Designs That Endure: Top Picks from Aga Khan Award Shortlist

June 30, 2025

Designs That Endure: Top Picks from Aga Khan Award Shortlist

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Every three years, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture honours projects that transcend aesthetics to address the social, cultural, and environmental needs of communities with significant Muslim populations. More than just an accolade, the Aga Khan Award celebrates architecture as a tool for development — recognising innovative uses of local resources, historic preservation, and sustainable design. With a prize fund of $1 million, the Aga Khan Award is one of the most significant architectural awards globally. The 2023–2025 cycle Aga Khan shortlist offers a compelling look at projects that reflect cultural continuity while embracing contemporary challenges. Out of the Aga Khan shortlist, we have selected our top 10 picks that truly stand out.

The Arc: Green School, Bali

Designed by Bali-based architecture Studio Ibuku, in collaboration with Jörg Stamm and Atelier One, The Arc is a striking 760 m² bamboo structure built on the Green School campus in Abiansemal, Indonesia. Completed in 2021, it serves as a gymnasium and community wellness centre. Rising 14 metres high and spanning 19 metres across, the Arc employs intersecting bamboo arches and anticlastic gridshells, forming a curvilinear shell that balances structural innovation with natural aesthetics.

The design was inspired by the geometry of a ribcage, where arches in compression are stabilized by tensioned gridshells. Ibuku, founded by Elora Hardy, has long championed bamboo for its malleability, sustainability, and cultural resonance. Bamboo used in this project was locally sourced, treated with boron solutions, and protected using deep overhangs, UV coatings, and meticulous joinery techniques.

Construction involved extensive structural testing and full-scale mock-ups to adapt to bamboo’s natural variability. This pioneering system, now a symbol of regenerative design, reflects a decade of research and experimentation in tropical sustainable architecture.

Image Credits: Tommaso Riva, Sasha de Laage, Andreas Perbowo Widityawan.

Khudi Bari, Bangladesh

Designed by architect Marina Tabassum, Khudi Bari—meaning “small house”—is a modular, lightweight bamboo shelter developed in 2020 for displaced and landless communities in Bangladesh. Built with bamboo and steel joints, these homes can be rapidly assembled, disassembled, and relocated, offering critical refuge during climate-induced crises such as flooding. With built areas ranging from 64 to 144 square feet, the design accommodates multi-level living to maximize spatial efficiency during emergencies.

Constructed using locally sourced materials to minimise carbon footprint and cost, Khudi Bari integrates vernacular wisdom with design innovation. Implemented by the Foundation for Architecture and Community Equity (FACE) with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), it is also being adapted into larger community structures in Rohingya refugee camps.

In 2024, Khudi Bari was installed at the Vitra Campus in Germany—joining works by Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando—as a symbolic reminder of climate vulnerability and global inequality. With over 100 already built in Bangladesh, this project redefines architecture as a tool of resilience, dignity, and equity.

Image credit: City Syntax (F. M. Faruque Abdullah Shawon, H. M. Fozla Rabby Apurbo)

The Wonder Cabinet – Bethlehem, Palestine

Designed by AAU Anastas and completed in 2023, The Wonder Cabinet is a 300-square-metre, three-storey cultural space overlooking Al-Karkafeh Valley in Bethlehem. Structured around research, education, and public programming, it is both a production facility and an exhibition space for Palestinian artists, engineers, and makers. Realised by Elias and Yousef Anastas, the space integrates their architecture practice, furniture brand Local Industries, and Radio Alhara.

Built in exposed concrete with a diagonal atrium visually connecting all floors, the building houses offices, studios, event areas, a restaurant, and a sound studio. Its structural simplicity and open-plan design allow spatial flexibility and collaborative use. Local artisans were integral to construction, contributing to steelwork, lighting fixtures, and custom details, making it a perfect fit for the Aga Khan shortlist.

Porthole-shaped steel windows — crafted by Mohammad Husni — pierce the stairwell, framing evolving views of surrounding landscapes and recalling the region’s lost pine forests. The rooftop features spinning aluminium letters spelling “Wonder Cabinet”, designed by Bishara Al-Hadweh.

Image credit: Mikaela Burstow

The Ned Hotel – Doha, Qatar

Completed in 2022 and designed by David Chipperfield Architects, The Ned Doha is a landmark adaptive reuse project transforming the former Ministry of Interior — an iconic Brutalist structure by Lebanese architect William Sednaoui—into a 90-room boutique hotel on Doha’s Corniche. This conversion preserves the sculptural essence of the 1970s building, aligning heritage conservation with sustainable architectural practice.

A new 260-metre landscaped podium introduces public spaces, gardens, basins, and art installations under a brise soleil canopy of slender concrete ribs, enhancing passive cooling and horizontal aesthetics. The building’s interior features high-quality materials like Calacatta and Tinos marble, travertine, and Iroko wood. The inner courtyard forms the social heart, housing restaurants and bars, while a new rooftop addition includes a spa, fitness centre, and club lounge with panoramic views of the Persian Gulf.

The Ned Doha stands as a model for regenerative architecture in the Gulf, demonstrating how modern heritage can be preserved while integrating contemporary luxury and environmental responsibility. Factors that made it to be included in the Aga Khan list.

Image credits: Simon Menges

Shamalat Cultural Centre – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Completed in 2022, the Shamalat Cultural Centre is a restored and reimagined mud house on the periphery of Diriyah, Riyadh. Designed by Syn Architects (Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi) in collaboration with artist Maha Malluh, the project transforms a vernacular structure into a vibrant cultural hub featuring a gallery, artist residency, workshop, café, and retail space.

Executed in two phases — restoration and addition — the design retains the soul of the original building while layering modern interventions. The historic adobe walls were preserved and stabilized; new foundations, roofs, waterproofing, and fireproofing systems were added. A contemporary extension, built within the old courtyard’s footprint, incorporates the original adobe fence and is clad in warm white Riyadh limestone, offering a material dialogue between old and new.

Shamalat celebrates storytelling, adaptive reuse, and cultural continuity. Its contrasting elements—mud and concrete—embody the ongoing conversation between past and present.

The name itself, drawn from Jahili poetry, evokes timeless mountain peaks, symbolising resilience and reflection. Shamalat invites visitors to engage with heritage in daily life through a dynamic space for creativity and exchange, and it fits the brief for Aga Khan shortlist.

Image credits: Laurian Ghinitoiu

Rehabilitation and Extension of Dakar Railway Station – Dakar, Senegal

Completed in 2019 by Senegalese firm GA2D (Eric Mulot, Caroline Geffriaud), the Rehabilitation and Extension of Dakar Railway Station reimagines a disused 1914 landmark to serve the city’s new regional express railway. Closed since 2006, the historic station was once under threat of demolition. Its revival reflects a balance between heritage preservation and contemporary civic needs.

Rather than replacing its collapsing steel framework, the architects reinforced it using rough-faced poured concrete columns. This decision respected time and budget constraints while maintaining structural integrity. Material choices, lighting, and custom-designed furniture subtly modernise the colonial-era building, reflecting a conscious distancing from its imperial legacy.

A newly built extension continues the axis of the old structure but is visually set apart by a deliberate gap. While distinct, the addition echoes the historic station through similar colours, structural rhythm, and louvre-like brise-soleils. A key urban move reallocated vehicular access to the rear, reclaiming the forecourt as a rare public square in Dakar. With new trees and concrete benches, the station now offers shaded space for pedestrians, enhancing both transit experience and public life.

Image credit: Lionel Mandeix

Revitalisation of Historic Esna – Esna, Egypt

Led by Takween Integrated Community Development (Kareem Ibrahim), the Revitalisation of Historic Esna project in Upper Egypt reimagines the city’s cultural heritage as a catalyst for inclusive growth. Commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Luxor Governorate, and USAID/Egypt, the project focuses on adaptive reuse, urban regeneration, and socioeconomic empowerment.

At the heart of this multi-phase initiative is the transformation of Esna’s neglected historic centre—once centered solely around the Temple of Khnum—into a vibrant, multi-layered destination. Conservation efforts include the adaptive reuse of the 18th-century Wakalat al-Geddawi, upgrades to Qisariyya Market and Bazaar Street, restoration of the 19th-century Royal Guesthouse, and rehabilitation of 15 architecturally significant buildings using sustainable materials like mud brick and wood.

