The jury of the Aga Khan Architecture Award noted that the choice this time was especially difficult, because in a rapidly changing world, "the traditional categories of our discipline - corporatism, innovation, consideration of infrastructure, the environment, social responsibility - are far from being as definite and specific as it once seemed." As a result, "the universal language of architecture no longer seems sufficient: all that remains is to rely only on creative and often modest, appropriate places of decisions that create a new, own vocabulary of forms." However, experts, including Harvard School of Design Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, Dominique Perrault and Emre Arolat, noted that the Aga Khan Prize's history celebrated "works that bridge the often disturbing divide between tradition and modernity." The same can be said for the recent list of laureates.
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 shared not only among the architects of the laureate projects: at the discretion of the jury, anyone who played a decisive role in the implementation of the project - the municipality, the builder, the customer, the engineer - can be awarded.
Beit Ur-Roof Mosque
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Architect: Marina Tabassum (Bangladesh)
Plot area: 755 m2
Total building area: 700 m2
Cost: $ 150,000
Project order: April 2005
Design: June 2005 - August 2006
Construction: September 2007 - July 2012
Delivery: September 2012
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
The adherence to simple essences - both in the design of the space and in the way of construction - played a decisive role in the solution of the project of the Beit-Ur-Ruf Mosque. On land donated by her grandmother and with the help of small funds raised by the local community, the architect created a place for meditation and prayer from simple elements.
The irregularly shaped site is covered with a high plinth that not only protects against flooding, but also serves as a meeting place, separated from the crowded street below. On top of the basement there is a regular square mosque 25 x 25 m and 7.6 m high. Inside the square is a cylinder, offset to the northwest corner of the outer wall, creating additional depth for the colonnade and ablution area on the south and east sides, respectively. The cylinder, in turn, contains a smaller square with an area of 16.75 x 16.75 m and a height of 10.6 m. 3 m above the outer wall. Unfolded inside the cylinder towards the qibla, this pavilion is a prayer hall, separated from the rest of the building by light wells open to the sky.
The building combines two structural systems: load-bearing brick walls that define the outer perimeter and small rooms, as well as a reinforced concrete frame that covers the unsupported prayer hall. Brick walls play up the distance between the outer square and the inner cylinder, allowing for reinforcement in intermediate rooms. In turn, this allows the use of a brick jali lattice in panels between supporting structures, alternating openings and bricks placed at an angle. In the prayer hall, a simple vertical opening in brick marks the direction to the qiblah, but it is sloped so that worshipers are not distracted by the crowds in the street. Instead, they see rays of the sun playing on the back wall. Washed by the sun, open to the elements, the mosque "breathes".
Friendship Center
Gaibandha, Bangladesh
Architect:
Kashef Mahbub Chowdhury / URBANA
Land area: 3 053 m2
Cost: $ 900,000
Project order: May 2008
Design: May 2008 - December 2010
Construction: December 2010 - December 2011
Delivery: December 2011
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
The Center is an educational institution built for Friendship, a non-governmental organization that works with communities living in the rural plains of northern Bangladesh. In this region, permanent buildings are usually raised 2.4 meters above the ground to resist flooding, but in this case there was not enough budget for such a measure. Instead, an earthen embankment was made along the perimeter of the site with steps leading from the open ends down into the building. Using the formal language of a walled city, the building program is organized around a series of pavilions facing courtyards and sky-reflecting pools. The embankment blocks horizontal light, so the center is essentially only illuminated from above. This connection between the earthen architecture and the light falling from above accentuates the simple elements of the building.
The center has a cruciform plan. The circulation is organized along the length of the building, connecting the two external staircases, while the two sections of the program cut the site in the other direction: the Ka block is mainly reserved for public spaces such as study rooms and offices, while the Ha block intended primarily for the private sector. Large rainwater collection tanks are located between the two blocks. The landscape has two levels: the lower one is paved with bricks in all circulation zones and courtyards, the upper one - earthen turf roofs - serves as insulation and absorbs rain.
