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    27 July 2012| last updated at 12:11AM

    Aga Khan prize doubled to US$1 million

    By Yvonne Yoong

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    INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) prize has doubled to US$1 million (RM3.18 million) for the current cycle which runs from 2011 to 2013.

    Open for nominations until 15 September 2012, the award will be presented in 2013.

    “The AKAA is meant to assist and support the recipients, ‘many of whom are neither well-known nor well-funded’ and one of the important aspects of the award is that winners should be able to reposition their future with the support they get from the award, both professionally and institutionally,” says Farrokh Derakhshani, director of AKAA.

    “The aim of the award is to identify nominations that represent the “broadest possible range of architectural interventions” be it modest, small-scale buildings to skyscrapers, infrastructure, transportation undertakings, housing initiatives, educational and health campuses as well as new towns, urban conservation projects and re-use of sites,” he adds.

    Essentially, the award seeks excellence in building schemes that use local resources combined with relevant technology that celebrate the innovative spirit of design which through their efforts will be likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

    Projects can be anywhere in the world but must address the “needs and aspirations of societies in which Muslims have a significant presence”.

    Selection of the award recipients are made by an independent master jury, which is reconstituted for every cycle. Malaysia’s Kamil Merican, founding principal of GDP Architects, was appointed as a Jury Member for the 2011- 2013 cycle.

    The Award process is overseen by a Steering Committee, which includes His Highness the Aga Khan; Mohammad al-Asad (founder and chairman, Center for the Study of the Built Environment, Amman, Jordan); Homi K. Bhabha (director of the Humanities Center, Harvard University, USA); Norman Foster (founder and chairman, Foster + Partners, London); Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj (CEO, Syria Trust for Development, Damascus); Glenn Lowry (director, Museum of Modern Art, New York); Rahul Mehrotra (principal, RMA Architects, Mumbai); Mohsen Mostafavi (Dean of the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, USA); Farshid Moussavi (principal, Farshid Moussavi Architecture, London) and Han Tümertekin (principal, Mimarlar Tasarim Danismanlik Ltd, Istanbul).

    For more information, log on to: www.akdn.org/architecture or contact Fay Cheah at faycheah@gmail.com

    A snapshot of some of the speakers and participants taken at the AKAA thematic seminar on “ Emerging Models of Planning Practices“ in Singapore last week.

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