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The winning projects of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture have been announced. This prestigious international recognition, now in its 16th edition, celebrates architecture in Muslim-majority communities. Established in 1977 by His Highness Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, the triennial competition has become a landmark in promoting architectural excellence.
The significance of the Aga Khan Award lies in its emphasis on the social, cultural, and environmental impact of the projects, in addition to their technical and aesthetic value. These two dimensions—the intention of the project and its formal and material expression—cannot be considered in isolation if participants are to be acknowledged for true architectural excellence.
This year’s seven winners were selected by a jury chaired by Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects. The panel also included Azra Akšamija, Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop, Lucia Allais, David Basulto, Kabage Karanja, Yacouba Konaté, Hassan Radoine, and Wong Mun Summ.
The selected projects span scale, time, and geography: from the urban fabric of a megacity to the edges of a modern metropolis, from the heart of a historic town to the shifting shores of an aquatic landscape. Each intervention offers resilient spaces for communities, fostering a global dialogue on architecture.
Three guiding values shaped the jury’s choices in this edition: “Transcendence,” understood as the ability to overcome temporal boundaries; “Pluralism,” as an openness and adaptation to cultural diversity; and “Progress,” as the collective capacity to regenerate society.
The architecture recognized by the Award is that which can generate “beauty, dignity, and optimism in the most difficult circumstances, demonstrating that every human being has the right to quality of life,” in the words of the jury—words that resonate today with intense poignancy. With the awareness that “the challenges we face today are so vast that they can easily lead to despair, cynicism, and inaction,” the Award seeks to deliver a message of hope.
Below are the winners of this edition.
The project was conceived to provide flexible, affordable, and rapidly deployable shelters for vulnerable communities in the Bangladeshi Chars, constantly threatened by flooding and the impacts of climate change. Designed by Marina Tabassum Architects, the system employs bamboo modules with steel connectors, which families can assemble themselves to adapt the construction to their specific needs. Scalable from individual homes to collective spaces such as schools and community kitchens, the project demonstrates how architecture can serve as a tangible instrument of protection, social cohesion, and hope.
Designed by architect Zhang Pengju, the project transforms a former Buddhist temple into a cultural and social hub for Hohhot’s multiethnic community. The space is organized around a circular courtyard that encourages interaction among a variety of activities—from ceramics to the traditional game of mahjong—while integrating both public and private areas. Built entirely from bricks recycled from local demolitions, the center combines sustainability, historical memory, and collective participation, strengthening the social fabric of the rural village while also stimulating the local economy, tourism, and cultural initiatives.
The Cairo-based studio Takween adopts a participatory approach to urban conservation, transforming the historic center of Esna, Egypt, into a laboratory of social and cultural innovation. Through the restoration of residential, commercial, and religious buildings, along with community-led initiatives such as the women-run Okra restaurant, the project stimulates the local economy, safeguards both tangible and intangible heritage, and strengthens cultural identity. It stands as a compelling demonstration of how the collective intelligence of residents can regenerate fragile urban fabrics and promote community resilience.
Over 200 colorful domes transform Hormuz Island into an inclusive and vibrant architectural archipelago. Designed by ZAV Architects under the direction of Ehsan Rasoulof, the complex encompasses residences, cultural venues, and community facilities. The buildings are constructed primarily using the “superadobe” technique, which employs earth- and sand-filled bags to create durable, curved structures. The project fosters responsible tourism and social cohesion, illustrating how architecture can turn a fragile territory into a living laboratory of beauty, resilience, and shared development.
Designed by Mohammad Khavarian of KA Architecture Studio, the project transforms the entrance of Tehran’s metro station into a vibrant urban hub, giving back to the city a symbolic place where history, architecture, and public life intersect. A modular structure of interlaced brick vaults, crafted with traditional techniques, creates spaces for rest and social interaction while buffering the noise of traffic. The project celebrates Iran’s geometric tradition and local craftsmanship, providing a safe setting for vendors and establishing a new urban landmark where architecture aligns the city with the needs of its citizens.
A project that celebrates the meeting of education and architecture as instruments of social transformation. Conceived by educator Rushda Tariq Qureshi and designed by architect Mohammad Saifullah Siddiqui of DB Studios, the center provides literacy, vocational training, and personal development opportunities for disadvantaged young men. The building’s six floors are arranged around a soaring ten-meter-high atrium, featuring bright classrooms, green spaces, and a rooftop kitchen-garden. Its façade, inspired by Pakistani and Arab craftsmanship, offers a vibrant reinterpretation of the traditional jaali. The long-term vision is to expand the initiative by constructing a facility for women on an adjacent vacant lot.
Wonder Cabinet was conceived as a cultural and educational platform to address the lack of spaces dedicated to contemporary art in Bethlehem. Designed by architects Elias and Yousef Anastas, the building houses artist studios, workshops, a radio station, and multiple gathering spaces. Its structure—a grid of raw concrete enriched with local artisanal elements—opens onto the surrounding landscape through a rhythm of solids and voids, as well as the use of transparency. In this context, the project emerges as an infrastructure of resilience, affirming Palestinian cultural production as a powerful means of resistance.
>>> Discover the winners of the previous edition, the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Cover image: Majara Residence and Community Redevelopment. © Deed Studio, courtesy of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