The project goes beyond preservation. Over 430 locals and 18 SMEs have been trained in business skills, while women-led ventures—like the Women’s Kitchen and a wood workshop—promote gender inclusion. Tourism has been reinvigorated through interpretive strategies, cultural documentation, and improved visitor infrastructure.

The initiative preserved Esna’s heritage, cancelled planned demolitions, and created hundreds of jobs—offering a replicable model for sustainable, community-driven urban development and made to the Aga Khan shortlist.

Image credits: Ahmed Salem

Jahad Metro Plaza – Tehran, Iran

Completed in 2023 by KA Architecture Studio (led by Mohammad Khavarian), Jahad Metro Plaza reimagines a formerly neglected metro entrance at a busy Tehran intersection as a dynamic public realm intervention. The project was commissioned by the Municipality of Tehran as part of a broader push towards a more pedestrian-oriented cityscape.

Previously defined by a small glass enclosure, the site is now transformed by clusters of brick barrel vaults—handmade by local workshops using 300,000 bricks from local soil. These arches, echoing Persian architectural heritage, form an airy triple-height arrival space that fosters community interaction and shelter from Tehran’s harsh climate. At street level, stepped seating acts as a mini-theatre, while the surrounding plaza invites gatherings, performances, and street vending.

The vaulted forms create visual permeability, mitigate noise, and define a “democratic open space”—a symbolic gesture after recent protests that began in Tehran’s metro. “We thought that the primary need has changed from a simple entrance to a covered urban event space,” says Khavarian. The project has become a new civic landmark and a model for socially responsive design in urban Iran.

Image credits: Mohammad Hassan Ettefagh

Campus Startup Lions – Turkana, Kenya

Completed in 2021 by Berlin-based Kéré Architecture, the Campus Startup Lions in Turkana, Kenya, is an education and entrepreneurial hub designed to address youth unemployment through access to ICT training and co-working facilities. Commissioned by NGO Learning Lions, the 1,416-square-metre campus accommodates classrooms, collaborative workspaces, admin offices, rooftop terraces, and a business incubation centre—empowering young Kenyans to thrive professionally without leaving their homeland.

The campus architecture blends with the surrounding desert landscape. Built from local volcanic rock and rendered with terracotta-tinted plaster, the design is inspired by termite mounds, reflected in three tall, geometrically expressive ventilation towers. These towers employ passive cooling using the stack effect, while woven straw louvres and small angled windows protect against heat and dust.

Designed across two levels on a sloped site, the project offers shaded courtyards, external walkways, and rooftop pergolas for social and study gatherings. Natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting, and solar power make the building environmentally resilient. Factors that made it to the Aga Khan shortlist.

“We imagined a facility that blended with the striking natural landscape, mirroring the ingenious structures built by termites,” says architect Francis Kéré.

Photography credits: Christopher Wilton-Steer

Revitalisation of Lalla Yeddouna Square – Fez, Morocco

Completed in 2019 by Mossessian Architecture (London) in collaboration with Yassir Khalil Studio (Casablanca), the Revitalisation of Lalla Yeddouna Square breathes new life into a neglected node at the heart of Fez’s UNESCO-listed medina. Selected from over 800 entries to an international competition, the winning design reconnects the square to the riverbank through a pedestrian-friendly route threading through the ancient city’s dense fabric.

The 7,400 m² project integrates artisan workshops, cafés, retail, education spaces, a nursery, a women’s centre, tourist information hub, post office, and fire station. Eleven historic buildings were sensitively rehabilitated and nine new ones added, including a hotel for artists-in-residence. The Aga Khan shortlist took into account the traditional methods that were employed with modern design, using passive climate strategies like thermal mass, natural ventilation, and basement labyrinths for cooling.

Zellige tilework—co-designed with environmental artist Michael Pinsky—transitions from traditional to contemporary, doubling as intuitive signage for artisans. “Our intervention was to preserve all the existing constructions that could be renovated… and reconnect Place Lalla Yeddouna with urban fluidity,” says architect Michel Mossessian.