[Extract …] I was fortunate to work for His Highness the Aga Khan for some sixteen years in various capacities, including heading up his architectural activities, until 1994. Doors were opened to me, new and wonderful travel and experiences unraveled and I was exposed to the architecture and culture of Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in a way very few have been privileged. I learned about the contemporary architecture and aspirations of Muslims all over the globe.

The Aga Khan established the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1977 to illustrate and promote ideas about contemporary architecture for Muslims everywhere. I helped in the process and was the Award’s second Convenor.

Not only did the Award focus on a part of the world that had been neglected in contemporary times, but it also took the conversation into the realm of architecture as an expression of culture, and recognized the process of design as an ongoing dialogue between clients, professionals, builders, designers, and the users. I believe that one of the greatest contributions that the Award has made is to the very manner in which architectural discourse now occurs in much of the world.

A look at the awards themselves is fascinating, but here let me just say that the lessons of the winning projects are different, sometimes contradictory, and usually provocative. One can see now, some thirty years later, its impact on the buildings being designed. To me, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has been a touchstone endeavor in contemporary architecture – for the profession and clients alike.

While I was working for the Aga Khan, I realized that there was no vehicle for the regular dissemination of ideas about architecture internationally from Asia and Africa. All the magazines that dominated the marketplace and the images that were transmitted worldwide came from the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps to a lesser extent from France, Germany, and Japan. There were some (usually mediocre) journals in developing countries and they seldom went beyond their country’s borders. I believed that the Third and Islamic Worlds needed their own voice on the world stage.