Tag Archives: AKDC@MIT

MIT Libraries Now Accepting Applications for AKDC Program Head

The following announcement has just been posted by the MIT Libraries: The role of Program Head for AKDC is a critical leadership position responsible for stewarding and developing collections, services, and programs to support the information needs of the faculty, students and researchers of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) in MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. It also provides oversight of Archnet in partnership with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and engages in other innovative collection development within the Department of Distinctive Collections in the MIT Libraries. Primary responsibilities: Leads and develops long-range planning for […]

Rifat Chadirji, one of the “most influential shapers of modern Baghdad,” dead at 93

The staff of the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT), is saddened to learn of the death of the great Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji (December 6, 1926-April 10, 2020). Chadirji was “a thinker, author, critic, & rationalist architect with a refined aesthetic sensitivity, he devised a particular approach to architecture that he called international regionalism,” according to Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor and the Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT Rabbat went on to characterize the deceased architect as “one of the most influential shapers of modern Baghdad and an original theorist of architecture […]

Resources for teaching and studying architecture during COVID-19 closures

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, many educational institutions are moving classes online, a development that is very likely to accelerate the growth of online education and the need for open access pedagogical materials. If you are an educator who has to move your teaching about architecture, urbanism, or other aspects of the built environment online, Archnet resources may be helpful to you. You may want to start by exploring the Archnet Pedagogy Collection where you’ll find resources that can easily be integrated into an online teaching platform. Our teaching collections, donated by scholars in a variety of fields, […]

MIT Libraries now accepting applications for AKDC Program Head

6 Days to the Application Deadline for Nigerian Students Seeking to Join the A3/Archnet Team

February 28th is the deadline for students in Nigerian to submit applications to join A3/Archives of African Architecture and the Aga Khan Documentation Center of the MIT Libraries in a project to document the architecture of Nigeria, particularly endangered architectural heritage, and contemporary projects. Both undergraduate and graduate students are invited to compete for the prize. Recipients will join the A3 – Archnet team on a fully-funded weeklong trip to Boston, Massachusetts where they will receive training in the documentation of architectural heritage, and participate with the A3-Archnet team as they plan and begin development of the database. To apply for the […]

As I Open My Eyes- Film Screening at MIT on February 21

The Center for Arabic Culture & The Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries, will present the 2015 Tunisian film As I Opened My Eyes on Friday, February 21, 2020 at 6:30 pm in room 3-333 on the MIT campus. Directed by Leyla Bouzid and staring Baya Medhaffer, the film tells the story of a young woman fronting a rock band on the eve of Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution.” The screening is part of the “One Voice, Endless Change” Film Series of the CAC and AKDC@MIT. The screening will be followed by an informal reception and discussion lead by AKDC Program Head, […]

Balloons Over Babylon screens to a packed house

Room 3-133 was packed on Saturday evening for the first US screening and discussion of Balloons Over Babylon, a documentary film produced and directed by Folke Rydén, who responded to audience questions after the screening via Webex. He was joined online by Dr. Muhamed Almaliky of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Dr. Kanan Makiya, writer, Senior Fellow of the Crown Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University, who attended the screening at MIT. The event was part of a joint series organized by AKDC@MIT and the Center for Arabic Culture (CAC), Boston. Murtada al-Hachami, whose project is […]

AKDC@MIT and A3 receive a grant to document Nigerian architecture

The Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries and A3: Archives of African Architectures have been awarded a grant from the General Seed Fund of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) to pursue their project “Prototypes for the Digital Documentation of Nigeria’s Build Heritage.” The goal of the project is to document significant historical and contemporary architecture in Nigeria to be hosted simultaneously on Archnet.org and on a web site to be developed by A3. Students, researchers, practitioners, and faculty from Nigeria and MIT will participate in all aspects of the project. The project, initiated by Nigerian architect Baba Oladeji […]

Happy New Year from ARCHNET!

Happy New Year from all of us who work on Archnet.org. We wish all our users, donors and contributors a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2020! 2019 was an eventful year for us. Archnet moved to a new platform and a new provider in 2020 without causing significant disruptions to our users. In addition we made available records for over 6,500 images, 170 new sites, 90 publications, and 45 authorities. We brought you documentation of the shortlisted and recipient projects in the 14th-cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. We also launched new collections of abstracts from Cities as Built […]

AKDC Program Head to Speak at the Gulf Architecture Project Conference in the Qatar National Library

AKDC Program Head and Archnet Content Manager Michael Toler will present the on the collections and activities of the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT), Saturday, October 12, at 9 am, in Auditorium of the Qatar National Library (QNL), Doha, Qatar. Toler’s presentation, “Gulf Architecture in the Archives of the Aga Khan DocumentationCenter, MIT Libraries: Stories and Lessons,” in a Keynote of the Gulf Architecture Conference and Exhibition, organized by the QNL in collaboration with Liverpool University’s School of Architecture, Qatar University’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Ibrahim Jaidah, CEO and Chief Architect, Arab Engineering Bureau. The […]