The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) has announced 19 shortlisted projects, including a Bangladeshi project, for the 2025 Award cycle.
The projects will compete for a share of the $1 million prize, one of the largest in architecture.
The 19 shortlisted projects were selected by an independent Master Jury from a pool of 369 projects nominated for the 16th Award Cycle (2023-2025), says a press release.
Khudi Bari, in various locations in Bangladesh, by Marina Tabassum Architects, is a replicable solution for displaced communities affected by climatic and geographic changes, which can be easily disassembled and reassembled to adapt to the users鈥� circumstances.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.
Since it was launched 48 years ago, 128 projects have received the award and nearly 10,000 building projects have been documented.
The AKAA鈥檚 selection process emphasises architecture that not only provides for people鈥檚 physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural aspirations, said the AKDN in its announcement from Geneva, Switzerland on June 5.
Other shortlisted projects are from China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture recognises examples of architectural excellence in the fields of contemporary design, social housing, community improvement and development, historic preservation, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment.
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 not only rewards architects, but also identifies municipalities, builders, clients, master artisans and engineers who have played important roles in the project.
The shortlisted projects have undergone rigorous reviews, at the site of each project, by independent experts, including architects, conservation specialists, planners and structural engineers.
The Master Jury meets again this summer to examine the on-site reviews and determine the final recipients of the Award.
The nine members of the independent Master Jury who selected the 19 shortlisted projects are: Azra Ak拧amija, director, art, culture and technology programme, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, United States of America; Noura Al Sayeh-Holtrop, adviser for heritage projects, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Manama, Bahrain; Lucia Allais, director, Buell Center, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, United States of America; David Basulto, founder and editor, ArchDaily, Santiago, Chile & Berlin, Germany; Yvonne Farrell, visiting professor, Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio, Switzerland; founder and partner, Grafton Architects, Dublin, Ireland; Kabage Karanja, Co-founder, Cave_bureau, Nairobi, Kenya; assistant professor of Architectural Design, Yale University, New York, United States of America; Yacouba Konate, Professor of Philosophy, University Felix Houphouet Boigny of Abidjan-Cocody, Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Hassan Radoine, director general, Citinnov SA for Integrated Territorial Planning and Smart Cities, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco; and Mun Summ Wong, professor-in-practice, Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore; co-founding director, WOHA, Singapore.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is governed by a Steering Committee chaired by the Aga Khan.
The other members of the steering committee are Meisa Batayneh, principal architect, founder, maisam architects and engineers, Amman, Jordan; Souleymane Bachir Diagne, professor of Philosophy and Francophone Studies, Columbia University, New York, United States of America; Lesley Lokko, founder and firector, African Futures Institute, Accra, Ghana; Gulru Necipo臒lu, director and professor, Aga Khan Programme for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States of America; Hashim Sarkis, founder and principal, Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS); dean, School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America; and Sarah M Whiting, partner, WW Architecture; Dean and Josep Lluis Sert Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States of America.
Farrokh Derakhshani is the director of the award.
