered as an additional fund to develop the Pondok Pabelan.

The altruism of Romo Mangun: The seed, the growth, the fruit

Y.B. MANGUNWIJAYA (1929-1999), known as Romo Mangun, was an Indonesian catholic priest, architect, writer, educator, activist of social and solidarity movement. As architect, he designed a great number of buildings. As writer, he wrote a great number of articles and novels. As educator, he was lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and founder of a research centre for elementary education. As social activist, he involved in community development among the marginalised people in Indonesia. He was laureates of several prestigious international and national award, including Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992 for his work in Kampung Tchode (a spontaneous settlement on the riverbank Tchode in Yogyakarta, Indonesia), South-East Asia Write Award in 1983 for his novel Burung-burung Manyar (the Weaverbirds). This article is a short biography of him with a focus on his altruism, its seed, its growth and its fruit.

Indore's Habitat Improvement Project: success or failure?

The largest slum upgrading effort so far in Indore — a million plus city in central India — and one of the largest in India was implemented during 1990–97. This was the Indore Habitat Improvement Project, which was funded by the British Government's Department for International Development (DfID, formerly the Overseas Development Administration, or ODA). The project used the highly acclaimed concept of Slum Networking as the approach to infrastructure provision alongside health and community development inputs. In 1993, Indore's slum project was visited by the British Prime Minister. In 1994 it was honoured with the 1993 World Habitat Award. In 1995 it was visited by an international study group. In 1996 it was included as an example of Global Best Practices at the Habitat II Conference. In 1997 the project ended. In 1998 it was honoured with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Obviously this was a spectacularly successful improvement project, or was it? In 1997, the DfID funded an impact assessment study of its city-wide slum upgrading projects for which its projects in three cities, including Indore, were taken up. The author of this paper was responsible for a substantive part of the in-slum assessment as a senior consultant. The findings of this assessment in Indore (based on a survey of nearly 600 families in 10 slums and focussed surveys on particular project components in 7 additional slums) were at considerable variance from what is projected in professional circles about the project. In 1998, OXFAM conducted a study on urban poverty in a number of cities in India, including Indore. The findings of this study also did not suggest the existence of a substantive and highly successful slum upgrading intervention in the city. This paper begins by describing two different views of this project. The first is the `on paper’ view. This is the one that most professionals working in the field of urban slum interventions and following award-winning projects already know and this view is described only briefly. The second is the `on the ground’ view. This is the one that all those who live in, work in or walk through slums in Indore know. It is introduced in the form of the findings that emerged from the impact study conducted in 1997. The difference between these two snapshot views of Indore's slum project are then explained in terms of some inferences on flawed and failed assumptions. The paper then tries to piece together the processes involved in Indore's slum project. Since the assumption is that the projected picture is not the real picture, the stated processes (in project intentions or in monitoring reports) could not have been the source for this part of the paper and are not referred to. Instead, here the paper draws on less professional sources of information — archives of the local print media. The project history so pieced together makes rather interesting reading. It also affords a clearer insight into why the two snapshots described earlier continue to co-exist. Unfortunately, it shows the urban slum related professions in extremely poor light. Finally in this paper some comments are made on inadvertent, but nevertheless worrying, wider impacts that have been triggered off by the process of Indore's slum project. These affect not only the people in the project slums but also institutions within as well as outside Indore. Since the processes that have occurred in the Indore slum project are unlikely to be unique, it is suspected that these impacts are quite common in a project of this type. Thus the paper will explore what seems to be a barely acknowledged dimension slum interventions.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Philosophy of Reconciliation

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Philosophy of Reconciliation

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Philosophy of Reconciliation

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Philosophy of Reconciliation

The 1986 Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Report

The 1986 Aga Khan Award for Architecture: A Report

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Palestinian Rights: Affirmation and Denial. Edited by Ibrahim Abu‐Lughod A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Community of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Volume 4: Daily Life. By S. D. Goitein The Arabic Book. By Johannes Pedersen The Early Islamic Conquests. By Fred McGraw Donner The Islamic Impact. Edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Byron Haines and Ellison Findly Persian Miniature Painting: and its Influence on the art of Turkey and India [The British Library Collections]. By Norah M. Titley Essays in Islamic Art and Architecture [Islamic Art and Architecture, Vol. I]. Edited by Abbas Daneshvari Architecture and Community: Building in the Islamic World Today. [The Aga Khan Award for Architecture.] Edited by Renata Holod with Darl Rastorfer Islam and Ownership. By Seyyed Mahmood Taleqani Society and Economics in Islam: Writings and Declarations of Ayatullah Sayyid Mahmud Taleghani. Translated from the Persian by R. Campbell Equality, Efficiency, and Property Ownership in the Islamic Economic System. By Akhtar A. Awan. Lanham Crime and Corrections: An Al‐Islamic Perspective. By Sidney R. Sharif The Qur'ān and Its Interpreters. Vol. I. By Mahmoud M. Ayoub 'Ulum al‐Qur'ān: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'ān. By Ahmad von Denffer Ibn Taymiyyah's Ethics—The Social Factor. By Victor E. Makari Shāh Wal?‐Allāh And His Times. By Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of George F. Hourani. Edited by Michael E. Marmura Religion, My Own. The Literary Works of Naj?b Ma fūz. By Mattityahu Peled L'Orient dèchirè entre I'Est et L'Ouest (1955–1982). By Simon Jargy The Reflowering of Malaysian Islam: Modern Religious Radicals and Their Roots. By Judith Nagata Muslim Sects and Divisions. The section on Muslim sects in Kitāb al‐Milal wa'I‐Ni al by Mu ammad b. 'Abd al‐Kar?m Shahrastān? (d. 1153). By A. K. Kazi and J. G. Flynn Muslim Intellectual Responses to “New Order” Modernization in Indonesia. By Muhammad Kamal Hassan Social history of Timbuktu: the role of Muslim scholars and notables 1400–1900. By Elias N. Saad Religion and Politics in Muslim Society: Order and Conflict in Pakistan. By Akbar S. Ahmed Baba of Karo: A Woman of the Muslim Hausa. By Mary F. Smith