October, Muscat host Agha Khan Award for Architecture

 © Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Muscat, BTNp: ONE of the most respected architecture awards in the world, —the Agha Khan Award— for Architecture announced the winners of 2022 and named Oman host of the prestigious award ceremony at the end of October.

According to muscatdaily.com, the six award winners, who will share the US$1mn award, one of the largest in architecture, show promise for communities, innovation and care for the environment.

Held every three years, 2022 saw 463 contesting projects from around the world.

Undersecretary for Culture in the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture, and head of the team tasked with hosting the award, Sayyid Said Sultan al Busaidi, said the announcement affirms that Oman has become a global destination for culture, literature and art.

He pointed out that the event will achieve the objectives of the sultanate’s cultural strategy and show that Oman’s cultural activities go hand in hand with global developments.

Farrokh Derakhshani, director of the award, said, “We are very pleased to announce that Oman will host the 15th edition of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. A selection of architects and experts will gather in Muscat at the end of October to celebrate the rich architectural heritage of the Islamic world, with a special focus on outstanding projects achieved in the last decade.”

The selection process for awards is in line with the physical, social and economic needs of people, as well as their cultural aspirations. The award recognises architectural projects that stand out in terms of innovative design and ‘social’ housing improvement and development.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1977 by Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims, to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence. The Award’s 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.

The winning projects include:

Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah (Bangladesh)

Through consistent community participation and appropriation, extensive involvement of women and marginalised groups, and a local workforce, the seemingly simple undertaking of cleaning up the access to the Nabaganga river in Jhenaidah led to a thoughtful and minimal landscaping project with local materials and construction techniques, thus transforming a derelict informal dump site into an attractive and accessible multifunctional space that is valued by Jhenaidah’s diverse communities. As such, the project managed to reverse the ecological degradation and health hazards of the river and its banks and induce effective ecological improvement of the river, in one of the most riverine countries on earth.

Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response, Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh)

The six temporary community spaces of the Rohingya Refugee Response programme provide a dignified, sensitive and ingenious response to emergency needs related to the major influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladeshi host communities, with particular attention to the safety of women and girls. The concept and design of the six spaces are the results of appropriate planning, solid partnerships and inclusive processes involving the diverse refugee and host communities, such as defining spatial and functional needs.

Banyuwangi International airport, Blimbingsari, East Java (Indonesia)

Arising from a sea of paddy fields, the building extends the language of the landscape into a concentrated event that coalesces architecture, and functionality and sets in a seamless yet discernible disposition. Modern and efficient in all aspects, but at home in its place, Banyuwangi International Airport may be a game-changer in airport architecture, especially considering that the Indonesian government is set to build some 300 airports in the near future.

Argo Contemporary Art Museum and Cultural Centre, Tehran (Iran)

In the dense urban neighbourhood that is Tehran’s historical centre, this untypical reuse and conservation project has transformed the Argo Factory – a former brewery whose activities were moved 10 years before the Iranian Revolution, for pollution reasons, to a site outside the city – into a private museum for contemporary art. From the ruins of the original building, the existing brewery was renovated and new surfaces were built with a subtle approach and design. A variety of spaces for exhibitions, talks and films were developed over four levels, and a new artist residence was built adjacent to the museum.

Renovation of Niemeyer Guest House, Tripoli (Lebanon)

The renovation of the Niemeyer Guest House is an inspiring tale of architecture’s capacity for repair, at a time of dizzying, entangled crisis around the world, and in Lebanon in particular, as the country faces unprecedented political, socio-economic and environmental collapse. Located on the outskirts of Tripoli – one of the oldest and most beautiful port cities, once renowned for its craft but today ravaged by extreme poverty, migration and lack of public space – the rehabilitation of the Guest House is part of the Rachid Karami International Fair (RKIF), the unfinished masterpiece of the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

–Kamanar Secondary School, Thionck Essyl (Senegal)

A campus replete with infrastructure, buildings, landscapes and furnishings, the Kamanar Secondary School is unique in that it addresses the multiple scales of urbanism, landscape, architecture and building technologies with equal commitment and virtuosity. The site’s topography and flora are the key founding conditions of this project, prompting the introduction of a grid of classroom pods organised around pre-existing tree canopies, adopting their shade as social spaces that serve the students and teachers alike.*BTNewspaper