THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC KHAN PROGRAM FOR ARCHITECTURETHE AGA 11issue AKPIA AKTC Established in 1979, the Aga Khan Buildings and public spaces are Programs for Islamic Architecture physical manifestations of culture in (AKPIA) at Harvard University and at the societies both past and present. They Massachusetts Institute of Technology represent human endeavors that can are supported by endowments for enhance the quality of life, foster self- akpia instruction, research, and student aid understanding and community values, THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE FOR TRUST KHAN THE AGA from His Highness the Aga Khan. AKPIA and expand opportunities for economic aktc is dedicated to the study of Islamic and social development into the 2014-2015 architecture, urbanism, visual culture, future. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture and conservation, in an effort to respond (AKTC) is an integral part of the Aga features: to the cultural and educational needs of Khan Development Network (AKDN), a diverse constituency drawn from all a family of institutions created by His MIT Activities p. 2 over the world. Highness the Aga Khan with distinct yet People p. 7 complementary mandates to improve Along with the focus on improving the the welfare and prospects of people AKDC p. 14 teaching of Islamic art and architecture in countries of the developing world, Harvard HAA and setting a standard of excellence particularly in Asia and Africa. Activities p. 16 in professional research, AKPIA also People p. 21 continually strives to promote visibility Though their spheres of activity and Harvard GSD of the pan-Islamic cultural heritage. expertise differ—ranging from social Activities p. 29 development to economic development People p. 34 to culture—AKDN institutions share & at least three principles that guide their work. The first is dedication to self-sustaining development that can contribute to long-term economic advancement and social harmony. The second is a commitment to the vigorous participation of local communities in all development efforts. Finally, all Network 1 institutions seek shared responsibility for positive change. AGA KHAN PROGRAM, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2014–2015 STUDENT ACTIVITIES Admitting One New PhD Student Student Travel Grant Awards Sumayah Al-Solaiman University of Dammam Iheb Guermazi Karthik Rao Cavale Extended MIT residence from 11/13-01/15 SM University of Washington The Road to Dalit Mobility: Rural Roads and Caste Topic: Architectural precedents and the Expected Graduation 2020 Relations in India exploitation of terminology in the contemporary AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE & ISLAMIC KHAN PROGRAM FOR ARCHITECTURE & AGA Tamil Nadu, India architectural design of Saudi Arabia Admitting Three New SMArchS Students Dina El-Zanfaly Anas Soufan (will be in residence in the Fall 2015) Muneerah Alrabe Making to Learn and Learning to Make University of Geneva BAR Syracuse University Turkey Maison des Artistes de Paris Expected Graduation 2016 Topic: The Appropriation of Syrian Urban Space Alpen Sheth by an Islamic Art in the Era of Modernity: Case of Tanya Ismail Disaster Insurance as planning? Damascus 1839-1963 issue SM University College London Field Visit to Disaster-prone Areas. 11 Expected Graduation 2016 India akpia aktc Francesca Liuni Post-Doctoral Fellows 2014-2015 BAR Politecnico di Bari THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE FOR TRUST KHAN THE AGA Expected Graduation 2016 Farhan Karim The University of Kansas Graduating Two SMArchS Students In MIT residence 3/15- 05/15 Topic: The broken wings of postcolonial self: Chantal el-Hayek Muslim nationalism and the Western Architects in Thesis: The Last Levantine City: Beirut, 1830-1930 Pakistan, 1947-71 Allison James Dana Sajdi Thesis: The Architecture of Procession: Political Boston College and Spiritual Pathways between the Qutb Shahi In MIT residence 9/14- 06/15 Necropolis and Golconda Fortress Topic: Visualizing Damascus: Arabic Textual Representations from the 12th to the 20th Centuries 2 AGA KHAN PROGRAM, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2014-2015 LECTURES & ACTIVITIES FALL 2014 LECTURE SERIES September 22 November 17 Global Nomads: Conflict, Convivencia, and the Life of Buildings Migration and Cultural Mobility in the Current Michele Lamprakos Profession of Architecture AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE & ISLAMIC KHAN PROGRAM FOR ARCHITECTURE & AGA School of Architecture, Planning, and Asiya Chowdhury Preservation Design Leader University of Maryland-College Park Ian Schrager Company, New York October 20 Homecoming after Death: An Islamic Cemetery in Austria Bernardo Bader issue Architect & Principal, bernardo bader 11 architekten, Dornbirn, Austria akpia aktc Eva Grabherr 