The candidates for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture have been announced, with a number of regional projects making the cut.
The restored Flying Saucer in Sharjah has been shortlisted alongside the Manama Post Office, Bahrain; the Wafra Wind Tower, Kuwait; and Tulkarm Courthouse, Palestine. A total of 20 projects from 16 countries are listed and will compete for the $1 million prize.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is awarded every three years to projects that "set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture".
The projects in the 15th award cycle were selected by an independent jury from a pool of 463 nominated projects. The prize was started in 1977 "to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence", the Aga Khan Development Network website reads.
"Since it was launched 45 years ago, 121 projects have received the award and nearly 10,000 building projects have been documented. The jury’s selection process emphasises architecture that not only provides for people’s physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural aspirations."
There are nine members on the prize's master jury for the current cycle. An exhibition of photos of the shortlisted projects is on show in King's Cross, London, until June 30, coinciding with the London Architecture Festival.
In 2019, the last award cycle, the Wasit Wetland Centre in Sharjah was one of six winners of the prestigious prize. Other winners in 2019 included Bahrain's Revitalisation of Muharraq, the Arcadia Education Project, Bangladesh; Palestinian Museum, Palestine; Public Spaces Development Programme, Russia; and Senegal's Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit.
Look back at the history of Sharjah's Flying Saucer:
