Shortlist for 2022 Aga Khan Award

Established in 1977, the Aga Khan Award takes place every three years "to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence."

Eligible projects span the whole built environment, be it contemporary design, social housing, community improvement and development, historic preservation, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment. Projects had to be completed between the first day of 2017 and last day of 2021, and in use for at least a year.

For the 2020-2022 cycle, the 20 shortlisted projects selected by the master jury* come from 16 countries, as listed below with links to the Aga Khan Award website and text descriptions courtesy of AKDN. The jury will meet again in the summer to perform on-site reviews of the shortlisted projects and determine the final recipients of the award.
 

BAHRAIN

• Rehabilitation of Manama Post Office, Manama, Bahrain, by Studio Anne Holtrop: Built in 1937, the Post Office was rehabilitated to its original form and role as a functioning post office, and added a new wing to the existing building.

BANGLADESH

• Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response, Teknaf, Bangladesh, by Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi, Saad Ben Mostafa: Sustainably built structures in the world’s largest refugee camps, which occurred collaboratively in the field without drawings or models.
• Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana: A community-driven project providing public spaces in a riverine city with 250,000 residents, offering walkways, gardens and cultural facilities, as well as environmental efforts to increase biodiversity along the river.

CAPE VERDE

• Outros Bairros Rehabilitation Programme, Mindelo, Cape Verde, by OUTROS BAIRROS / Nuno Flores: An urban rehabilitation and redesign of a public space allowed residents to execute works in their own neighbourhoods and enhance their sense of belonging.

INDIA

• Lilavati Lalbhai Library at CEPT University, in Ahmedabad, India, by RMA architects / Rahul Mehrotra: The library, a living case study of passive climate mitigation strategies, integrates seamlessly into the existing campus while forging its own distinct identity.

INDONESIA

• Blimbingsari Airport, Banyuwangi, Indonesia, by andramatin: Serving more than 1,100 domestic passengers per day, the airport’s roofs indicate a clear division between departure and arrival halls.
• Expandable House, Batam, Indonesia, by ETH Zurich / Stephen Cairns with Miya Irawati, Azwan Aziz, Dioguna Putra and Sumiadi Rahman: This new sustainable dwelling prototype is designed to be flexibly configured around its residents’ (often) precarious resources over time.

IRAN

• Aban House, Isfahan, Iran, by USE Studio / Mohammad Arab, Mina Moeineddini: On a narrow rectangular site in Isfahan’s historic centre, the three-storey house is arranged around three open courtyards.
• Argo Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre, Tehran, Iran, by ASA North / Ahmadreza Schricker: Distinct materials differentiate new additions from the brick-built historic fabric in this contemporary art museum housed in an abandoned 100-year-old brewery.
• Jadgal Elementary School, Seyyed Bar, Iran, by DAAZ Office / Arash Aliabadi: An elementary school, managed by villagers and teachers and funded by tourism and needlework from local women, is a sustainable development centre for surrounding areas.

LEBANON

• Renovation of Niemeyer Guest House, Tripoli, Lebanon, by East Architecture Studio: Designed by Oscar Niemeyer but abandoned when civil war erupted in 1975, the guest house has been transformed into a design platform and production facility for the local wood industry.

KUWAIT

• Wafra Wind Tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait, by AGi Architects: The 13-storey building conceived as a wind tower features a central, vertical courtyard that provides natural ventilation to each apartment unit.

MOROCCO

• Issy Valley Improvement, Ait Mansour, Morocco, by Salima Naji & Inside Outside: While improving the palm orchards and water reservoirs, trails and facilities for tourists were also upgraded in the first phase of a larger project for the valley.

NIGER

• Niamey 2000, Niamey, Niger, by united4design / Yasaman Esmaili, Elizabeth Golden, Mariam Kamara, Philip Straeter: As a response to a housing shortage amid rapid urban expansion, this prototype housing of six family units seeks to increase density while remaining culturally appropriate.

PALESTINE

• Tulkarm Courthouse, Tulkarm, Palestine, by AAU Anastas: Featuring two buildings, one for administration and the other containing 10 courtrooms, the Courthouse is anchored to its urban context by a public space.

SENEGAL

• CEM Kamanar Secondary School, Thionck Essyl, Senegal, by Dawoffice: For this secondary school, volunteers, using local techniques, produced vault modules from clay which (with lattices) act as evaporating coolers.

SRI LANKA

• Lanka Learning Centre, Parangiyamadu, Sri Lanka, by feat.collective / Noemi Thiele, Felix Lupatsch, Valentin Ott and Felix Yaparsidi: A multifunctional cultural centre and adult school where locals learn craftsmanship creates a multi-ethnic meeting point.

TUNISIA

• Le Jardin d'Afrique, Zarzis, Tunisia, by Rachid Koraïchi: An ecumenical cemetery provides a sanctuary and dignified place of final repose for the hundreds of unburied bodies that had been washing ashore.

TURKEY

• Rehabilitation of Tarsus Old Ginnery, Tarsus, Turkey, by Sayka Construction Architecture Engineering Consultancy: Adaptive reuse of an abandoned 19th century ginnery allows the operation of a contemporary centre for archaeological research and public engagement.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

• Flying Saucer Rehabilitation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, by SpaceContinuum Design Studio / Mona El Mousfy: The Flying Saucer, a 1978 Brutalist-style building that was fully restored as a community art space, contributes to Sharjah’s collective cultural memory.

• Nada Al Hassan, an architect specializing in the conservation of architectural and urban heritage;
• Amale Andraos, professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation;
• Kader Attia, an artist who explores the wide-ranging effects of western cultural hegemony and colonialism;
• Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, director-general of Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, in Dhaka, Bangladesh; 
• Sibel Bozdoğan, visiting professor of Modern Architecture and Urbanism at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, Boston University; 
• Lina Ghotmeh, a French-Lebanese architect who leads a practice where every project learns from a vernacular past to build a new “déjà-là”; 
• Francis Kéré, an AKAA laureate who received the Award in 2004 for his first project, an elementary school in Gando, Burkina Faso; 
• Anne Lacaton, founder of Lacaton & Vassal in Bordeaux in 1989, who focuses on the generosity of space and economy of means; 
• Nader Tehrani, founding principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to design innovation, collaboration and a dialogue with the construction industry.