The Aga Khan Prize, awarded every three years since 1977, recognizes projects that improve the quality of life in regions where Muslims make up a significant proportion of the population. Its prize fund is $ 1 million, but it is divided not only and not so much among the architects of the five laureate projects: at the discretion of the jury, which this time included architects David Adjaye, Wang Shu, Toshiko Mori and Michelle Devin, anyone can be awarded who played a decisive role in the implementation of the project - the municipality, the builder, the customer, the engineer.
This year's award-winning projects include the Islamic Cemetery in Altach (2011, architect Bernardo Bader): it is intended for the inhabitants of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where more than 8% of the population is Muslim. Previously, they had to send the bodies of their relatives home for burial, but now the need for this has disappeared.
The building made of pink reinforced concrete and oak wood (from which, in particular, ornamental grilles are made) was noted by the jury for its compliance with the spiritual aspirations of the customers - the immigrant community, and the Austrian context.
The large-scale Rabat-Sale Infrastructure Project (2011, architect and engineer Mark Mimram) improved the connection between the Moroccan capital Rabat and the city of Sale, which forms a single agglomeration with it.
The project is designed not only for vehicles, but also for trams and pedestrians, while it does not violate the existing "horizontal" urban and natural landscape. The key element of the project - the Hassan II bridge - has already become a symbol of the metropolitan agglomeration, its streamlined forms emphasize its image of a modern and progressive metropolis.
The Salam heart surgery center in the Sudanese capital Khartoum (architects Studio Tamassociati) was commissioned by the Italian non-profit organization Emergency and receives 50,000 patients a year - not only from Sudan and neighboring countries, but also from 23 other African countries. It is designed for 63 patients and 300 medical personnel.
The center (2007) is interpreted as a pavilion located in the garden: its two buildings frame the courtyard. Adjacent to it is a complex of housing for employees with 150 beds (2009): it was erected from containers for building materials in which they were delivered to the construction of the center. The architects used 90 6-meter containers for housing (one "apartment" with a bathroom and a veranda turned out from 1.5 containers), and seven 12-meter containers accommodated the dining room and other infrastructure facilities.
The list of laureates also includes two projects for the restoration of heritage sites. The first one is especially responsible: it is the restoration and modernization of the Bazar complex in Tabriz in northwestern Iran. It was started in 1994, and in 2010 this architectural monument was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The bazaar was founded in the 10th century, and the existing building appeared 240 years ago: its total area is 27 hectares, the length of the “passages” is more than 5.5 km, and there are 5,500 shops there.
The bazaar was badly dilapidated by the end of the 20th century, and the municipality, the Iranian Organization for Cultural Heritage, Crafts and Tourism, and the merchants themselves undertook the restoration. Initially, the government paid 85% of the costs, but when the shopkeepers in the Bazaar were convinced of the project's effectiveness, they took on up to 90% of the cost. Work is still in progress and the building is being restored in accordance with traditional construction methods.
The restoration of the historic center of the Palestinian city of Birzeit (2008–2012) is part of an ambitious program led by the Riwaq Architectural Conservation Center (Ramallah), covering 50 well-preserved settlements. In addition to the actual restoration of dilapidated buildings and the creation of the infrastructure necessary for a modern city, this program provides residents with work and revives traditional crafts.
For 5 years of work in Birzeit, with the participation of the local municipality, entrepreneurs, house owners and public organizations, it was possible to pave the streets and provide them with names and signs, renew the water supply system, restore facades, create new public spaces and restore existing ones.
