Geneva, Switzerland

Εstablished in 1977 by Aga Khan, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture “to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully addressed the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.” 

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is considered one of the most renowned awards of its kind, playing an important role in influencing global architectural discourse and promoting innovative solutions to problems faced by many societies.

The Award championed many of the concerns that are now common today: sustainability, human scale, climate adaptation, and quality of life.

To address these issues, the Award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation, and landscape architecture.

Attention is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways, and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

On September 22, six projects have been announced as winners of the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

The 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winners are:

The Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response by Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi, and Saad Ben Mostafa, in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh

Created by Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi & Saad Ben Mostafa, the Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response is a secure area consisting of six sustainable structures that provides housing for the Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar’s genocidal violence. The architects have created a safe space for the community to regain their confidence and keepsake the cultural heritage. The complex’s roof truss was built by Rohingya bamboo workers and handmade products were made by the women of the community from bamboo and thatch.

The Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation Architects, in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh

Envisioned by Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana of Co.Creation Architects, the river line was developed into a public space with access to the river through ghats, pedestrian pathways, gardens, and cultural facilities. The project provides the residents with the possibility to use the water, the project also takes up environmental efforts to increase biodiversity in the river.

The Banyuwangi International Airport by Andramatin, in East Java, Indonesia

Andramatin’s Banyuwangi International Airport adopts a contemporary interpretation of vernacular architecture in contrast to conventional airport design. The structure blends in with the surrounding nature and is developed following Indonesian tropical architecture with its green roof and architectural details reinventing a new approach to airport architecture.

The Argo Contemporary Art Museum and Cultural Centre by Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North (ASA North), in Tehran, Iran

New York-based ASA North has transformed an old, disused brewery in the center of Tehran into the first independent contemporary art museum in the area. Covering 1,890 square meters, the Argo Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre occupies six distinct gallery spaces, a permanent collection, a library, an artist residency, and event spaces. The architects have retained the exposed brick walls but have intervened with structural foundation and support, and a series of sculptural concrete roofs.

The Renovation of Niemeyer Guest House by East Architecture Studio, in Tripoli, Lebanon

Nicolas Fayad and Charles Kettaneh of East Architecture Studio indulged in the play of light, shadow, and material exploration for the renovation of the abandoned and incomplete Niemeyer Guest House in Tripoli, Lebanon. The interventions include flexible, transparent steel-and-glass partitions, concealing structural elements behind locally sourced plywood paneling; and introducing electro-mechanical features, including custom-made lighting based on the ceiling grid. As the architects intend, the space would now be used as a design platform and prototyping facility, the interventions in the building are reversible, hoping that it could someday regain its original identity and use.

The Kamanar Secondary School by Dawoffice, in Thionck Essyl, Senegal

David Garcia and Aina Tugores of Dawoffice are leading the creation of Thionck Essyl’s Kamanar Secondary School, a new school that will give a solution to the local community as the former secondary school was overcrowded. Through Dawoffice’s humanitarian foundation, Foundawtion, Kamanar Secondary School was built. The structure reflects the location’s materials and architectural techniques. Classrooms are set around a series of squares, each accommodating a pre-existing tree. The adjacent quarry became the school’s sports field. The school complex consists also of a library, two administration volumes, sanitary facilities, and a foundation space.

The winners, ranging from an international airport in Indonesia to a riverfront landscape in Bangladesh, will split the $1 million USD prize.

The nine members of the 2022 Master Jury are:

• 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, 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.

All photographs are Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture