The independent Master Jury of the 16th Award Cycle (2023-2025) of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced seven winning projects that demonstrate architecture's powerful potential to serve as a catalyst for pluralism, community resilience, social transformation, cultural dialogue, and climate-responsive design. The selected projects, representing innovative architectural solutions from Iran, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Pakistan, and Palestine, will share the prestigious $1 million prize, making it one of the most significant awards in the field of architecture.
The prize-giving ceremony for this cycle will take place on September 15 at the Toktogul Satylganov Kyrgyz National Philharmonic in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. Beyond recognizing architects, the award also honors the contributions of municipalities, builders, clients, master artisans, and engineers who have played essential roles in bringing these transformative projects to life. To extend the reach of this recognition, a comprehensive volume titled "Optimism and Architecture," edited by Lesley Lokko, will be published by ArchiTangle in September 2025.
In its official statement, the Master Jury emphasized the challenging global context in which this cycle unfolded, noting that "This cycle of the Award has unfolded in a world in tumult, at a moment of global insecurity. When so many pressures are placed on living, the challenges of building may feel even greater." Despite these challenges, the jury highlighted that the selected projects offer "a message of hope," demonstrating how architecture can illuminate paths forward and show how communities not only build but also thrive through design.
Among the seven winners, Khudi Bari in Bangladesh, developed by Marina Tabassum Architects, stands out as an innovative solution for flood-prone communities. The "Little House" project offers a flexible and affordable self-build housing system for Bangladesh's char communities, who face recurring displacement due to flooding and river erosion. Using modular bamboo structures with chevron-braced frames and custom steel connectors, these elevated houses cost around $450 per kit and can be assembled in three days or dismantled in three hours. By early 2025, over seventy-eight units had been built across different sites, successfully withstanding multiple floods.
From China, the West Wusutu Village Community Centre in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, designed by Zhang Pengju, represents a successful rural revitalization initiative. Built on the site of a former Buddhist temple using largely salvaged bricks, the project was completed in just seven months and has become a catalyst for economic growth in the multi-ethnic community. The design features an off-center circular courtyard that accommodates local activities such as mahjong, cards, and pottery, while also hosting cultural events and attracting tourists to support local businesses.
Egypt's contribution comes through the Revitalisation of Historic Esna, led by Cairo-based urban development company Takween. This comprehensive project transformed the fragile historic core of the small Nile-side city located 60 kilometers south of Luxor through a strategy of "urban acupuncture." The initiative restored approximately twenty key structures, including the eighteenth-century Wakālat al-Geddāwī caravanserai and the vast Qīsāriyya Market, using traditional construction methods and salvaged materials while supporting female-led enterprises and micro-businesses.
Iran contributes two winning projects to this year's selection. The Majara Complex and Community Redevelopment on Hormuz Island, designed by ZAV Architects, forms part of the "Presence in Hormuz" initiative to foster eco-tourism and community development. Using the labor-intensive but low-cost "superadobe" technique with earth-filled bags, locals were trained to construct a series of 200 interconnected domes that accommodate visitors, artist residencies, and public amenities. The second Iranian winner, Jahad Metro Plaza in Tehran by KA Architecture Studio, transforms a triangular urban site into an inclusive, all-weather public hub featuring interlocking barrel vaults that reference Iran's tradition of geometric brickwork.
Pakistan's Vision Pakistan in Islamabad, designed by Mohammad Saifullah Siddiqui, serves as a vocational training facility that supports non-literate young men through comprehensive programs combining tailoring, literacy, and life skills education. The building accommodates classrooms, dining areas, management offices, exhibition spaces, and shops where trainees can take commercial orders, while a rooftop prayer area and student-tended kitchen garden add to the facility's comprehensive approach. Serving 40-50 students annually, the center offers a model for sustainable vocational education.
Completing the list of winners, The Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem, Palestine, designed by local architects Elias and Yousef Anastas from AAU Anastas, serves as a non-profit cultural and educational platform dedicated to sustaining Palestine's threatened traditions of craft and industrial production. Set on a hillside overlooking the Al-Karkafeh Valley, the building features a rough concrete grid frame with openable glazed façades that enable natural airflow and transparency, housing workshops, performance spaces, artist studios, a radio station, café, and shop.
Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, emphasized the significance of these projects in today's global context, stating: "Architecture can – and must – be a catalyst for hope, shaping not only the spaces we inhabit but the futures we imagine. In an age defined by climate crisis, resource inequality, and rapid urbanisation, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture celebrates projects that unite society, sustainability, and pluralism to empower a more harmonious and resilient world."
Established in 1977 by the late His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture was created to recognize and support building concepts that respond to the needs and aspirations of communities with a significant Muslim presence. Over the course of its 16 triennial cycles, the Award has honored 136 projects and documented nearly 10,000 building initiatives worldwide, showcasing a diverse range of architectural approaches and contexts while emphasizing projects that engage with and reflect cultural values alongside meeting physical, social, and economic requirements.
