Category Archives: All AKDC News

AKDC collaborating with CAC and Somerville Public Library to screen a feature film

The Center for Arabic Culture (CAC) Film Screening Program, in collaboration with the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) & Somerville Public Library present Detroit Unleaded Free and open to the public Saturday Dec. 1, 2018 Somerville Public Library @ 3 pm 79 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143 Screening will be followed by a light reception and discussion. Speakers will be announced soon! More information Watch the Trailer

Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT wins the Mohamed Makiya Prize for Architecture

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) is honored to be chosen recipient of the Mohamed Makiya Prize, part of the Tamayouz Excellence Award programme. 44 entries from 11 countries were submitted for this year’s prize. Michael Toler, Interim Program head, noted that the award is especially meaningful given the caliber of the three other projects shortlisted for the award: the Arab Center for Architecture (Beirut), Michael Rakowitz (New York) and Rana Beiruti (Amman). “It is a great honor to even be nominated alongside such prestigious organizations and individuals,” he said. Toler added that the AKDC@MIT is a collaborative endeavor. “We […]

Full House for AKDC presentation at HIAA biannual symposium

AKDC@MIT is delighted to have had the opportunity to present on its collections and new research tools to a packed room at the 2018 biennial symposium of the Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA). The session took place at 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 27, the final day of the symposium at Yale University. Matt Saba, Visual Resources Librarian, gave a brief overview of the history of the center and its image collection, the Aga Khan Visual Archive. He then surveyed several of the center’s new collections since 2012, divided into three categories. For Scholars’ Collections he highlighted the Tabbaa […]

Interim Program Head and Visual Resources Librarian to present at HIAA Symposium

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) is excited to offer an information session on its collections at the 2018 Biennial Symposium of the Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA), taking place at Yale University on October 25 – 27, 2018. Matt Saba, Visual Resources Librarian at AKDC@MIT, will offer an overview of the center’s collections, highlighting new acquisitions since 2012. Noteworthy examples are the archives of Iraqi architects Mohamed Makiya, Hisham Munir, and Rifat Chadirji, whose works represent a pivotal moment in the history of modern architecture, and the archive of French architect Michel Écochard, who worked on […]

Temporary Employment Opportunity

The Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT), is seeking an employee to assist the with processing content for Archnet, an open access, scholarly resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues, with a particular focus on the the Muslim world. Archnet provides ready access to unique visual and textual material to facilitate teaching, scholarship, and professional work of high quality Duties: The successful applicant with assist in various projects under the supervision of AKDC Interim Program Head and Archnet Content Manager Michael Toler, including: Work with the Archnet Content Manager and Visual Resources Librarian […]

The Aga Khan Documentation Center shortlisted for the Mohamed Makiya Prize for Architecture 2018

A Press Release from the Tamayouz Excellent Award released today: Tamayouz Excellence Award is delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2018 Middle Eastern Architectural Personality of the year, given to individuals and organisations, the Mohamed Makiya Prize. The Mohamed Makiya Prize was established as part of the Tamayouz Awards program of championing the best of architecture in Iraq and the rest of the world, it is an annual Prize open to both individuals and organisations who promoted, encouraged, campaigned or influenced directly or indirectly the advancement of architecture and the built environment in the Middle East between 2015 and […]

Founding Program Head Leaving AKDC

This week Sharon C. Smith, PhD, founding Program Head of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT), and co-director of Archnet.org, will turn over the reins to Michael A. Toler, PhD, Archnet Content Manager, who will assume the role of Interim Program Head. Smith established AKDC@MIT in 2011 when she came to MIT from the Harvard University’s Fine Arts Library. Since then the Center has not only provided outstanding support to the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT and Harvard, but it has grown into a research and archival center with a significant and growing global reputation. […]

Now online: Sharon C. Smith: “Documenting the Built Environment: Why and How?” & Michael A. Toler: “The Documentation of Cultural Heritage a Society in Transition”

The presentations “Documenting the Built Environment: Why and How?” by Sharon C. Smith, “Documenting the Cultural Heritage of a Society in Transition” by Michael A. Toler are now available online at the web site of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). The presentations were recorded on April 12, 2018 at the Legation in Tangier, Morocco, as part of TALIM’s annual April Seminar, organized annually in partnership with the Office Chérifien des Phosphates. This year’s seminar program was organized in collaboration with the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT). The audio and slides from the session will also […]

Archnet Content Manager at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

The World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies what held July 16-20 in Seville, Spain. Michael Toler, Archnet Content Manager, represented the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT with a presentation on “Plural Heritage at Moments of Transition: Presenting the Cultural Heritage of Morocco.” Toler’s paper focused on AKDC’s collaborations to bring two significant collections documenting cultural heritage of Morocco to public attention via Archnet. The first collection was brought online through a collaboration with the Program for Middle Eastern Studies of Wellesley College and the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) to digitized the glass negatives in TALIM’s […]