Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, has been named as a member to the steering committee for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
As a member of the committee, Shaikha Mai will help select an independent master jury which, in turn, selects the award recipients from the nominated projects.
It is also responsible for establishing the eligibility criteria for project nominations, providing thematic direction to the award, and developing plans for its long-term future.
She is the founder of the Sheikh Ibrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research, an NGO established in Muharraq in 2002. Since it’s opening, it has helped conserve and rehabilitate over 25 traditional Bahraini houses and spearheaded urban regeneration in the historic city.
In 2019, under Shaikha Mai’s leadership, the Revitalisation of Muharraq, a series of restoration projects highlighting the site’s pearling history, was named one of the six winners of the prized architecture award.
Along with Sharjah’s Wasit Wetland Centre, it shared the prize with the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, the Arcadia Education Project in Bangladesh, the Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit in Senegal and the Public Spaces Development Programme in Tatarstan.
The Aga Khan Award is bestowed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, based in Geneva and run by the current Aga Khan, the nobleman, philanthropist and spiritual leader.
Started in 1977, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture honours innovations in Islamic architecture and design and is held on a three-yearly basis. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is one of the discipline’s top honours and brings with it a prize of $1 million.
