Shortlist Announced for the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture

The shortlist for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, awarded every three years, was announced this week. Created in 1977, the program honors projects located in places with substantial Muslim populations, and “has recognized architects for projects which stand out not only for their aesthetic qualities, but as well for their social and environmental attributes,” according to a video about this year’s shortlist. Five projects received the award in 2013, the award’s last cycle.

Selected from 348 nominated projects, the shortlist of 19 includes work by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Toshiko Mori Architect, Marina Tabassum Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, NLÉ, and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Winners will be announced in the fall.

The Master Jury for this year’s program includes Suad Amiry, founder of the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, West Bank; Emre Arolat, founder of the EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture in Istanbul; Akeel Bilgrami, the Sydney Morgenbesser professor of philosophy, Columbia University in New York; Luis Fernàndez-Galiano, editor of Madrid-based Architectura Viva; Hameed Haroon, chief executive officer of Herald Publications in Karachi, Pakistan; Lesley Lokko, head of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg; Mohsen Mostafavi, Intl. Assoc. AIA, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Mass.; Dominique Perrault, Hon. FAIA, founder of Dominique Perrault Architecture in Paris; and Hossein Rezai, director of Web Structures in Singapore.

The 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Shortlist

40 Knots House, Tehran, Iran
Habibeh Madjdabadi, Alireza Mashhadi Mirza

Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Marina Tabassum Architects

Bunateka Libraries, Kosovo
Bujar Nrecaj Architects

Casa-Port New Railway Station, Casablanca, Morocco
AREP, Groupe 3 Architectes

Ceuta Public Library, Ceuta, Spain
Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos

Doha Tower, Doha, Qatar
Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Friendship Centre, Gaibandha, Bangladesh
Kashef Chowdhury/Urbana

Guelmim School of Technology, Guelmim, Morocco
Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani, Mohamed Amine Siana

Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, Beirut
Zaha Hadid Architects

King Fahad National Library, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Gerber Architekten International

Makoko Floating School, Lagos, Nigeria
NLÉ

Manouchehri House, Kashan, Iran
Akbar Helli, Shahnaz Nader

Micro Yuan’er Children’s Library & Art Centre, Beijing
ZAO/standardarchitecture

Nasrid Tower Restoration, Huercal-Overa, Almería, Spain
Castillo Miras Arquitectos

New Power Station, Baku, Azerbaijan
Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Architects

Royal Academy for Nature Conservation, Ajloun, Jordan
Khammash Architects

Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran, Iran
Diba Tensile Architecture

Thread Artist Residency & Cultural Centre, Sinthian, Senegal
Toshiko Mori Architect

Visit ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery for more information about the structures on the shortlist for the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.