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The Spirit Behind the Aga Khan = Awards

By Linda Hales

Washington = Post Staff=20 Writer
Saturday, November 27, 2004; Page C01 =

In the West, the Aga Khan has an outsize profile as a = multibillionaire,=20 owner of fast horses and fixture on British society pages, where the = odds are=20 being weighed that divorce from his second wife, the Begum Inaara, a = former=20 German pop singer with a law degree, could trim his highness's fortune = by $1=20 billion.

In the Muslim world, the Aga Khan is also larger than life. As = a direct=20 descendant of the prophet Muhammad, the 67-year-old holds the hereditary = title=20 of 49th spiritual leader to an estimated 20 million Shiite Ismaili = Muslims in 25=20 countries. In that role, he oversees a complex of Geneva-based trusts = dedicated=20 to education and development.

Designer Cesar Pelli's Petronas = Towers in=20 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, above, are an Aga Khan winner, as = are Nader=20 Khalili's "earth dome" shelter, below, and a housing = rehabilitation=20 project in the Old City of Jerusalem, left. (Kamran=20 Adle -- The Aga Khan Award For Architecture)=20




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Over nearly three decades, design has become an essential tool = in his=20 efforts to bridge the gap between traditional Islamic societies and = today's=20 world. In Cairo, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture funded the $30 million, = 74-acre=20 Al-Azhar Park, which was completed this summer. The massive urban = revitalization=20 project transformed a 500-year-old dump into an oasis of citrus and = palms, with=20 lake, waterfalls, sports facilities and a restaurant.

At a ceremony today in Delhi, India, the ninth triennial Aga = Khan=20 Awards for Architecture will be conferred on seven winners. With a = payout of=20 $500,000, it's the world's most lavish design prize. Winning entries = combine=20 design excellence with the humanistic spirit of Islam. Worthiness can = trump=20 glamour.

The awards, which began in 1977, do not require that designers = be=20 Muslim, only that their projects benefit Muslims. Thus the 2004 awards = include=20 the tapering polygonal Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at = 1,483 feet=20 among the tallest buildings in the world. The designer is Cesar Pelli, = an=20 Argentine architect with offices in New Haven, Conn. An iconic library = in=20 Alexandria, Egypt, which resembles an immense granite discus, was = designed by=20 Snohetta, a Norwegian team recently chosen to design the museum complex = at the=20 World Trade Center site in New York. For humanism, there is a prototype = "earth=20 dome" emergency shelter made of sandbags, Velcro and barbed wire. The = structural=20 system was devised by Nader Khalili, an Iranian-born architect whose = Cal-Earth=20 Institute is based in Hesperia, Calif. He once consulted with NASA to = develop=20 housing on the moon and dreams of improving the living conditions of the = "one-third of the planet" that lacks adequate shelter.

The Aga Khan's efforts recently caught the attention of the = National=20 Building Museum, which has decided to award him its top honor, the = Vincent=20 Scully Prize, at a Washington gala Jan. 25. Museum director Chase Rynd = said the=20 decision was based on design and scholarship, but he acknowledged "the = extra=20 benefit" of promoting Muslim-Western dialogue.

"We did not choose him for any political reason but for what he = is=20 doing in the design world," Rynd said. "There is such heightened = interest in the=20 Muslim world, this hopefully will contribute to people's knowledge and=20 understanding."

To Khalili, the act of building is not apolitical. The = architect=20 expressed awe that his modest mud homes had been linked with Pelli's = glistening=20 towers. But in a telephone conversation from the construction site of a = deluxe=20 four-bedroom dome -- being made with earth excavated for a backyard = swimming=20 pool -- Khalili segued effortlessly into a tirade against the = intransigence of=20 Third World bureaucracies, which for years have refused to give his = low-tech=20 earth domes a chance.

We had talked last January, when he was trying to interest = earthquake=20 relief agencies in Bam, Iran, in his shelters. They would have provided = quick,=20 affordable, environmentally and culturally appropriate temporary = housing, he=20 believes.

"Give me 1,000 soldiers and 100 architecture students, and I = will build=20 a big part of Bam with the rubble," he repeated over the din of = construction.=20 "Our biggest problem is that the bureaucracy is choking the work we are=20 doing."

The Aga Khan awards also will honor a weekend house on the = Aegean coast=20 of Turkey, by architect Han Tumertekin, that is a model of progressive = regional=20 modernism -- spare and glassy without appearing too Western. Two = restoration=20 projects, a 12th-century Yemeni mosque and the rehabilitation of = Palestinian=20 housing in the Old City of Jerusalem, won praise, as did a primary = school in=20 Burkina Faso constructed by village residents under the leadership of = the=20 chief's son, who studied architecture in Berlin.

In a statement from his Aiglemont, his chateau in France, the = Aga Khan=20 traced his interest in modern architecture to the 1970s. Originally the = point of=20 the awards was to encourage a modern tradition in Islamic architecture, = one that=20 did not mimic its glorious past or copy from Western culture. The = definition of=20 architecture has been expanded to include social progress and ecology, = although=20 no hospitals or industrial plants have yet won awards. But buildings = such as the=20 Petronas Towers and the Alexandria library are distinguished elements of = contemporary Islamic heritage.

"By mobilizing the best of its talents in association with = those from=20 other religious backgrounds," the Aga Khan said, the Islamic world has = reversed=20 "one of the greatest losses . . . namely the quality of its physical = expressions=20 in buildings, public spaces and gardens."

Data on the 7,500 nominees and more than 85 winners since the = inception=20 of the awards are being put online at http://www.archnet.org/, the Web = site of the=20 Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT. An = estimated=20 350,000 images of contemporary architecture from 1960 to the present = will be=20 included.

"Where there was once a lack of direction, there is now a clear = sense=20 of promise," the Aga Khan said. "The essence of this adventure may prove = to be=20 valuable as we address other issues of great importance in the Islamic=20 world."

The Building Museum's Scully award carries a $25,000 stipend, = which the=20 museum expects will go to charity.

"He does not need it," Rynd said, referring to = the prize=20 money. "Apparently he doesn't. If he does, we're all in trouble."=20

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