The Aga Khan IV, a spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community and a prominent champion in architecture and cultural preservation, died yesterday in Portugal at the age of 88.
As a 20-year-old Harvard graduate, the Aga Khan, born Prince Shah Karim Al-Hussaini, became the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims in 1957, leading a global community of Shia Muslims. He is considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, and treated elsewhere as a head of state, given the title of «his highness» by Queen Elizabeth that same year (the pair were friends, both ardent fans of horse racing, often watching sport together at Royal Ascot).
The Aga Khan with Queen Elizabeth in 2016.
He was a lifelong philanthropist and champion of Islamic architecture. In 1967 he founded the Aga Khan Foundation, now known as Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), to support sustainable, community-driven development to tackle poverty, primarily in South and Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.
Today the AKDN employs 96,000 people across more than 30 countries, according to its site, and channels $1 billion per year into development projects including hospitals, schools, universities, businesses and climate and cultural initiatives.
But one of his most enduring contributions is the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA), which was established in 1977. The accolade is awarded every three years with a monetary prize of $1 million, to projects that address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the fields of housing, community development, historic preservation, and landscape design.
“The award was designed, from the start, not only to honor exceptional achievement, but also to pose fundamental questions,” the Aga Khan said in a speech at a 2013 awards ceremony in Lisbon. “How, for example, could Islamic architecture embrace more fully the values of cultural continuity, while also addressing the needs and aspirations of rapidly changing societies?”
“How could we mirror more responsively the diversity of human experience and the differences in local environments?» he continued. «How could we honor inherited traditions while also engaging with new social perplexities and new technological possibilities?”
The Aga Khan museum in Toronto.
Since its inception, the award has recognized over 100 projects, ranging from large-scale public projects to modest initiatives that incorporate traditional craftsmanship and local materials. Recipients of the award include Zaha Hadid’s Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut in 2016, and Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum’s Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, which incorporates traditional brick construction and natural ventilation, also in 2016. Other winners include Foster + Partners, Denise Scott Brown, and Rafael Moneo.
Prince William and Princess Kate greet the Aga Khan at the Aga Khan Centre in London in 2019.
The Aga Khan also extended his resources in architectural education, setting up programs for Islamic architecture at MIT and Harvard, establishing a Fumihiko Maki-designed museum in Toronto in 2014, and and in 2018, building the Aga Khan Centre in King’s Cross in London, created as a place for education and cultural exchange and also designed by Maki.
With the Aga Khan’s passing, both the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the efforts of the AKDN are expected to continue their work.
Rachel Silva is the associate digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers all things design, architecture, and lifestyle. She also oversees the publication’s feature article coverage, and is, at any moment, knee-deep in an investigation on everything from the best spa gifts to the best faux florals on the internet right now. She has more than 16 years of experience in editorial, working as a photo assignment editor at Time and acting as the president of Women in Media in NYC. She went to Columbia Journalism School, and her work has been nominated for awards from ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, and World Press Photo.