2014-2015 Director of the Center for Immigration and THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE FOR TRUST KHAN THE AGA Integration, Vorarlberg, Austria Azra Aksamija ACT/MIT Nasser Rabbat AKPIA/MIT Co-Sponsored with ACT/MIT November 3 What Constitutes Excellence in Islamic Geometric Design? Historical and Contemporary Best Practice Eric Broug Author and educator, UK 3 AGA KHAN PROGRAM, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL WORKSHOP BY ERIC BROUG SPRING 2015 LECTURE SERIES November 4, 10:00 am -1:00 pm in MIT room E25-117 A Practical Introduction to Islamic Geometric Design Workshop Using only a pencil, a straight edge, and a pair AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE & ISLAMIC KHAN PROGRAM FOR ARCHITECTURE & AGA of compasses, learn how to make patterns using the same techniques used by craftsmen for centuries. Learn how they used polygonal grids to design and scale their compositions. We will be making two patterns: one from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, another from the Al-Mustansariyya madrasa in Baghdad. issue 11 Lectures by Post-Doctoral Fellows Other Lecturers akpia aktc February 23 April 27 2014-2015 Architecture as an Appropriating Apparatus: Culture and Identity: THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE FOR TRUST KHAN THE AGA Muslim Nationalism and Designing Presidential The Architecture of Jewish Holy Spaces in Isfahan, Complex of Islamabad, Pakistan Iran Farhan Karim Mohammad Gharipour AKPIA@MIT Post-Doctoral Fellow Associate Professor, Morgan State University, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas Baltimore March 16 Ceci n’est pas Damas: Arabic Prose Topographies of Damascus Dana Sajdi AKPIA@MIT Post-Doctoral Fellow Associate Professor, Boston College 4 AGA KHAN PROGRAM, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2014-2015 COURSES 4.619 SPRING 2015 Historiography of Islamic Architecture FALL 2014 Nasser Rabbat 4.154 Granada Studio: Design with History 4.614 This is course is required for all AKPIA SMarchS Nasser Rabbat Architecture in the Islamic World students. This seminar offers a critical review Nasser Rabbat of scholarship on Islamic architecture through This studio is an exploration of the role history AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE & ISLAMIC KHAN PROGRAM FOR ARCHITECTURE & AGA close reading of scholarly texts, museum plays in design. This is not an inquiry into This course surveys the history of Islamic exhibitions, and architectural projects. It also how typological, formal, or stylistic analysis architecture from the beginning of Islam in 7th- tackles methodological and historiographical use history. Rather the studio aims to uncover century Arabia to the present. It covers fifteen questions about the field’s formation, genealogy, how design is embedded in history as much centuries and three continents, Asia, Africa, and recent expansion, and its evolving historical as it is informed and formed by it. Our site is Europe in addition to recent developments in and theoretical contours. First is how can we Granada, the last Islamic capital in Iberia, which the US. The survey examines decisive moments study a culturally defined architectural tradition has reworked its past into its contemporary in Islamic history, traces the global spread of like Islamic architecture without reducing it urban morphology and architectural image. issue Islam today, and introduces influential patrons, to essential and timeless categories? Second, The studio seeks to understand that layered thinkers, and designers. It studies representative how can we critique the dominant Western architectural history (or what is left of it) and to 11 architectural examples beginning with the House architectural paradigm without discarding examine the interplay of tourism, archeology, akpia aktc of the Prophet in Medina and ending with current the idea of paradigm or turning away from its heritage conservation, and urban intervention 2014-2015 megaprojects in the Persian Gulf. The examples comparative examples? Third, how can we rethink in the shaping of Albayzin, Granada’s most THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE FOR TRUST KHAN THE AGA are situated within their broad historical context periodization in Islamic architectural history in historic neighborhood. The studio will travel to and their architectural, urban, and stylistic a more internally representative way without Granada during Spring break, 2015. The trip will characteristics are analyzed in conjunction with cutting it off from a global historical framework? enable the students to examine on site many their political, socioeconomic, and intellectual And fourth how can we reclaim the assumed of the topics that we will study in studio. The settings. Students are encouraged to raise temporal boundaries of Islamic architecture