Contemporary Architecture of the Islamic World

A collaboration between SOAS' School of Arts, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme and the Barakat Trust, this unique course focuses on the modern and contemporary architecture of the Islamic world to reflect on current debates in architecture, using examples from the Muslim world to discuss global challenges and showcase thoughtful responses to issues related to architecture and the built environment.

This online course will draw upon the pioneering initiative of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in helping to shape and lead the discourse on contemporary architecture over the past 40 years, and will feature leading practitioners and thinkers whose work and ideas challenge existing norms and present new alternatives to many of the current issues, and engage with them in a conversational format to encourage participants to contribute to the discussions.
 
Eight, weekly lectures or panel discussions (delivered via Zoom) will cover the following themes: Introducing the discourse on contemporary architecture in the Muslim world (focusing on the work of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture); histories of modernity; buildings and identity; addressing the challenges of an urbanising world; environmentally conscious architecture, stories of incremental change, socially responsible architecture; and the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Register

The course is free at the point of access.

Recordings of all sessions are available on YouTube.

About

The School of Arts at SOAS is a world-leading centre for study and research involving visual and material arts, music and sound studies, curating, media industries and digital cultures of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and their global diasporas.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme aims to promote broader and deeper awareness among young people of the philosophy and values that underpin the efforts of the Trust. We have developed teaching materials and processes to enable the wealth of knowledge accumulated by two of the Trust’s key programmes – the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme – to be shared with university and high school students, as well as a broader interested public.

The Barakat Trust is an international non-political, non-religious, non-sectarian and independent charity based in the United Kingdom. It supports the study and preservation of Islamic heritage, architecture, archaeology, art and culture by funding students, academic research, publications, digitisation, conservation, conferences and other projects.