Inclusive, Sustainable, Innovative: Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2022 & ArCHIAM 10-years celebration

On the evening of 30^th of May at RIBA North, Professor Tim Jones, Vice Chancellor at the University of Liverpool, opened the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2022 and ArCHIAM 10-years exhibitions.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2022 exhibition presented, through panels, film screenings and publications, the 14 shortlisted projects and 6 winning projects from the 2020-2022 award cycle, examples of architectural excellence that combines creative aspirations with a deep social concern. An extraordinary diversity of designers and approaches across 16 countries demonstrate how it is possible to reimagine reality. They chart new possibilities by promoting ways in which environmental impact and innovation can be fully embedded in design, and thus showcase responses to future crises, disasters and conflicts.

The ArCHIAM 10-years exhibition presented a retrospective of the University of Liverpool’s ArCHIAM Centre‘s work in cultural heritage, at the intersection between research, impact, teaching and design practice. The exhibition was organised in thematic sections that showcased the Centre’s engagement in world-leading heritage research and teaching, management and design, interpretation and dissemination, underpinned by public engagement and capacity building.

On 31^st May, the symposium Inclusive, Sustainable, Innovative explored the changing nature of globalised practice and the paradoxical relationship between globalisation and inclusiveness. The event was kicked off with the opening remarks from Professor Fiona Beveridge, Executive Pro Vice Chancellor Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Paul Monaghan, Design Champion Liverpool. A keynote introduction of the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture from Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of Aga Khan Award for Architecture, was followed by keynote talks from Professor Farshid Moussavi OBE, RA, and Professor Hanif Kara OBE.

On 9^th June, the colloquium Heritage and Development: Bridging Gaps, Shaping Futures featured talks and discussions on the interweavings between cultural heritage, sustainable development, plurality and social cohesion. The colloquium began with opening remarks from Professor Fiona Beveridge, Executive Pro Vice Chancellor Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, director of the ArCHIAM Centre, a talk by Prof Lin Foxhall, Rathbone Chair of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, and a presentation of the work of ArCHIAM by the Centre’s co-director Dr Giamila Quattrone. The day saw Prof Sophia Labadi, Professor of Heritage at the University of Kent, talk about Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development and Prof Raj Isar, Director of Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme, present on Inclusive Conservation of the Urban Heritage: The Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme. Round table discussions and a tour of the ArCHIAM exhibition followed the keynote talks.