Architecture in Continuity: Building in the Islamic World Today, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0893811874 ISBN 13: 9780893811877

Publisher: Aperture, 1985

Synopsis

Architecture in Continuity celebrates recent projects throughout the Islamic world that most successfully preserve indigenous forms while providing for the future. It honors the insight, imagination, and skill that brought these projects into physical reality. The Aga Khan Awards Foundation's attention to the extraordinary effort required to develop an architecture both practical and spiritual is dramatically reflected in this volume, the second of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture series. In the words of the Foundation, the architects represented here provide environments in which people can "live, work, and practice the precepts of ... faith harmoniously and to the fullest."

The eleven projects-- found in nine countries from Mali to Pakistan, from Yugoslavia to Malaysia-- range from hotels to mosques, from housing to an impressive air terminal for pilgrims to Mecca. The prizewinners show a deep respect for tradition, displayed in the historic buildings restored for contemporary purposes. Everyone connected with each project-- the architect, client, and builder, the local craftsmen, artisans, and consultants-- is honored for contributing to an integrity of purpose, to a spirit that is of and for the people.

This collection of color photographs by some of the world's finest photographers exquisitely depicts the Award-winning buildings. The introduction and three essays, by distinguished architects and architectural historians, explore the projects in terms of the pressures confronting emerging Muslim countries, the influence of the Western postindustrial world and traditional Muslim forms and values.

About this title

About the Author

Sherban Cantacuzino, editor, is an architect, a former executive editor of The Architectural Review and now secretary of the Royal Fine Art Commission, London. He was a member of the master jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980 and a member of the Award steering committee from 1981 to 1983. He is the author of several books, including Great Modern Architecture, New Uses for Old Buildings and (with Susan Brandt) Saving Old Buildings.

From the Inside Flap

Architecture In Continuity
Building In The Islamic World Today

Edited by Sherban Cantacuzino

Architecture in Continuity celebrates recent projects throughout the Islamic world that most successfully preserve indigenous forms while providing for the future. It honors the insight, imagination, and skill that brought these projects into physical reality. The Aga Khan Awards Foundation's attention to the extraordinary effort required to develop an architecture both practical and spiritual is dramatically reflected in this volume, the second of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture series. In the words of the Foundation, the architects represented here provide environments in which people can "live, work, and practice the precepts of ... faith harmoniously and to the fullest."

The eleven projects-- found in nine countries from Mali to Pakistan, from Yugoslavia to Malaysia-- range from hotels to mosques, from housing to an impressive air terminal for pilgrims to Mecca. The prizewinners show a deep respect for tradition, displayed in the historic buildings restored for contemporary purposes. Everyone connected with each project-- the architect, client, and builder, the local craftsmen, artisans, and consultants-- is honored for contributing to an integrity of purpose, to a spirit that is of and for the people.

This collection of color photographs by some of the world's finest photographers exquisitely depicts the Award-winning buildings. The introduction and three essays, by distinguished architects and architectural historians, explore the projects in terms of the pressures confronting emerging Muslim countries, the influence of the Western postindustrial world and traditional Muslim forms and values.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1978 to encourage an understanding and awareness of the strength and diversity of Muslim cultural traditions, which, when combined with an enlightened use of modern technology, will result in buildings more appropriate for the Islamic world of tomorrow. The first award book, Architecture and Community, published by Aperture in 1983, was an unprecedented international success. Focusing on both traditional character and modern architectural form, the award series offers an important historical and artistic documentation of contemporary architectural thought.

Sherban Cantacuzino, editor, is an architect, a former executive editor of The Architectural Review and now secretary of the Royal Fine Art Commission, London. He was a member of the master jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980 and a member of the Award steering committee from 1981 to 1983. He is the author of several books, including Great Modern Architecture, New Uses for Old Buildings and (with Susan Brandt) Saving Old Buildings.

Aperture, a division of Silver Mountain Foundation, Inc., publishes a periodical, books, and portfolios of fine photography to communicate with serious photographers and creative people everywhere. A complete catalog is available upon request. Address: Aperture, 20 East 23 Street. New York. NY 10010.

The Award Logo. The name of Allah in Kufic script, reflecting itself, forms the basis of the logo design.

Jacket design by Peter Bradford
Photograph by Jacques Pérez

Reviews

Lavishly illustrated with photographs and architectural plans, this work focuses on the 11 winning designs of the 1983 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, given every three years for buildings in the Islamic world that show "meaningful expressions of the spirit of Islam within the context of modern life and modern technology." Winners range from the Hajj airport terminal in Saudi Arabiaa huge white tent-like structure made of fiberglass fabric that seems to float above the desertto an austere modernistic Yugoslavian mosque that contrasts with and yet does not disrupt the red-tiled masonry buildings around it. Including essays on the history of mosques, contemporary mosque design and post-Ottoman Turkish architecture, this collection offers a rewarding overview of a culture in flux. January 2 THE WICKED GOOD BOOK Steve Bither and the Wicked Good Band. Lance Tapley Publisher (P.O. Box 2439, Augusta, Me. 04330), $7.95 ISBN 0-912769-04-1 Although uneven, sections of this humorous look at the state of Maine are indeed wicked good. Among them: a career guide for Maineiacs called What Color Is Your Trailer? A study showing "that of all of the Life magazines sold in Maine between 1940 and 1960, 61.2% are still extant, and half have already been resold at flea markets." There is a takeoff on Yankee, "the magazine for people who don't live in Maine, but who have a better idea about what Maine is supposed to be like than the people in Maine do themselves." Other parts aren't so wicked or good: the "Sperms-N-Such" store for "all your artificial insemination needs" and the parody of Johnny Carson's "Carmac the Magnificent." January2
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aperture
• Publication date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0893811874
• ISBN 13: 9780893811877
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Cantacuzino Sherban