It is no secret that research on architecture in the Islamic world suffers from the dearth of basic information on such elementary topics as architects' biographies and oeuvre, bibliographies of publications on contemporary architecture in the Islamic languages, and modern architectural and critical terminology. AKPIA@MIT is launching an experimental research project that aims to fill these information gaps in contemporary Islamic architecture. We would like, however, to take the long view and to collect all available information, edit, streamline, and classify it with the intent of making it available to all interested researchers. At a second stage, we will begin considering the best ways to synthesize and interpret the collected information through conferences, edited publications, and the like.
ArchNet provides us with a superb means of communication with our primary audience. It also allows us to use its extensive membership base as our most powerful potential informants. We are at this stage seeking the voluntary help of the ArchNet membership in building databases for contemporary Islamic architecture. As a pilot project, we are beginning with the construction of an electronic database on architects in the Islamic world with a special focus on the 19th and 20th century, but we welcome all information on architects from all previous periods.
We would like to ask ArchNet members who know of significant architects, especially those who have been ignored by professional publications, to contribute the information they have by answering the questions provided and submitting the form back to mailto:islamarch.mit.edu.
Please answer as many of the questions as you can. Alternatively, members can opt for a narrative presentation of the architect(s) instead of filling out the form. We are counting on your contribution to introduce to the architectural profession the long neglected architects from the Islamic world who are unknown simply because no concerted effort to collect and propagate information about them has been made. Thank you for your time and effort.
Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture, MIT
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