‘The Education Programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), launched in 2017, seeks to transmit to future generations the knowledges and learnings accumulated over four decades by two of the flagship programmes of the Trust, namely the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme. The AKTC wishes to partner with university-level institutions, notably architecture schools, who are interested in developing teaching modules or courses that could help AKTC Education attain this goal and at the same help advance the pedagogical objectives of the schools themselves. For this purpose, the AKTC has already fostered and/or supported the organization of courses or modules that draw upon the lessons learned from the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) process, with 116 architectural projects premiated so far (as of 2018), and from the urban rehabilitation efforts of the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme (AKHCP).’
Partnership
The AKTC Partnership is a collaboration between AKTC’s Education Programme with Taylor’s University, DOMA College and DOMA Initiatives Berhad (Architecture Foundation), whereby the "module" is offered by the host University - Taylor's University.
Proposal for the Module (offered by Taylor’s University):
The School of Architecture, Building and Design, Taylor’s University proposes to offer a module using the AKAA* projects by country (Malaysia) as an Elective Module. This module will be immersive and experiential and critical with outputs of written dossiers of the projects. This can lead to a publication of some sort based on AKAA projects in Malaysia. The details of the module are provided in the subsequent section below.
Synopsis of Module
This module is a study on architecture which has received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) anchored by case study as the method of inquiry. It will be immersive and experiential and critical with outputs of written dossiers of the projects. Each student is required to go through the relevant project report, to read and digest the Master Jury citation, as well as other materials. Subsequently, using case study strategy, the student will identify issues to be studied, and conduct a field work. Finally, the student will produce a two-thousand-word paper critically analysing the project, and how it withstood the test of time. Students re-visit the building and looked at how the visions of the architects have been either sustained or transformed, particularly the cultural, economic, technical, physical aspects and how it has impacted the society; they will document uses/lifestyles, conducted in-depth interviews, and mapped the spaces as well as the supporting infrastructure.
