Aga Khan Award for Architecture Announces Master Jury for 2010
Geneva, 8 January 2010 – The members of the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture were announced today. The Jury, which selects the recipients of the Award, will convene in January to review the 401 nominated projects and select approximately 25 finalists, which will then be subject to on-site reviews by independent experts. The Jury will meet for a second time in June to select the Award recipients from the group of finalists. Recipients will be announced at a ceremony in autumn 2010.
The nine members of the Master Jury for the 2010 Award cycle are:
Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Professor, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA
Mr. Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj
Architect; Chief Executive Officer, Syria Trust for Development
Professor Salah Hassan
Art historian and curator; director of Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, USA
Ms. Faryar Javaherian
Architect and curator; co-founder of Gamma Consultants, Iran
Mr. Anish Kapoor
Artist, UK
Professor Kongjian Yu
Landscape architect and urbanist; founder and dean of Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University, China
Mr. Jean Nouvel
Architect; founding partner, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, France
Ms. Alice Rawsthorn
Design critic, International Herald Tribune, UK
Mr. Basem Al Shihabi
Architect; Managing Partner, Omrania & Associates, Saudi Arabia
See biographies of Master Jury members (PDF).
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, established in 1977, is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, urban and regional design, conservation and landscape architecture. Through its efforts, the Award seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies in which Muslims have a significant presence. 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 and spiritual expectations. Particular attention is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in an innovative way, and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere. The Award is currently in its 11th triennial cycle.
The Award is governed by a Steering Committee whose current members are: His Highness the Aga Khan, Chairman; Mohammad al-Asad (Founder and chairman, Center for the Study of the Built Environment, Amman); Homi K. Bhabha (Director of the Humanities Center, Harvard University, USA); Norman Foster (Founder and chairman, Foster + Partners, London); Glenn Lowry (Director, Museum of Modern Art, New York); Rahul Mehrotra (Principal, RMA Architects, Mumbai, India); Mohsen Mostafavi (Dean of the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, USA); Farshid Moussavi (Partner, Foreign Office Architects, London); Han Tümertekin (Principal, Mimarlar Tasarim Danismanlik Ltd, Istanbul). Farrokh Derakhshani is the director of the Award.
The Award seeks nominations from the broadest possible range of architectural interventions (nominations for the 11th Cycle were closed in October 2009; nominations for the 12th cycle will be accepted starting January 2011). All types of building projects that affect today’s built environment may be submitted. These include works of architecture that range from modest, small-scale projects to sizable complexes. All forms of planning practices on the urban as well as regional scales are encouraged, and large projects and long-term initiatives that are not yet fully completed – such as master plans, area preservation projects, and community upgrading schemes, among others – are eligible so long as a tangible portion of the project has been completed in a manner that demonstrates its long-term potential success and viability. There are no fixed criteria for the type, nature, location, or cost of projects to be considered, although eligible projects must be designed for or used by Muslim communities, in part or in whole, wherever they are located.
The Award is part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture which, in turn, is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The AKDN is a group of non-denominational development agencies, created by His Highness the Aga Khan, with complementary mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities. The AKDN agencies work to improve living conditions and opportunities for the poor, without regard to their faith, origin or gender. Working in the fields of economic, cultural and social development, AKDN aims to provide choices and opportunities to communities so that they can realise and determine their own development. More information on the Award, the Trust, and the AKDN can be found on our website: www.akdn.org.
For more information, please contact:
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
P.O. Box 2049
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland Website: www.akdn.org
E-mail: akaa@akdn.org
Telephone: (41.22) 909.72.00
Facsimile: (41.22) 909.72.92
