An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that have human occupancy or use as their principal purpose. Etymologically, the term architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, i.e., chief builder.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the fields of contemporary design, social housing, community development and improvement, restoration, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment.
Dinajpur district is a district in the Rangpur Division of northern Bangladesh. Dinajpur is the largest district among all sixteen northern districts of Bangladesh.
Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabé-German architect, recognized for creating innovative works that are often sustainable and collaborative in nature. In 2022, he became the first native African to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Educated at Technische Universität Berlin, he has lived in Berlin since 1985. Parallel to his studies, he established the Kéré Foundation, and in 2005 he founded Kéré Architecture. His architectural practice has been recognized internationally with awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first building, the Gando Primary School in Burkina Faso, and the Global Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction.
The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture is an international architecture founded in 2006 by architect and scholar Jana Revedin.
The Holcim Foundation Awards for Sustainable Construction is an international competition that showcases projects that contribute to sustainable construction and the transformation of the building sector. A total of USD $1 million in prize money is awarded in each two-year cycle.
Mustapha Khalid Palash is a Bangladeshi architect. He is considered one of the leading contemporary architects of Bangladesh. He is also an artist, multi instrumentalist-singer and painter. He is the editor of quarterly DOT: Journal on Art & Architecture, one of the prominent architecture magazines of Bangladesh.
Bashirul Haq was a Bangladeshi architect, town planner and visiting professor of MIT. He was regarded as one of the most influential architects in South Asia in terms of environmentally and socially responsive design.
TYIN tegnestue Architects is an architecture firm that centers on a philosophy of an architecture of necessity. It has mainly completed work in the humanitarian field abroad, but the core thinking lies in the adaption of situations.
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable practices in the fields of architecture, engineering, urban planning, and construction. Its primary aim is to identify, discuss, and democratize the latest advancements and best practices in sustainable construction worldwide.
The METI Handmade School, a primary school for 168 students located in Rudrapur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh, was built with the assistance of local craftsmen making use of traditional materials, primarily mud and bamboo. An example of sustainable architecture, the project received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007 for its simple, humane approach and beauty, and for the level of cooperation achieved between architects, craftsmen, clients and users.
Women in architecture have been documented for many centuries, as professional practitioners, educators and clients. Since architecture became organized as a profession in 1857, the number of women in architecture has been low. At the end of the 19th century, starting in Finland, certain schools of architecture in Europe began to admit women to their programmes of study. In 1980 M. Rosaria Piomelli, born in Italy, became the first woman to hold a deanship of any school of architecture in the United States, as Dean of the City College of New York School of Architecture. In recent years, women have begun to achieve wider recognition within the profession, however, the percentage receiving awards for their work remains low. As of 2023, 11.5% of Pritzker Prize Laureates have been female.
Khondaker Hasibul Kabir is a Bangladeshi landscape architect and sustainability advocate who works with Bangladeshi development agencies such as BRAC and Grameen in rural and sustainable architecture. He first proposed "The Platform of Hope" in 2007 when he moved personally in with family in the slums and designed a community space. It was showcased in the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. He also worked with German Architect Anna Heringer on the METI Handmade School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh which received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007.
Alejandro Gastón Aravena Mori is a Chilean architect and executive director of the firm Elemental S.A. He won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2016, and was the director and curator of the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Elora Hardy is a Canadian designer, who founded the company IBUKU. She is most well known for designing a community of bamboo homes near Denpasar in Bali. She was born in Canada, grew up in Bali and moved to the United States at the age of 14 to go to boarding school. She then got a degree in fine arts and worked in the fashion industry where she most notably designed prints for Donna Karan. In 2010 Hardy moved back to Bali and founded Ibuku, a design firm that uses bamboo and other natural materials to build homes and structures. Since that time Ibuku has built more than 90 bamboo structures in Southeast Asia and Africa, including the Green School Bali campus. Hardy created a yoga pavilion and riverside cooking classroom at the Four Seasons in Bali, the interior design of Tri restaurant in Hong Kong, furniture for the Como Marketplace in Singapore and tree-house suites at Bambu Indah.
Delia Narayan "Didi" Contractor was an American artist and builder. A self-taught architect, she is known for her work on the vernacular traditions in India, using adobe, bamboo and stone for materials. She was a recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India's highest civilian award for recognising the achievements and contributions of women.
The Bait Ur Rouf Mosque is a distinctive urban mosque located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Designed by Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum and completed in 2012, it has been called a refuge of spirituality in urban Dhaka and received recognition for its beautiful use of natural light and for challenging the status quo of traditional mosque design. Instead of traditional symbolism such as domes and minarets, the mosque relies on open space and the rich interplay of light and shadow to create a prayer space that elevates the spirit.
Marie-Odile Marceau is a Canadian architect and partner at McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd. Marceau's career in both the public and private sectors emphasizes sustainability and community centered design. Throughout her career, Marceau has specialized in institutional and recreational facilities, and has received numerous awards for her contributions to sustainable architecture and Indigenous community design.
The OBEL AWARD is a global award presented annually to honour "recent and outstanding architectural contributions to human development all over the world."
Mariam Issoufou Kamara is a Nigerien architect. Her designs focus on open living spaces and make use of locally produced materials available to African communities: cement, recycled metal and raw earth.
