DOHA ARCHITECTURE experts who participated in a lecture organised by Dohaland recently at the Knowledge Enrichment Centre were unanimous in praising the importance of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in maintaining the enduring values of architecture and bringing about genuine improvements to the quality of life in Muslim communities around the world.
The ‘Aga Khan Award for Architecture – Voices from Doha’ seminar included five lecture presentations and discussions representing expert opinions on the award, its achievements, contributions to the discourse on architecture and urbanism, and the potential of projects within Qatar to receive future awards.
The seminar addressed several topics related to the award, including its global and local importance, rigorous review and jury processes, a local example of a project short-listed for the award in Souq Waqif as well as a case study of Dohaland’s Musheireb project in the context of embodying certain special values of the Aga Khan Award requirement.
Four experts in the field of architecture made presentations during the seminar.
They were Prof Ashraf M Salama, head of Department of Architecture and Urban Planning and Dohaland cochair in architecture at Qatar University; Prof Tim Makower, Dohaland co-chair at Qatar University and partner at Allies and Morrison Architects, London); Dr Yasser Mahgoub, associate professor of architecture at Qatar University, and Dr Djamel Boussaa, assistant professor of architecture at Qatar University.
The 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture was announced at a ceremony held at the Museum of Islamic Art in November.
The five projects selected by the jury were Wadi Hanifa Wetlands in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Revitalisation of the Hypercentre of Tunis, Tunisia; Madinat Al Zahra Museum in Cordoba, Spain; Ipekyol Textile Factory in Edirne, Turkey; and Bridge School Xiashi in Fujian, China.
The award, established in 1977, seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies in which Muslims have a significant presence.
The opening lecture ‘Overview of the Aga Khan Award: Multiple Voices on Architecture and Urbanism Over Three Decades’, presented by Prof Salama, explored the need for architectural awards, concluding that they play a pivotal role in validating the achievements of professional architects while making their contributions more widely acknowledged by the public, hence promoting excellence in architecture.
It went on to address the awards structure, values, categories and contributions to architecture and urbanism.
“In essence, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture addresses contexts in which Muslim communities have substantial presence and, in my view, it has contributed at the physical intervention level and at the architectural thought level in the developing or non-Western world.
The award’s concern and impact is not only expressed in the conservation of architectural heritage or revitalisation of communities or stylistic and symbolic interventions.
It is about the enduring values of architecture in creating physical and visual manifestations that speak to their communities, relate effectively to their users and their economic and societal realities,” Prof Salama said.
Dr Mahgoub, who served as a reviewer in the Aga Khan Award 2010 Cycle, gave a lecture entitled ‘AKAA Technical Review and Jury Process: A Recent Experience’.
The presentation focused on the process of the award’s technical review and jury process and shed light on the nature of the review process, reviewers’ responsibilities, project study, visit, report writing, and presentation of the project to the master jury committee.
“The Aga Khan Award’s process of projects technical review is one of the most rigorous and comprehensive review processes of architecture awards,” he said.
Prof Makower’s ‘Musheireb Project: Reflections on the Values of the Award’ presentation reflected on certain values of the award as manifested in Dohaland’s signature project Musheireb, the world’s first sustainable downtown regeneration project, regenerating 35 hectares (86 acres) site in the historical downtown Doha.
The project aims to transform the old commercial and business district into the vibrant, cohesive and culturally alive city centre that it once was.
The unique mixed-use project will simultaneously address issues of congestion, sustainability, and maintaining the aesthetic and social individuality of Qatar.
Speaking on the project’s chances of winning the award in the future, he said: “It is good to dream that the Musheireb project, or some of its buildings, may one day be considered for an Aga Khan Award but, much to the award organisation’s credit, they are keen to see developments completed before making judgments, so we have a few years to continue this discussion before knowing how this particular piece of the future will unfold.” In reviewing the awards, Prof Makower highlighted three aspects of the Musheireb project – public space, collective and language - each of which is an example of innovation and common sense in the making of cities, “while also having a direct impact on community life (both at the micro and macro scales) and leading the way for the wider world”.
The primacy of public space is a given fact with the Musheireb master plan’s network of outdoor rooms and linear routes, ‘carved’ out of solid urban fabric.
The tendency in contemporary urbanism is for the spaces between buildings to be too large, on account of the motorcar.
This is combated by the compactness of the master plan which binds space together and ensures a walkable, shaded environment.
While there is nothing new about this kind of urbanism, to reinvent it to suit twentyfirst century needs and local norms and environments is indeed innovative.
The importance of the collective; the whole being greater, and more important than the sum of the parts, is portrayed in the Musheireb master plan where individual buildings are seen as part of a group and the success of their individual ‘voices’ is judged, as with a choir, in terms of the overall harmony achieved.