The Aga Khan Award for Architecture established in 1977 honours building concepts in which Muslim communities have a significant presence. In this year's competition, 20 projects from 16 different countries have made it onto the shortlist for the award endowed with 1 million US dollars in prize money.
The projects include Warka Water, a dew collector in Ethiopia made of bamboo and designed by Arturo Vittori, and in Indonesia the Taman Bima Microlibrary designed by SHAU Bandung and featuring a facade made up of recycled ice cream tubs. OMA's 'Concrete at Alserkal Avenue', a cultural project in Dubai, and Muttrah Fish Market by Snøhetta have also been selected for closer consideration.
The high-profile master jury for the 2019 award includes, among others, prominent architects such as Meisa Batayneh, David Chipperfield and Elizabeth Diller as well as such outstanding academic figures as the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, who conducts research in New York, and Ali Malkawi, professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and founder of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities. The Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is chaired by Karim Aga Khan IV himself, founder of the Aga Khan Foundation.
