Winners of prestigious architecture award announced
JAKARTA (JP): A leper hospital in India and a contemporary Malay house which took six carpenters six years to construct were among the seven winners of the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture announced last week.
The award, presented every three years, "identifies and encourages building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Moslem societies".
Established by the Aga Khan in 1977, it is the largest and most prestigious architecture award in the world.
The other five recipients of this year's award were a community based sanitation and environmental improvement program in the slums of the Indian city of Indore; a fortress surrounded by immense tent-like structures, used as a recreation center for diplomats in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the restoration of over 150 ancient houses and shops in Hebron Old Town; the futuristic new State Assembly for the government of Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal, India, and the polygonal structures that form the Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore, Pakistan.
Award recipients receive a share of the US$500,000 prize money provided by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. If deemed appropriate, the honor and the prize money is shared by all those involved in the project. In 1980, the architect, master mason, plasterer and carpenter of a summer house in Egypt all received commendations and a share of the prize money.
The 424 projects nominated for the 1998 award were evaluated by a panel of nine independent jurors, including Indonesian architect and educator Yuswadi Saliya from the Bandung Institute of Technology.
They were not only evaluated on their technical merits but also their ability to meet people's physical, social, spiritual, cultural and economic needs.
In an interview in Paris in August, the Aga Khan said he was proud of the egalitarian nature of the awards.
"People still ask why an award for architecture honors artisans and craftsmen. But architecture is an art for which a large number of people contribute and I believe that it is important to give credit to as many as we can".
In its 21st year, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has honored four Indonesian projects and several others have received honorable mentions.
In 1995, the landscaping integration of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was recognized. In 1992, Father Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya received the award for his transformation of a riverbank slum in Yogyakarta into a colorful and healthy urban environment.
One of the primary objectives of the award is to improve living conditions and opportunities, particularly in the Third World.
The Aga Khan expressed his concern about the consequences of the liberalization of the economies of the developing world, where initiative for economic change is being driven by individual entrepreneurs.
"These men and women are usually not particularly concerned with damage to the environment around them and therefore I am worried about how we can help make this process of change occur in an appropriate manner."
The award ceremony was held on Friday in Granada, Spain, in the presence of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain and the Aga Khan and the Begum Aga Khan. (Brigid O'Halloran)