Traditional brickwork is used in a modern way. Building engineers sorted the bricks by size, shape, and color; they selected only three out of every ten bricks that were fired in local kilns. Of these, only the most aesthetically pleasing were used to create external cladding, while the rest went to foundations and other elements of the building invisible to the eye. In some parts, the structure is reinforced with reinforced concrete, since the center is located in an earthquake-prone area.
Monolithic, inseparably materially connected to its surroundings, the Friendship Center embodies what Louis Kahn described as “the architecture of the earth. ***
Hutong Cha'er Children's Library and Arts Center
Beijing, China
Architect:
ZAO / standardarchitecture
Total area: 145 m2
Cost: $ 105,000
Project order: September 2012
Design: September 2012 - July 2014
Construction: March 2014 - December 2015
Delivery: September 2014 - December 2015
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
Hutongs in Beijing are quickly disappearing. Residential neighborhoods with layered spaces and many courtyards are often perceived as dirty and unhealthy - almost like a slum. If they find their own place in a modern city, it is most often in a sterile version, as tourist attractions filled with boutiques. An attempt to find new uses for the traditional building form - an application that will benefit the local community - was the motive behind this application to create a space that would serve not only the students of the nearby elementary school, but also the last, mostly elderly, residents of the Hutong. In addition to the children's library and exhibition space, the center hosts a local craft studio, as well as painting and dance classes.
A key focus of the project was the restoration and reuse of existing patio elements, including informal annexes such as kitchens. The distribution of masses corresponds to the conditions of the existing buildings, and the height of the rooms is determined by the height of the surrounding roof.
The center of attraction for the masses and activities was the huge Japanese Sophora tree, which is already about six hundred years old - as old as the courtyard itself.
The redesigned building in the center of the courtyard is a lightweight steel frame with a "floating" foundation: hollow iron beams laid directly on the ground to protect the tree roots. The materials have been specially selected to blend in with the urban environment: predominantly gray bricks, both new and recycled, and the library's structures - concrete mixed with Chinese ink - an innovation pioneered here.
Inside the library, the windows open with unusual views of the courtyard, following the functions of the interior in everything: for example, a glazed reading corner was created, which children can get into by climbing just a few steps. Easily adaptable furniture - chairs that are arbitrarily transformed into tables or, say, into a "secret cave" - correspond to childish spontaneity.
Outside, staircases are attached to each building, which creates viewing platforms among the branches of trees, climbing on which patio users - both adults and children - can view their area and enjoy the chlorophyll-rich air. ***
Superkylene
Copenhagen, Denmark
Architect:
BIG (architecture), Topotek1 (landscape) and Superflex (art objects)
Total area: 33,000 m2
Total length: 750 m
Cost: $ 8,879,000
Project order: June 2008
Design: January 2009 - February 2010
Construction: August 2010 - June 2012
Delivery: June 2012
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
Superkilen is a kilometer-long city park located in Copenhagen's Nørrebro district, which is characterized by ethnic and social heterogeneity. The park was designed by BIG architects and designed by the Superflex artists as well as the landscape architects from TOPOTEK 1 in collaboration with the local, mostly Muslim, community. The design of the park is based on the historical themes of the world garden and the amusement park, which have been transformed into a modern urban landscape. With a healthy dose of spontaneity, the project sheds light on the positive aspects of cultural diversity and invites older and young people to play.
Superkilen is part of a larger city redevelopment plan developed in partnership between Copenhagen Municipality and the private charitable association RealDania. The name of the project reflects the physical characteristics of the site: a narrow “wedge” (kilen) connects two important traffic arteries. The park's pedestrian and bike paths improve the connection between the two roads, while street lighting enhances the sense of safety - an important point for a historically criminal area. Connecting previously inaccessible parts of Copenhagen to the west and east of the park, Superkilen is re-connecting the area to the infrastructure of the city as a whole.
Color plays a significant role in the park, which is formally divided into three distinct zones, each organized around its own agenda: Red Square (market / culture / sports), Black Market (urban living space) and Green Park (sports / games). Of the three, the Black Market is the most visually impressive, according to the architects, inspired by Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003), with its minimalist décor reduced to white lines on a black background. Also, the Black Market can be interpreted as a stage on which locals play out their identity in a public space.
