Category Archives: All AKDC News

New Exhibition: Red Monastery Church Restoration

A new Archnet exhibition highlights the interior of the Church of Saints Bishai and Bigol in the Sohag Province of Egypt. Perhaps better known as the Church of the Red Monastery because of the red brick walls used in the construction of the monastery, the church was established in the 4th c. as a center of the large monastic community in Upper Egypt. It is remarkable for the vividly colored paintings covering about eighty percent of the the interior. The photographs in this exhibition show the interior after a decade-long restoration effort of the American Research Center in Egypt. The collection also contains an introductory […]

13th Cycle Nominees for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Information on and images of 137 projects nominated during the 13th cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is now available on Archnet. The prestigious prize is awarded every 3 years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. The diverse list of AKAA nominees includes a wide variety of projects in more than 40 countries around the world. There are rehabilitation and construction projects in Tunisia, Spain, Palestine and Bahrain; housing projects in Yemen, Turkey, and Indonesia; educational and cultural facilities in Kenya, Iran, Australia, and Algeria and Afghanistan; mosques in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, […]

Highlighting the cultural production of seven countries

This week, Archnet highlights the built environment of the countries included in President Trump’s executive order of 27 January 2017 barring citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States. More than 18,000 Archnet records are tagged with one of the seven countries, including authority records, sites, cities, publications, images, and videos. While “Voices from Seven Countries“, displayed in the various locations of the MIT Libraries, highlights materials that can be checked out by anyone with borrowing privileges, the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) holdings contain rare and specific materials related to all the currently […]

100,000 images on Archnet

75 images were published on Archnet yesterday, March 22, 2017, bringing the total number of published images published to over 100,000. The newly added images include photographs by Daniel Waugh, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Seattle, and editor of The Silk Road, depicting of an 8th century monumental mosques in the historic city of Isfahan, Iran; and photographs by James Llewellyn, a student at Wake Forest University, showing the facades, interiors, and courtyards of four mosques constructed during the 20th century in the modern metropolis of Casablanca, Morocco.

Heritage of the Mughal World now open access on Archnet

Heritage of the Mughal World (Jodidio, Philip, editor. Munich: Prestel, 2015) is available for free download on Archnet, courtesy of Prestel Publishing and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. This beautifully illustrated book explores the historic cities, buildings, and gardens that flourished during the Mughals’ three-century rule, highlighting valuable conservation and restoration projects in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. The book also contains contribution from Sharon C. Smith Ph.D., AKDC@MIT Program Head and Christian A. Hedrick, Ph.D. (MIT AKPIA 2014 and former AKDC researcher). You can read their works in the section entitled “Sites of Mughal Heritage.”

AKDC debuts new data visualization tool: LayerCake

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT has released its prototype of LayerCake, a 3-axis mapping tool that enables users to build maps layering narrative, time, and space simultaneously. Envisioned by AKDC Program Head, Sharon C. Smith, Ph.D., the tool has become a reality thanks to the design and programming expertise of James Yamada (Master in Design Studies, Harvard GSD). Ali Asgar Alibhai (Ph.D. candidate, Harvard NELC) provided the content for the pilot project by analyzing textual sources of Ibn Jubayr’s 12th century pilgrimage from Spain to Mecca. The resulting map documents Ibn Jubayr’s travels temporally, geographically, and with accompanying descriptions […]

Pedagogy Project Expanded with Teaching Collections

Archnet’s Pedagogy Project now includes items from scholars’ archives donated to AKDC@MIT since its opening in 2011. Recognizing the significance of this collection to those teaching and learning about the material and visual culture of Muslim societies, they are being added to a new Teaching Collections section of the project. Each scholar’s collection is unique and may contain slides, prints, field notes, and other materials as outlined in the finding aids for each archive. The materials housed in this collection are free to use for teaching and research purposes. Further, they provide a unique opportunity for students and scholars to examine […]

Pioneering Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji donates archive to AKDC

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT is pleased to announce that is now the home of the Rifat Chadirji archive. One of the most influential Iraqi architects of the 20th century, Chadirji is also an accomplished photographer, author, teacher, and critic. Chadirji was born in Baghdad in 1926, was educated in the UK, and returned to Iraq upon graduating as an active participant in the modernization of the country, working with notable architects and designers from Europe, the United States, and Iraq including, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, and Mohamed Makiya. Chadirji has dedicated his […]

Call for Papers, Chronicles and Curation: Documenting Cultural Transitions in the Wider Middle East

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT is seeking presenters for a session at the BRISMES Annual Conference, 5-7 July 2017, at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Chronicles and Curation: Documenting cultural transitions in the wider Middle East Periods of transition and upheaval pose a particular challenge to those involved in cultural documentation and curation. During such times, the categories, terms, and epistemologies—the very systems we use to classify cultural knowledge—are in flux. Instability and turmoil can obfuscate or obliterate traces of another culture or society. Our panel will focus on these concerns in praxes of chronicling and curating cultural […]

2016 on Archnet: Highlights

Happy New Year! We wish to take this opportunity to thank our contributors and supporters for making 2016 such a good year for Archnet. Development continues to make the site more responsive and user-friendly. As a result, Archnet user statistics have increased by more than 20% over the same period last year, running up more than 2,700,000 page views. Earlier this month, the Global Grid named Archnet one of 2016’s Top 20 Architecture Sites of 2016. More than 8,000 new sites, publications, videos, images and other records have been published in 2016, including: Descriptions, video, images, reports, and presentation boards for […]