Toronto Aga Khan Museum + Ismaili Centre | ?m | ?s | Aga Khan Dev. | Maki and Associates

Weather should be decent this weekend. Would love to see how the landscaping is coming along. Assuming the site dealt with the water (which should not be assumed, I suppose) the greenery should be doing well. If someone is in the area and has a camera, take a few pics!
 
This is arguably tangential, but will be of interested to any bona fide architecture buffs on the forum. As you will know, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is the largest architecture related prize on the planet. The current cycle is about to culminate in an awards ceremony in Lisbon within hours. While you will undoubtedly read about the winners in the Architectural Record, Canadian Architect, among other places, this article posted on the AKDN's web-site yesterday might be of interest.

"Sustainability Over Spectacle: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture"

Note - this is the same Aga Khan behind the Toronto projects.
 
Photo by current (see above)

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Thanks for the pics, current. Look at that! The stonework and shapes are absolutely beautiful.

In the middle of all this glass boxery, seeing that is like a spring of water in the desert. Lovely.
 
I just found this quite interesting 15 year old interview with Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who is Aga Khan IV's late uncle. For those who have been following the Aga Khan Museum, you'll know that an important part of the collection that will be housed in Toronto is from what had been amassed by Prince Sadruddin. The interview at the link, from 1998, is about a portion of Prince Sadruddin's collection that had been displayed at the British Museum. Fascinating.

http://www.qajarpages.org/aghakhanart.html
 
This is such a beautiful complex. Can't wait to see the landscaping. Also, does anyone know how important this centre will be to Ismailis? Is it the main Ismaili cultural centre in North America, or more of a regional/national thing?
 
DtTO said:
This is such a beautiful complex. Can't wait to see the landscaping. Also, does anyone know how important this centre will be to Ismailis? Is it the main Ismaili cultural centre in North America, or more of a regional/national thing?
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While there are numerous places of prayer for the Ismaili community throughout Canada and the globe, Ismaili Centres are actually quite rare, and form an international network that is quite exclusive and cumulatively unique. Only five such centres exist in the world, one each in South Kensington (London) UK, Lisbon Portugal, Burnaby (Vancouver) British Columbia, Dubai UAE and Dushanbe Tajikistan. Toronto will be the sixth within this network of architectural jewels, which also are seen, I believe, as delegation buildings, so to speak, and are meant to engage society at large. The Burnaby Centre, as the only other Canadian example, very regularly holds events that invite peoples in, furthering knowledge and enabling positive dialog. As one example from Burnaby, there is a regular university speaker series held there.

You can learn more about the existing Ismaili Centres, as well as some information on the one nearing completion in Toronto, at the following official web-site:

http://www.theismaili.org/ismailicentres

Using the Aga Khan's own words to articulate what these centres are about, the following is from a speech at the ground-breaking for the Burnaby Centre in July of 1982:

"This will be a place of congregation, of order, of peace, of prayer, of hope, of humility, and of brotherhood. From it should come forth those thoughts, those sentiments, those attitudes, which bind men together and which unite. It has been conceived and will exist in a mood of friendship, courtesy, and harmony."
 
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Beautiful pics - thanks current!

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current said:
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I noticed in the picture above, which I believe is of a two floor atrium type area that itself exists on the second floor and opens up to a roof-top courtyard, that there seem to be cables extending down from the corners (look through the windows). You can also see the same in two additional photos of this on current's flickr stream. Does that look like something temporary for construction, or is it to hold up some type of art or architectural feature up in the air above the floor of that space?

I'm quite intrigued by the Ismaili Centre, as much less detail has been shared about its interior as compared to what has been shared about the AKM. Very much looking forward to one day seeing the exterior and interior details.

Very impressed with the gardens - can't wait to go there with my camera when it is open!
 
The complex is looking real hot with the additional lights on the ICT, and a good portion of the landscaping now in place!

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Photo credit: Jim Bowie aka Cobby17 via Flickr
 
walli said:
While there are numerous places of prayer for the Ismaili community throughout Canada and the globe, Ismaili Centres are actually quite rare, and form an international network that is quite exclusive and cumulatively unique. Only five such centres exist in the world, one each in South Kensington (London) UK, Lisbon Portugal, Burnaby (Vancouver) British Columbia, Dubai UAE and Dushanbe Tajikistan. Toronto will be the sixth within this network of architectural jewels, which also are seen, I believe, as delegation buildings, so to speak, and are meant to engage society at large. The Burnaby Centre, as the only other Canadian example, very regularly holds events that invite peoples in, furthering knowledge and enabling positive dialog. As one example from Burnaby, there is a regular university speaker series held there.

You can learn more about the existing Ismaili Centres, as well as some information on the one nearing completion in Toronto, at the following official web-site:

http://www.theismaili.org/ismailicentres

Using the Aga Khan's own words to articulate what these centres are about, the following is from a speech at the ground-breaking for the Burnaby Centre in July of 1982:

"This will be a place of congregation, of order, of peace, of prayer, of hope, of humility, and of brotherhood. From it should come forth those thoughts, those sentiments, those attitudes, which bind men together and which unite. It has been conceived and will exist in a mood of friendship, courtesy, and harmony."
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Subsequent to my prior post regarding the network of Ismaili Centres that the Toronto building will be a part, I found this somewhat recent set of photos of the centre in Dushanbe Tajikistan. While the architecture of each centre is unique, thought the details and quality of the building in Tajikistan would be of interest:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/101865849@N02/sets/72157635567121843/with/9775420121/
 
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