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The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (AKPIA@MIT) is an academic program part of the MIT Department of Architecture. The program offers degree courses and sponsors public lectures and conferences at MIT. In addition the program offers travel grants for MIT students, as well as postdoctoral fellowships with residence at MIT.
Established in 1979, the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT (AKPIA@MIT) and its counterpart at Harvard University are supported by an endowment from His Highness The Aga Khan. Both programs are recognized today as a leaders in the study of architecture and urbanism in the Islamic world. A considerable number of graduates, whether PhD or SMArchS (Master of Science in Architectural Studies) are teaching in leading universities in various parts of the Islamic world and in the West. A few are curators in major museums and most are either self-employed as designers or employed in architectural and construction firms.
AKPIA@MIT is dedicated to the study of Islamic architecture, urbanism, visual culture and conservation, in an effort to respond to the cultural and educational needs of a diverse constituency drawn from all over the world. The aim of the program is to concentrate its teaching and research activities in the following directions:
a) To enhance the understanding of Islamic architecture and urbanism in light of critical, theoretical and developmental issues.
b) To support research at the forefront of the field in areas of history, theory and criticism of architecture and urbanism.
c) To explore approaches to architecture that respond critically and thoughtfully to contemporary conditions, aspirations, and beliefs in the Islamic world.
d) To provide an extensive base of information about architecture in the Islamic world and to share it with scholars, teachers, and practitioners from everywhere.
Along with the focus on improving the teaching of Islamic art and architecture and setting excellence as the standard in professional research, AKPIA also continually strives to promote the visibility of pan-Islamic cultural heritage.
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The History, Theory and Criticism Section at MIT is one of the foremost Ph.D. programs in architectural history and theory in the US. Its mission is to encourage advanced historical research and to promote critical and theoretical reflection within the disciplines of architectural and art history. The concentration on Islamic architecture and urbanism is an integral part of the HTC section. Usually, one student a year is admitted to work on an Islamic subject and is funded through the Aga Khan Program endowment. Students are expected to fulfill all HTC requirements before embarking on their thesis project.
Research projects vary in scope, method, and range from the classical period to the present. Recent Ph.D. topics include: architectural sensibility in eighteenth century Istanbul; planning colonial Beirut; Hasan Fathy's environmental concerns; the evolution of the Shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ishaq in Ardabil, Iran; architecture and nationalism under Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran; Umayyad settlements in the Levant; and the villas of 10th century Cordoba.
MIT offers interested students a concentration in Architecture and Culture as part of the two-year Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) degree. This program prepares students for careers in research, design, and teaching.
Topics covered in the curriculum include the interaction between architecture, society, and culture; critical study and historiography of architecture in the Islamic and developing worlds; strategies and policies of urban and architectural preservation; and sustainable Architecture.
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The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT and Harvard University hosts a number of events during the academic year that are free and open to the public.
The schedules of the "An Evening With" series at MIT and the "Friends of Islamic Art" series at Harvard are posted on the web along with announcements of other AKPIA-sponsored lectures, conferences, exhibits and concerts.
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Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor, teaches courses on Islamic architecture, urban history, cultural and post-colonial criticism and Orientalism. Several of his courses are on the Web (see courses).
Professor Rabbat received his BArch from the University of Damascus, MArch II from UCLA, and Ph.D. from MIT. He has published The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture and Thaqafat al Bina' wa Bina' al-Thaqafa: Buhuth wa Maqalat fi Naqd wa Tarikh al-'Imara (The Culture of Building and Building Culture: Essays and Articles on Criticism and History of Architecture). He is currently writing a book on the fifteenth-century urban historian al-Maqrizi and editing a book on the courtyard house.
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Harvard University offers graduate degree Programs in Islamic architecture in both the History of Art and Architecture Department and the Graduate School of Design (GSD). Cross registration in AKPIA MIT /Harvard allows students enrolled in one institution to take advantage of course offerings in the other. For further details, please visit http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~agakhan/
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The Aga Khan Program provides financial and logistic assistance for graduate students who are working on Islamic subjects, but it is not a degree program. The two courses of study funded at MIT by the Aga Khan Program are the SMArchS degree (the architectural master of science degree) with a concentration in Architectural Studies of the Islamic World, and the Aga Khan component of the Ph.D. program in History, Theory and Criticism.
Information on admissions requirements and descriptions of the two degree programs appear on the Department of Architecture's website: http://architecture.mit.edu. When applying to MIT the prospective student should make it clear that he or she is interested in AKPIA, should specify their field of work and explain how it relates to the focus of the Program. Interested individuals can obtain admissions and application materials at: http://websis.mit.edu/cgi-bin/agapwreq.sh?I_Dept=4, or from this address: Department of Architecture, MIT 7-337, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. The fax number is 617-253-8993.
