Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Sir David Adjaye OBE is recognised as a leading architect of his generation. In 2000, he founded Adjaye Associates, which now has offices in London, New York and Accra working on projects in the USA, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His largest project to date, the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in the autumn of 2016.

Other prominent completed projects include the Idea Stores in London, which were credited with pioneering a new approach to library services (2005); the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010); and the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015). Ongoing projects include a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, the National Cathedral of Ghana in Accra, and the National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London.

In 2017, Sir David was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Architecture, following the previous award of an OBE in 2007. The same year, he was recognised as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. He has additionally received the Design Miami/Artist of the Year title in 2011, the Wall Street Journal Innovator Award in 2013 and the 2016 Panerai London Design Medal from the London Design Festival.

Sir David has held distinguished professorships at the Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities. He has also taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had previously studied, and at the Architectural Association School in London.

Sir David was a member of the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Master Jury and served as a member of the Award Steering Committee in 2016.

Sir David Adjaye OBE is recognised as a leading architect of his generation.

David Adjaye OBE

Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy is a Professor of Architecture at the American University of Beirut, where she has been teaching since 1994. &nbsp;Dr. Al-Harithy was Chair of the Department of Architecture and Design from 2003 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2012. She was a visiting professor at Harvard University in 1994, at MIT in 1993 and in 2000, and at Georgetown University in 2006. &nbsp;Dr. Al-Harithy received her bachelor&rsquo;s degree in architecture from the Oregon School of Design in 1985, a master&rsquo;s in architecture from MIT in 1987, and a PhD in art history from Harvard University in 1992. Her research in Islamic art and architecture focuses on the Mamluk period. &nbsp;The research engages theoretical models of interpretation, particularly post-structuralist models, as analytic tools of the production of architectural and urban space. &nbsp;In 2001, she published a monograph in the Bibliotheca Islamica series entitled&nbsp;The Waqf Document of Sultan Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun. She has also published in international journals such as Oxford's&nbsp;Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Muqarnas, Mamluk Studies Review&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review. &nbsp;Her more recent research focuses on urban heritage with a special emphasis on the theoretical debate on heritage construction and consumption related to identity-building and post-war reconstruction. &nbsp;In 2010, she edited and contributed to the book entitled&nbsp;Lessons in Post-War Reconstruction: Case Studies from Lebanon in the Aftermath of the 2006 War. &nbsp;Dr. Al-Harithy lectures at universities and conferences throughout the world.

Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy is a Professor of Architecture at the American University of Beirut, where she has been teaching since 1994. 

 Howayda Al-Harithy

Michel Desvigne is a landscape architect internationally renowned for his rigorous and contemporary designs and for the originality and relevance of his research work. His projects have been developed in more than 12 different countries.&nbsp;He works with leading architects, including Herzog and de Meuron, Foster + Partners, Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas, Christian de Portzamparc, I.M. Pei, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. Amongst Desvigne&rsquo;s most well-known urban public spaces are the Greenwich Peninsula Millennium Park (London, UK) and several modern art museum gardens, including the Parc Dra&iuml; Eechelen (Luxembourg), the DCPA in Dallas (USA), the Saint Louis Art Museum (USA) and the New Qatar National Museum. Other recent projects include Burgos Boulevard, Lyon Confluence 2 and the Ile Seguin prefiguration garden. Recently, Desvigne was awarded the leading role in the planning and implementation of the Paris-Saclay cluster (7700 hectares), the landscape and urban plan for the development of Euralens (1200 hectares) as well as the redevelopment of the old port of Marseille. Michel Desvigne is a graduate of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Lyon and the Ecole Nationale Sup&eacute;rieure du Paysage in Versailles (1984). He has taught at universities around the world, including as a visiting professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Since 2000, he has been teaching at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland. He was awarded France&rsquo;s Grand prix de l&rsquo;urbanisme in 2011 and an Academy of Architecture medal in 2000 by the French Ministry of Culture.

Michel Desvigne is a landscape architect internationally renowned for his rigorous and contemporary designs

Michel Desvigne

Mahmood Mamdani is an academic, author and political commentator from Uganda. He received his doctorate from Harvard University. He is the director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Kampala, and Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University, New York.&nbsp;Mamdani has taught at University of Dar es Salaam (1973-79), Makerere University (1980-1993), and the University of Cape Town (1996-1999). His work explores the intersection between politics and culture, colonialism and post-colonialism, civil war and genocide, the Cold War and the War on Terror, and modern forms of power and human rights. From 1999 to 2002 he served as President of CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa). He is currently Chair of the Scientific Committee of CODESRIA. His writing has appeared in the&nbsp;New Left Review&nbsp;and&nbsp;London Review of Books,&nbsp;among other journals. His publications include:&nbsp;Citizen and Subject,&nbsp;which won the best book award of the African Studies Association in North America for 1996;&nbsp;Define and Rule: Native as Political Identity&nbsp;(2012), which arose out of the Du Bois lectures at Harvard;&nbsp;Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror&nbsp;(2009);&nbsp;Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror&nbsp;(2004); and&nbsp;When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and Genocide in Rwanda&nbsp;(2001). He has received numerous awards, honorary doctorates and mentions, including listings as one of the &ldquo;Top 20 Public Intellectuals&rdquo; by&nbsp;Foreign Policy&nbsp;(US) and&nbsp;Prospect&nbsp;(UK) magazines in 2008.&nbsp;

Mahmood Mamdani is an academic, author and political commentator from Uganda.

Mahmood Mamdani

Kamil Merican is the founding partner of GDP Architects Malaysia, which has gained a reputation as one of Malaysia&rsquo;s leading design and architecture firms. Mr. Merican graduated in architecture from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the Architectural Association in London.&nbsp;After graduating, he worked with Sir Terry Farrell and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in London. In 1976, on his return to Malaysia, he taught in the faculty of architecture at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. As GDP&rsquo;s principal design partner, Mr. Merican has been involved in all the firm&rsquo;s major projects. The projects have won a number of awards, including 12 from PAM (the Malaysian Institute of Architects), a RIBA award (jointly with Foster + Partners), and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007, for the University of Technology Petronas in Tronoh, Malaysia (also with Foster + Partners). Mr. Merican has served as a member of the steering committee for the Greater Kuala Lumpur Council since 2010. He remains active in architectural education, serving as an external examiner for the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Malaya. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Universiti Malaya. Mr. Merican was a member of the 2013 Master Jury for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and a recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007.

Kamil Merican is the founding partner of GDP Architects Malaysia, which has gained a reputation

Kamil Merican

Toshiko Mori, who earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Cooper Union, is the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University&rsquo;s Graduate School of Design, where she was the chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008. She is also the principal and founder of Toshiko Mori Architect, which was established in 1981 in New York City.Ms. Mori taught at the Cooper Union School of Architecture from 1983 until joining the Harvard GSD faculty in 1995. She has served on the board of trustees of the Van Alen Institute and the Storefront for Art and Architecture. She is currently an advisor to&nbsp;A+U Magazine. She is also the former chair and current member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Design. Her profile, "Postscripts: Building on Sacred Ground", appeared in&nbsp;The New York Times&nbsp;in May 2005. She has edited a volume on material and fabrication research,&nbsp;Immaterial/Ultramaterial. A monograph of her work, Toshiko Mori Architect, was published by Monacelli Press. Ms. Mori's strong research-based approach to design has been commended in awards and invitations to lectures and exhibitions around the world. In 2003, Mori was awarded the Cooper Union Inaugural John Hejduk Award. In 2005, she received the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Medal of Honour from the New York City chapter of the AIA.

Toshiko Mori, who earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Cooper Union, is the Robert P. Hubbard Professor 

Toshiko Mori

Wang Shu was born in 1963 in Urumqi, China, and trained at the Nanjing Institute of Technology. He founded Amateur Architecture Studio in Hangzhou in 1997, in partnership with his wife, Lu Wenyu. Wang Shu is also Professor and Head of the Architecture School at the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou.&nbsp;In 2011, he became the first Chinese Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has participated in several major international exhibitions including: the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels; the 2007 Shenzhen &amp; Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture; the 2002 Shanghai Biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum; the 2001 &ldquo;TU MU-Young Architecture of China&rdquo; exhibit at AEDES Gallery, Berlin; and the 1999 Chinese Young Architects&rsquo; Experimental Works Exhibition, UIA Congress, Beijing. His awards include the Pritzker Prize (2012), and the Grande M&eacute;daille d&rsquo;or from the Acad&eacute;mie d&rsquo;architecture de France (2011) and, with Lu Wenyu, the Schelling Architecture Prize (2010). The Vertical Courtyard Apartment, in Hangzhou, was nominated for the German-based International Highrise Award in 2008. In 2005, the project &ldquo;Five Scattered Houses&rdquo; in Ningbo received an acknowledgement from the Asia Pacific Holcim Awards for sustainable construction. In 2003, the Wenzheng Library received the Architecture Art Award of China.

Wang Shu was born in 1963 in Urumqi, China, and trained at the Nanjing Institute of Technology. 

 Wang Shu

Shahzia Sikander is an artist, originally from Lahore, who lives and works in New York. She trained in miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992, and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995. She was a fellow of the Glassel School of Arts Core Program in Houston from 1995 to 1997 and artist in residence at the Otis College of Art in Los Angeles in 2005. Ms. Sikander&rsquo;s work merges the traditional South Asian art of miniature painting with contemporary forms and styles, and explores themes such as politics, sexuality and religion, especially in the context of South Asia. She has shown her work at solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Australia and Hong Kong. She has had solo exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1999/2000) and at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (1998). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum (1999 and 1999/2000), at the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (1999), and at the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany (1999). She has received a number of awards, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship &ldquo;genius grant&rdquo;. She has also received the Tamgha-e-imtiaz, the National Medal of Honour, from the Government of Pakistan.

