Shāh Karim al-Husayni, known by the religious title Mawlānā Hazar Imam by his Ismaili followers and elsewhere as Aga Khan IV, is the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailis, a denomination within Shia Islam. He has held the position of imam and the title of Aga Khan since 11 July 1957, when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III. The Aga Khan claims direct lineal descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, considered an imam in Shia Islam, and Ali's wife Fatima, Muhammad's daughter from his first marriage.
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.
Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira is a Portuguese architect, and architectural educator. He is internationally known as Álvaro Siza and in Portugal as Siza Vieira.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies founded by the Aga Khan that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. Aga Khan IV succeeded to the office of the 49th hereditary Imam as spiritual and administrative leader of the Shia faith-rooted Nizari Ismaili Muslim supranational union in 1957. Ismailis consist of an estimated 25–30 million adherents.
Aga Khan University is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was Founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, the university expanded to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan.
Venice Biennale of Architecture is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. It was held on even years until 2018, but 2020 was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shifting the calendar to uneven years. It is the architecture section under the overall Venice Biennale and was officially established in 1980, even though architecture had been a part of the Venice Art Biennale since 1968.
Archnet is a collaborative digital humanities project focused on Islamic architecture and the built environment of Muslim societies. Conceptualized in 1998 and originally developed at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in co-operation with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. It has been maintained by the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture since 2011.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a family of institutions created by Aga Khan IV with distinct but complementary mandates to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world, particularly in Asia and Africa. It focuses on the revitalization of communities in the Muslim world—physical, social, cultural, and economic. The AKTC was founded in 1988 and is registered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a private non-denominational philanthropic foundation.
Hashim A. Sarkis is a Lebanese educator and architect. Since 2015, Sarkis has been Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also founding principal of Hashim Sarkis Studios since 1998.
Henning Larsen Architects is an international architectural firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1959 by Henning Larsen, it has around 750 employees.
WOHA is a Singaporean multinational architectural industrial design firm. First established in 1994 by Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell, its name is derived from the initial letters of the founders’ surnames. Based out of Singapore, the firm has built and designed dozens of projects throughout the Asia-Pacific, including residential towers, public housing estates, mass transit stations, hotels and cultural institutions.
Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabé architect, recognized for creating innovative works that are often sustainable and collaborative in nature.In 2022, he became the first African to receive Pritzker Architecture Prize. Educated at the Technical University of 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 2012 Gold.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios is a British architectural design firm, established in 1978, with offices in Bath, London, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh. The firm is known for its pioneering work in sustainable design and social design agenda.
Revathi S. Kamath (1955-2020) was an Indian architect and planner based in Delhi. She is a pioneer of mud architecture in India. In addition to this, she is also credited with building the tallest stainless steel structure in India.
Superkilen is a public park in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The park is designed to bring refugees and locals together, promoting tolerance and unity in one of Denmark's most ethnically-diverse and socially-challenged communities. Not only is the park a meeting place for local residents, it is a tourist attraction for Copenhagen. Designed by the arts group Superflex with the collaboration of Bjarke Ingels Group and Topotek1, a German landscape architecture firm, the park was officially opened in June 2012. The almost kilometre-long park's name refers to its shape, "kilen" meaning "wedge".
Sergei Enwerowitsch Tchoban is a German Architect working in various cities in Europe. He is a member of the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Union of Architects of Russia and the Union of Artists of Russia, academician of the Moscow branch of the International Academy of Architecture and honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, the recipient of architectural awards and a participant in various architectural exhibitions.
Mathews & Associates Architects is an architecture firm based in Pretoria, South Africa, known for contextually relevant and graphic designs. The firm was established in 2000 by Pieter J Mathews and it has been involved in a wide variety of buildings ranging from large-scale buildings for tertiary institutions to transport architecture. Buildings designed by Mathews & Associates Architects have been published in over 130 publications and has appeared on national television over 25 times. In 2012, their design for a new bridge was exhibited as part of the “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps” exhibition in collaboration with the GAA Foundation at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2016, Mathews was appointed as the curator of the South African Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in the Sale d'Armi at the Arsenale. The theme for the year was ‘Reporting from the front’ directed by Chilean Architect Alejandro Aravena. In 2018 Mathews was awarded with the Medal of Honour for Visual Arts (Architecture) by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
Emre Arolat, is a Turkish architect. In 2004 he co-founded EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture with Gonca Paşolar.
Ola-Dele Kuku is a Nigerian architect and artist of Yoruba origin. He lives and works between Nigeria and Belgium.
Marina Tabassum is a Bangladeshi architect. She is the principal architect of Marina Tabassum Architects. In 2016, she won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the design of Bait-ur-Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
