Professional Documents
Culture Documents
50
"foreign aid" elements as threatening 'populist' attitude subscribed to by some,
cultural continuity in the whole of Asia but not all, jury members.
and Africa seems to be the perennial "The Award JUlY felt that the quality of
'whipping boy' trotted out to assuage the Awards might be enhanced by producing a
guilty consciences in some sectors. We wide-ranging list of recommendations that
don't live anymore in a world that is takes into account the vitality of the "popular}}
made up of isolated, polarised cultures - movement in architecture. There is an architec-
in spite of extremism in some parts - ture which is expressive beyond our rational
and the notion of "identity" (especially as logical understanding. One of the respon-
relates to architecture) is pretty much of a sibilities of the Award Jury was not to impose
'mixed bag' of influences. Rear facade of the Bhong Mosque in Pakistan. but to be alert and observant to what is there.
The personalities, architectural ambi- Populist architecture at its most exuberant and un- Given the range of achievements in the world
tions and ideological biases of individual critical best. it is important for everyone to learn to adjust
jury members this year coloured the re- Photograph: Jacques Betant, AKAA. his values to be able to experience the full
sults in unexpected ways - yet now, benifzts of creative variety in each country and
with retrospect, not so surprisingly. The region ... Architecture has a central role in
non-architects, caught in crossfire, seem creating and keeping alive a high level of taste.
to have succumbed to the professional But this "popular}} taste which is kept alive by
architects' ideological propensities and per- the ingenuous craftsman may have equal signi-
suasive capacities. Similarly, one might ficance for future vitality in he creative m1s. In
surmise that the non-Muslims left it to the other words, there is a dualistic element of
Muslim interpreters of the Faith to judge creativity in indigenous societies in the Third
the importance or relevance of a given World that has tended to be eliminated by its
project to modem Islamic culture. On the Western-oriented component. Diversity is a
other hand, all seemed to have joined necessary element for regeneration, reinter-
hands to settle certain accounts with the pretation and creation.}}
"modem movement" (which means the 'Populism' as a term has historically
West of course), something which is very specific origins and connotations,
already "in the past", not to say out of apart from general association with
fashion, in most critical circles today. For popular forms of expression: born of a
example, they state in their report: political movement in 19th-century
"At the same time the Award Jury was View of Dar Lamane housing, showing articula- America, its use today retains impli-
aware that schemes might justify an award for tion of the reinforced concrete facades and the exten- cations of rurality, conservatism and
quite different reasons. For instance, by serving sion (planned) of apm1ments over the street. Both anti-intellectualism. Moreover, the anti-
as an example of the evolutionary process, or features are common in older, incrementally-bllilt urban connotation of populist sentiments
urban environments in North AJi'ica.
alternatively by serving as an example of a should not be forgotten.
Photograph: Christian Lignon, AKAA.
revolutionary process when appropriate. In the 1983, an Aga Khan Award was
Throughout, the Jury placed emphasis in attributed to a master mason for the con-
making its assessments on basic elemental struction of a mosque in Niono, Mali; the
architectural qualities, versus the over- 1986 jury has not only made a com-
simplistic, bombastic, or ideological qualities parable award to the Niono Mosque
that are sometimes lauded in contemporary and (Yaama Mosque) but gone a step further,
"vernacular}} architecture alike. In making its with the Bhong building: it is not simply
judgement the Jury was concerned to note con- traditional, vemacular architecture receiv-
flicting philosophies between the approach of ing recognition, it is glorifying a building
the "modern movement}}, which is often con- Facade of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. conceived, and paid for, by a person lack-
cerned with the search for a logical language of Photograph: Jacques Betant, AKAA. ing any pretensions of theoretical back-
clarity and unity which might be universally ground in a society with architects,
applied, and the results of the continuing evo- schools of architecture, and long, distin-
lutionary process, which are frequently more guished history of great building. That
concerned with diversity and vitality, with joy the patron at Bhong employed some of
and engagement.}} the best local craftsmen to execute parts
Indeed, we are brought back again to of the building is beside the point; it is, a
a veiled excuse for not having picked a project which does little to advance the
truly contemporary building. debate on architectural theory, economic
It is perfectly logical within this line of and social dimensions of building in
reasoning to tum instead to buildings Pakistan, or even in the nebulous realm
which express "naive vitality" and "truly of popular taste. In the end, one must
celebrate devotion, contemplation or. deduce that partisans on the Jury of cer-
commemoration", as the Jury did. What Towers of the mud brick Yaama Mosque appear tain 'post-modem' trends in international
is ultimately most alarming, particularly over the dwellings of the village. architecture combined forces with advo-
in the case of the Bhong Mosque, is the Photograph: Kamran Adle, AKAA. cates of indigenous building materials and
51
COllserlJatiofi qf
Mostar Old TOllJII
Mostar, Yugoslavia
Social Security Complex
Istatlblll, Turkey
.
Restoratiofl of rile Al Aqsa A10sque
Al Harnm al-SlwriJ,Jernsalem
Dar Lamalle Housillg Complex
Casablatl[Q, Morocco
Bh ollg Mosque
Pakistall
Yaama Mosque
Niger
where since then. The Jury skirted the where are the schools, universities, hos- Fumihiko Maki Hans Hollein
issue of truly contemporary design pitals, factories, public administrations,
irmovation by focussing on what they or more rarely, the gardens and monu-
term a 'contextual' approach to new ments of our time? Distinguished as this
building but in a previous era. Jury has been in its composition of mem-
The other modem complex among bers, its deliberations and selections will
the six wirmers that had involvement by undoubtedly prove to be a watershed:
professional designers is the 4000 units of future juries will face the challenge (and Robert Venturi Mahdi Elmandjara
mass housing in Morocco: Dar Lamane, meet it) of recovering contact with the
Casablanca. Responding to the Award mainstream of the profession in countries
Steering Committee's statement that "It with significant Muslim populations, and
follows that the single most important their progressive efforts to forge a super-
criterion in assessing the viability of a ior production based upon theoretical re-
scheme dealing with the problem of mass flection encompassing traditional values
housing for the poor is its replicability on and contemporary requirements. Ronald Lewcock
a sufficiently large scale," the Jury has
cited this project more for the technical, Brian Brace Taylor
52