Archnet.org
Archnet.org
Archnet
Archnet.org, the ongoing collaboration between the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT Libraries and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), has evolved into the largest, open online architectural library focusing on Muslim cultures. Archnet’s mission is to provide ready access to unique visual and textual material to facilitate teaching, scholarship, and professional work of high quality.
Its digital archives form a comprehensive resource on architecture, urban design, landscape, development and related issues. Archnet provides a bridge for interested persons to learn how to enhance the quality of the built environment, to compensate for the lack of resources for students and faculty in academic institutions, and to highlight the culture and traditions of Islam.
Archnet is the authority in the field of architecture and the built environment in Muslim societies today. It provides an unparalleled resource featuring vetted and refereed articles, site data, images and research. It was envisioned in 2000 and launched in 2002. It hosts contributions from AKTC, the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, and donated collections of historic archives and documentation on contemporary building trends shaping the built environment today.
Together, these institutions, established over three decades ago, share an integral education mission to generate and disseminate knowledge and resources; provide fora for debate and discussion; showcase best practices and lessons learned; and present Muslim visual and material culture with historic, cultural, and geographic specificity. Archnet is the public face to showcase the outputs of this mission.