A Lebanese guesthouse, a Bangladeshi refugee space, a Senegalese school and a museum in Iran are among the winners of the $1 million Aga Khan Award for Architecture, now in its 45th year.
The six award winners will share the prize pot, one of the largest in architecture, for an award that was established in 1977 by the Aga Khan to reward building projects and designs that address the needs of communities with significant Muslim populations.
Tripoli guesthouse
The renovation of Lebanon's Niemeyer Guest House in Tripoli is one of the projects. It “is an inspiring tale of architecture's capacity for repair, at a time of dizzying, entangled crisis around the world, and in Lebanon in particular”, the jury said.
On the outskirts of the city, the building stands inside an entrance to the Rachid Karami International Fair, a project by architect Oscar Niemeyer that has been left derelict and unfinished after the country's civil war halted it in 1975.
The 10-hectare fair site is a widely celebrated example of Modernist architecture in the Middle East.
The single-storey guesthouse, transformed by East Architecture Studio, appears windowless from the outside and yet is flooded with light via a central atrium and two courtyards.
Community spaces in Bangladesh
Bangladesh's Urban River Spaces, a former dump site that has been transformed into a multifunctional space used by communities in Jhenaidah, is part of an initiative to clean the Nabaganga River.
“As such, the project managed to reverse the ecological degradation and health hazards of the river and its banks and induce effective ecological improvement of the river in one of the most riverine countries on earth,” an extract from the jury citation said.
Future plans at this project include the introduction of walkways, gardens, cultural facilities and efforts to increase biodiversity in the area.
Six temporary community spaces of the Rohingya Response programme in Cox's Bazaar also received the award, as they provide “dignified, sensitive and ingenious response to emergency needs”.
These comprise a women-friendly space that encompasses psychosocial support, a breastfeeding area and a courtyard for women and girls to play. Another zone offers space for Rohingya women to craft products and sell them to visitors, while a third serves Hindu Rohingya communities with domestic violence issues.
An airport in Indonesia
In Indonesia, the Banyuwangi International Airport in East Java, designed by architect Andra Matin, caught jury members' eyes. It is described as a “game-changer in airport architecture”.
It was inspired by the houses of the local Osing tribe and features two pitched-roof structures covered in grass and crowned with timber-frame, asymmetrical pyramidal skylights that pay homage to the traditional Banyuwangi headdress.
“Arising from a sea of a paddy fields, the building extends the language of the landscape into a concentrated event that coalesces architecture, functionality and setting in a seamless yet discernible disposition,” the jury said.
Tehran museum and Senegalese school
In Iran, the Argo Contemporary Art Museum and Cultural Centre has also received international recognition.
The jury described it as an “untypical” reuse and conservation project, as it transformed a former brewery into a private museum for contemporary art, with spaces for exhibitions, talks and film screenings across four floors.
The project retained the “full integrity and raw beauty of the historic building”, judges said, through the use of steel columns, reinstated brickwork and a white concrete staircase, as well as a brass public bar. Five pitched-concrete roof structures “appear to float above the building — a 'tip of the hat' symbolising its return to life”.
The final winner is the Kamanar Secondary School in Senegal, a complex that “addresses the multiple scales of urbanism, landscape, architecture and building technologies with equal commitment and virtuosity”.
The site's topography and flora, which includes a grid of classroom pods centred around pre-existing foliage, are especially striking features.
2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture
These winners were chosen from a shortlist of 20 projects, which in turn were whittled down from a pool of 463. On-site reviews by a team of experts were undertaken to devise the final list.
“We wanted our collective message to reflect the extraordinary times we are living in, from Covid and climate change to social polarisation, poverty, inequality and conflict,” the master jury report said.
“To that end, we sought to identify exemplary and transformative practices that address these particular challenges.”
The jury looked for “quality, not only of the architectural space, but the quality of life and social relationships facilitated by architecture — the generosity and beauty that architecture can strive to make more accessible”.
Jury members this year included architects Nada Al Hassan and Lina Ghotmeh, artist Kader Attia and professor Amale Andraos.
An award ceremony will soon take place in Muscat, Oman, in conjunction with the Aga Khan Music Awards.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
LIKELY TEAMS
South Africa
Faf du Plessis (captain), Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Lungi Ngidi.
India (from)
Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)
MacBook Air
$1,199
Mac Mini
$799
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%3A%20Zywa%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202021%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Nuha%20Hashem%20and%20Alok%20Kumar%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20UAE%3Cbr%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%3Cbr%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%243m%3Cbr%3ECompany%20valuation%3A%20%2430m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
BRIEF SCORES
England 228-7, 50 overs
N Sciver 51; J Goswami 3-23
India 219, 48.4 overs
P Raut 86, H Kaur 51; A Shrubsole 6-46
England won by nine runs
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