Shahzia Sikander is an artist, originally from Lahore, who lives and works in New York.

Shahzia Sikander

Murat Tabanlıoğlu studied architecture at Vienna Technical University, graduating in 1992. He founded Tabanlıoğlu Architects with Dr. Hayati Tabanlıoğlu in Istanbul in 1990. He lectures at universities and international events. Mr. Tabanlıoğlu&rsquo;s recent works comprise of a wide range of building types, including Levent Loft &amp; Loft Gardens and Kanyon (with Arup and Jerde); Sapphire, the tallest residential building in Europe; the Zorlu Center (with EAA); Istanbul&rsquo;s Galataport; the Istanbul Modern museum; the Media Center for CNN Turk and Channel D; office buildings such as ESAS HQ and Sel&ccedil;uk Ecza HQ; the Palace of Peace (with Foster+Partners) and the Astana Arena in Kazakhstan; public projects such as the Sipopo Congress Center in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; hotels and summer resorts on the Croatian and Turkish coasts; the E5, Marmara Forum and M1Meydan shopping mall projects; industrial buildings like the Tunacelik and Nova factories; and renovation projects such as the sixteenth century Beyazıt Library, the Tarabya Hotel and Hayati Tabanlıoğlu&rsquo;s Ataturk Cultural Center. Mr. Tabanlıoğlu and his partner Melkan G&uuml;rsel Tabanlıoğlu received the MEA-Middle East Architect Award, Architect of the Year 2010. Mr. Tabanlıoğlu&rsquo;s recent awards include International Property Awards, International Architecture Award Winner, Public Sector awards for the Tripoli Congress Center (2010) and the Astana Arena (2011); a RIBA International Award in 2011 for Loft Gardens; a WAF 2012 Transport Category Winner for Bodrum International Airport; and a Cityscape Global 2012 Community and Culture Category Winner for Astana Media Center.&nbsp;

Murat Tabanlıoğlu studied architecture at Vienna Technical University, graduating in 1992. 

 Murat Tabanlıoğlu

Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) 2013

Architecture

Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA)

2011-2013 Cycle: Master Jury

Prince Rahim Aga Khan joins world leaders at COP28

Seeking common ground in a world of rivalry: AKDN at the 2023 Paris Peace Forum 

Aga Khan Award for Architecture announces Steering Committee for 2025 Award

Search

Aga Khan Development Network

Privacy Policy

Cookie Notice

Terms and Conditions

Legal

Page Temporarily Unavailable

Home

Our Chair

Our Founder

Our Partners

Awards

Fact Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Us

Leadership

Biography

The Ismaili Imamat

Titles and Decorations

Who We Are

Early Childhood Development

Education

Health

Developing Human Capacity

Environment & Climate Change

Agriculture & Food Security

Civil Society

Disaster Preparedness & Response

Habitat Planning and Improvement

Habitat Planning & Improvement

Building Resilient Communities

Enterprise Development

Financial Inclusion

Hospitality & Tourism

Industrial Development

Infrastructure Development

Generating Economic Growth

Historic Cities

Museum

Museums

Music

Parks & Gardens

Honouring Cultural Heritage

What We Do

Canada

United States of America

North America

France

Portugal

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Europe

Kenya 

Madagascar

Mozambique

Agriculture and Food Security

Rwanda

Tanzania

Uganda

Eastern Africa

Côte d’Ivoire

West Africa

Egypt

Syria

United Arab Emirates

Middle East

Afghanistan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyz Republic

Tajikistan

Central Asia

Bangladesh

India

Pakistan

South Asia

Malaysia

Singapore

East Asia

WHERE WE WORK

Where We Work

Our Approach to Development

Our Ethical Framework

Our Approach

AKHS \t Aga Khan Health Services

Aga Khan Health Services

AKAH \t Aga Khan Agency for Habitat

Aga Khan Agency for Habitat

AKF \t Aga Khan Foundation

Aga Khan Foundation

AKS \t Aga Khan Schools

Aga Khan Schools

AKU \t Aga Khan University

Aga Khan University

UCA \t University of Central Asia

University of Central Asia

AKTC \t Aga Khan Trust for Culture

AKAM \t Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance

Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance

AKFED \t Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development

Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development

Our Agencies

How We Work

Our Stories

Project Spotlights

News Releases

Events

AKDN in the Media

News & Stories

Videos

Photographs

MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia

Press Kits

Speeches

Publications

Press Resources

The Learning Hub

Resources

Resources and Media

Careers

Work with AKDN

Donate

Subscribe

International Scholarship Programme

Get Involved

Adnan Test

Adnan Test (Do Not Edit) 

Tag Page

Thank You

Internal

Architecture & Planning

AKF Portugal Legal Documents

Historic Cities Programme in Cairo