The variety of identities is manifested in the trees and objects with which Superkilen is furnished. They are selected following an intensive process of involving residents in park planning. A swing from Baghdad, a star-shaped fountain from Morocco, a chess table from Sofia, basketball hoops from Magadishu are just a few of the 108 objects dotted around the park and originating from 62 countries from which the area is inhabited. Together they constitute an exhibition of proven outdoor furniture from around the world and symbolize that the park truly belongs to the locals.
Tabiat pedestrian bridge
Tehran, Iran
Architect:
Diba Tensile Architecture (Leila Aragian and Alireza Behzadi)
Total length of the bridge: 269 m
Total construction area: 7 950 m2
Cost: $ 18,200,000
Project order: September 2009
Design: September 2009 - December 2010
Construction: October 2010 - October 2014
Delivery: October 2014
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
The Tabiat pedestrian bridge crosses a busy highway and connects two parks in a city with very dense fabric and predominantly utilitarian architecture. The bridge not only connected two separated green spaces, it has also become a popular meeting place for Tehran's residents, with seating areas on three levels and restaurants at opposite ends of the bridge. Like many green islands in urban development, the bridge has become an element of the identity of the city and its inhabitants.
The tree-shaped pillars on which the Tabiat footbridge rests reflect the natural forms of the surrounding parks. The arrangement of the pillars was also carefully chosen to minimize the need for tree felling. And where the bridge passes into Abo Atash Park, its frame is left open in three places so that trees can grow through it, giving the impression of a single and indissoluble green space.
Due to the complex bend of the three-dimensional truss, each of its elements had to be cut out separately; the work was carried out partly on a CNC machine and partly by printing an expanded form from a three-dimensional model. The pipes were cut, sanded and primed in the workshop, and then delivered to the assembly site. During the entire construction process of the bridge, the traffic flow along the highway was not interrupted.
Instead of focusing on the perception of those who see the bridge from afar, the architects designed it “from the inside”: the entire sequence of spaces is built around pedestrians. The various levels of the bridge are connected by ramps that converge at its southern end. The walkways are covered with Resysta, an imported fiber-reinforced hybrid material made from rice husks, table salt and petroleum oils. A similar material - both recyclable and weather-resistant - was used for the benches.
Issam Fares Institute
Beirut, Lebanon
Architect:
Zaha Hadid Architects
Land area: 7,000 m2
Total building area: 3,000 m2
Building base area: 560 m2
Cost: $ 8,800,000
Project order: May 2007
Design: July 2007 - December 2009
Construction: January 2010 - April 2014
Delivery: May 2014
Description (provided by the organizers of the award)
“This building confirms with confidence that we are not a university frozen in time and space; on the contrary, we challenge established thinking and actively promote change and new ideas,”says Peter Dorman, President of the American University of Beirut (AUB) of the Issam Fares Institute, the newest building on the AUB campus. He certainly has bold forms, but at the same time he demonstrates a sensitivity to time and place, i.e. to context, both architectural and topographic.
In the case of AUB, the context is the Upper Campus, built on top of a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. In the immediate vicinity are four historic buildings and several equally deserved 150-year-old cypresses and ficuses, as well as the most important outdoor area on the campus, the Green Oval. Considering the parameters of the site, the architects significantly reduced the base of the building: a significant part of it is a cantilever overhang above the entrance courtyard - a solution that visually attracts the Green Oval to the base of the new building. The architects have preserved the existing landscape, including all the old trees, which form a kind of baseline that determined the height of the institute, which is evident when looking at its southern facade. The connection to the landscape is also provided by a rooftop terrace with expansive views and, in addition, a ramp that snakes gently between the trees to the south entrance on the second floor.
The Issam Fares Institute, a research center for public policy and international relations, covers an area of 3,000 m2 and is spread over six floors. The building includes rooms for researchers, administration offices, rooms for seminars and symposia, a large auditorium, a reading room, a recreation room and a roof terrace. The interior is divided by walls made of translucent glass (although according to the original design the glass was supposed to be transparent for the full permeability of the space). High quality monolithic reinforced concrete was used in the construction of the building - in the spirit of the local culture of working with concrete and, in particular, with decorative concrete. ***
