On November 19, the Daniels Faculty is hosting Architecture in Dialogue, an online symposium to celebrate the 14th cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. But even once the symposium ends, it will still be possible to learn about the award's latest crop of honourees in an engaging way. That's because the Daniels Faculty has created a new Architecture in Dialogue website, to educate the public about the award and its impact on the design fields.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is given every three years by the Aga Khan Development Network. The recipients are projects in the fields of architecture, landscape, planning, and historic preservation that address the needs of societies with significant Muslim populations.

The Aga Khan Award was first given in 1980, but it has struggled to gain prominence in the western hemisphere. "Although this award has existed for decades, the winning projects are not well known to North Americans, particularly students of architecture, landscape, and urbanism, who could learn from their examples," says Daniels Faculty professor Brigitte Shim, who is a member of the award's steering committee. "Taken individually and seen together, these works provide remarkable precedents for tackling global challenges."

The Daniels Faculty's symposium, and the accompanying website, are intended to help bring the award's latest winners to the attention of Canadian and American architects, academics, and students.

The new website, designed by sessional lecturer Andrew Bako and Nikolas McGlashan (MArch 21), includes information about the award competition in general. It also contains a wealth of details on the winners of the award's 14th cycle, which concluded in 2019.

The 2019 winners include the Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit, a Senegalese educational facility designed by the Spanish architecture firm IDOM. The building expertly references local architecture while incorporating modern sustainability features like passive cooling and wastewater filtration.

Another highlight among 2019's winners is the Palestinian Museum, designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, of Ireland. The structure, located in the West Bank town of Birzeit, takes inspiration from the rough-hewn agricultural terraces that surround it.

For more information on those and other winners of the 14th cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, visit the Architecture in Dialogue website.

Take me to the Architecture in Dialogue website

Web design by Andrew Bako and Nikolas McGlashan, with thanks to Jeanie Lim (Shim-Sutcliffe Architects) and the Daniels Faculty exhibition committee.