Welcome to AKPIA@MIT

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (AKPIA@MIT) is an academic program part of the MIT Department of Architecture.  The program offers degree courses and sponsors public lectures and conferences at MIT. In addition the program offers travel grants for MIT students, as well as postdoctoral fellowships with residence at MIT.

CURRENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Enhancing the Quality of Urban Life: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme and FutureLearn, the digital platform of The Open University, UK, have developed a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled ‘Enhancing the Quality of Urban Life’ This MOOC, conceived, prepared and presented by the Jordanian architect, pedagogue and Aga Khan Award Steering Committee member Mohammad al-Asad and his colleague Lara Zureikat, presents an in-depth analysis of 15 projects that have been premiated by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and have contributed significantly to improving urban environments. The course is free and can be accessed here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/enhancing-the-quality-of-urban-life

SPRING 2019 EVENTS

February 25 • 6 pm • MIT Room 3-133
Rebuilding Architectural Heritage in Post-Conflict Mosul:
Current Challenges, Considerations, and Case Studies
Allison Cuneo
AKPIA@MIT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Bios & Abstract
 

March 11 • 6 pm • MIT Room 3-133
Contemporizing Traditional Water Architecture
Regeneration | Mainstreaming | Replication
A. Mridul / Shilpa Mridul
Architect / Entrepreneur
Bios
Birkha Bawari Synopsis

April 8 • 6 pm • MIT Room 35-225
Panel Discussion with Artist Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu, New York based artist
Miriam Cooke, Professor Emerita, Duke University
Asma Naeem, Curator, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Nasser Rabbat, Director, AKPIA@MIT
Deen Sharp, AKPIA@MIT Post-Doctoral Fellow

April 29 • 6 pm • MIT Room 3-133
Panel Discussion with Harvey Molotch and Davide Ponzini,  co-authors
of “The New Arab Urban: Gulf Cities of  Wealth, Ambition, and Distress”
Harvey Molotch, Emeritus Professor, New York University
Davide Ponzini, Professor, Politecnico di Milano
Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Rosie Bsheer, Professor of History, Harvard University
Bish Sanyal, Ford International Professor of Urban Development and Planning, MIT

May 10 • 2-5 pm & May 11 • 9:30 am-5:30 pm • MIT Room 6-120
Symposium: “Reconstruction as Violence: The Case of Aleppo”
This two-day symposium seeks to address the following questions: How do violence and conflict not only destroy but constitute, design, and organize the built environments and infrastructure? How do we understand the urbanization of warfare in relation to urban theory and reconstruction practices? Finally, participants will be asked to consider the recent warfare in the Middle East, with a special focus on Aleppo, in relation to the built environment and the extent to which reconstruction processes can be weaponized. Further information upcoming.

All events are free and open to the public.

The video of Professor Nasser Rabbat's first Gibb Lecture at Harvard delivered on April 3, 2018, is now available for viewing at https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/news/video-historian-and-city-between-ibn-khaldun-and-al-maqrizi

AGA KHAN AWARD FOR ARCHITECTURE - 2019 STEERING COMMITTEE PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, Switzerland, 12 March 2018 – The Aga Khan Award for Architecture today announced the members of the Steering Committee for the Fourteenth Award Cycle (2017 – 2019). Established in 1977, the Award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. The Steering Committee is chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. The other members of the Steering Committee are: Sir David Adjaye, Principal Adjaye Associates, London, Mohammad al-Asad, Founding Director, Center for the Study of the Built Environment, Amman, Emre Arolat, Founder, EAA- Emre Arolat Architecture, New York-London-Istanbul, Francesco Bandarin, Special Advisor, UNESCO, Paris, Hanif Kara, Design Director - AKT II, London, and Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Azim Nanji, Special Advisor, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Brigitte  Shim, Partner, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto, and Marina Tabassum, Principal, Marina Tabassum Architects, Dhaka. Farrokh Derakhshani is the Director of the Award. Continue reading