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Tag Archives: Islamic art and architecture

Online IAP Lecture: Medinas of the Maghreb and the concept of Islamic city: Between texts and models

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) is proud to present “Medinas of the Maghreb and the concept of Islamic city: Between texts and models” with Amine Kasmi, conservation architect and Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Tlemcen, Algeria.. The presentation will take place online, January 25th at 5 pm EST, 11 pm in Algeria (UTC/GMT +1:00). The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Download the Flyer Abstract: On the question of an archetypal model of the Islamic city, several regional scholars and Orientalists have tried to give some answers, each […]

AKDC to offer Introduction to Islamic Calligraphy

In collaboration with calligrapher and graphic designer Sangeetha Kowsik, AKDC@MIT will offer an introductory workshop on “Arabic Calligraphy: An Artistic Journey from Kufic to Contemporary Design,” January 14, 2021 from 2 to 4 PM EST, during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP). The workshop introduces a brief history of Arabic calligraphy, a tradition whose practice spans more than one thousand years and continues today, where it is globally recognized for its unique aesthetics of geometric proportion and sinuous curve. In the first part of this workshop, the most important of the classical Arabic scripts are introduced through famous examples of artworks, […]

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, […]

New in Pedagogy: Monuments of Islamic Architecture

The Archnet Pedagogy Collection now includes course materials from Monuments of Islamic Architecture presented by Professors Gulru Necipoglu and David Roxburgh of Harvard University. The course presents an introduction to ten iconic monuments of the Islamic world from the beginning of Islam to the early modern period. It introduces various types of building-mosques, palaces, multifunctional complexes-and city types and the factors that shaped them, artistic, patronal, socio-political, religio-cultural, and economic. Each case study is divided into two lectures. The first presents the monument or city by “walking” through it; the second is devoted to themes elicited from the example, developed […]

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 […]

AKDC Program Head interviewed by architecture student group at the University of Tehran: Lessons on building a documentation center

Sharon C. Smith, Ph.D., was recently interviewed by the Iran Architecture Studies Student Community of the University of Tehran, Iran, on the topic of establishing a documentation center. As the founding head of the current Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, Smith was asked to address some fundamental issues and provide insight for the students as they seek to set up a digital archive of Iranian architecture at the University of Tehran. The students stated that they found the interview informational, stating that “your words about the necessity of collaboration changed our approach to making our data center.” (Email correspondence, […]