The deadline for admissions to MIT graduate programs is December 15 for the following September admittance. The portfolio can arrive separately by January 2. Applicants should verify these dates as they may change on certain years. As part of the admission process, the department refers students interested in Islamic architecture and urbanism to AKPIA to be considered for financial support.
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Program funds are available to graduate students in Islamic art, architecture, urban history, and the history of landscape architecture. At MIT, only students who have been admitted to, or are already enrolled in, the Ph.D. program in History, Theory, and Criticism in the Department of Architecture or the SMArchS program, with a concentration in Architectural Studies of the Islamic World, are eligible for AKPIA funding. However, since funds are very limited, no student should expect full support.
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The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT sponsors a postdoctoral fellowships program for research in Islamic architecture and urbanism. The program is intended for young scholars with Ph.Ds in any field related to architecture and architectural history who are engaged in research on Islamic architecture defined in the broadest sense. A small number of fellowships are granted every year. The fellowship duration can range from two to nine months (maximum of two semesters).
Fellows are expected to give at least one public lecture during their stay at MIT and to participate in the program's scholarly and academic activities. The fellowship award consists of stipend and travel expenses.
AKPIA will provide fellows with library access and an MIT e-mail account.
Applicants are encouraged to seek other sources of funding to supplement the fellowship award. Scholars with financial resources who wish to apply to AKPIA fellowships are also welcome. Applications requirements are announced each year in late January and the application deadline is usually mid April.
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The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT awards summer and IAP travel grants to all graduate students and to undergraduate students who are preparing an Optional Senior Thesis in the MIT School of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Applicants should be in the thesis preparation stage of their program. Topics must be primarily focused on some part of the Islamic world or an Islamic community. Comparative research that includes some part of the Islamic world is also welcome. Theses requiring research in an archive or collection with holdings related to the Islamic world, past or present, are also eligible.
Four to five grants are awarded yearly. Award recipients must complete their travel either in the Summer or IAP. Depending on their travel completion, they must present their research at an AKPIA sponsored event during the following academic year. A final report on the research will also be required.
Applications requirements are announced each year in late February and the application deadline is usually mid April.
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Library services and collections of printed and visual materials on Islamic art, architecture and urbanism have been developed at both MIT and Harvard with assistance from AKPIA funds.
The MIT collections, located in the Rotch Architecture Library, concentrate on architecture and urban development in contemporary Islamic cultures but covers many historical periods as well. The Harvard collections, housed in the Fine Arts Library at the Fogg Museum, are accessible to MIT students, and document the art, architecture, and visual culture of the Islamic world, with an emphasis on the period before 1900.
Visual archives at both Harvard and MIT constitute a repository for materials that have been produced or funded by AKPIA, or that have been donated to it. These collections provide images of a vast array of historical and contemporary examples of Islamic art and architecture.
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Omar Khalidi
Collections Librarian
Rotch Architecture Library
MIT Room 7-238
77 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA
02139-4307
Tel: 617-258-5597
e-mail: okhalidi@mit.edu
MIT map & directions
Johanna Woll
Islamic Architecture Image Collections Specialist
MIT Room 7-304
77 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA
02139-4307
Tel: 617-253-6209
e-mail: jwoll@mit.edu
MIT map & directions
András Riedlmayer
AKPIA Bibliographer
Fine Arts Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138-3802
Tel: 617-495-3372
Fax: 617-496-4889
e-mail: riedlmay@fas.harvard.edu
Jeffrey Spurr
Visual Materials
Fine Arts Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138-3802
Tel: 617-495-3372
Fax: 617-496-4889
e-mail: spurr@fas.harvard.edu
General Information:
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT
MIT Room 10-390
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
tel: 617-253-1400,
fax: 617-258-8172
e-mail: akpiarch@mit.edu
web: http://web.mit.edu/akpia/www/
MIT map & directions
Admissions and Financial Aid:
MIT Department of Architecture
MIT 7-337
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
tel: 617/253-7386
fax: 617-253-8993
web: http://architecture.mit.edu/
MIT map & directions
General Information:
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard
Sackler Museum 413
485 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
tel: 617 495-2355
fax: 617-496-8389
e-mail: agakhan@fas.harvard.edu
web: http://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/
Aga Khan Program at the GSD
Harvard Graduate School of Design
48 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-495-2984
Fax: 617-495-0446
Email: mmoran@gsd.harvard.edu
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/upd/agakhan/index.html
Ph.D. Program in Islamic Art History:
Admissions Office
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Byerly Hall, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138-3802