Award-winning Iraqi architect takes Architecture+Cityscape honour

Presenting the award, Dr. Rashad Bukash, Director of Dubai Municipality General Maintenance Department, told the gathering of global architects that Makiya deserved the title "The Sheikh of Arab Architecture."

Makiya, whose award-winning projects include the design of the Kuwait State Mosque, the Islamic Bank in Jeddah, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat and Riyadh's Arriyadh Court Complex, took the first 'Lifetime Achievement Award' against a strong field of contenders.

"Throughout his extensive career, Dr. Makiya has made sustained contributions to Arab architecture," said Neil Hickman, Project Director, Cityscape 2003, the international commercial architecture, property investment and development industry exhibition and conference currently under way at the Grand Hyatt, Dubai.

The Architecture+Cityscape Awards are an initiative of IIR Exhibitions and Conferences, which organises Cityscape and have evolved from last year's 'Young Architect Of The Year' scheme. They are awarded in co-operation with Architecture+ magazine.

In all some seven Architecture+Cityscape honours were awarded.

The winners were:

Tom Wright, the Burj Al Arab architect from W. S. Atkins who took the award for the offices and retail category;

Lord Foster of Fosters and Partners for the Expo MRT Station who took the award for the public arts and culture sector;

Kate Otten of Kate Otten Architects who took the housing and residential award for the International Student House;

Peter Davidson and Donald Bates, both directors of London-headquartered LAB Architects, who took the urban design award for Federation Square, Melbourne's new civic and cultural precinct;

Twenty-three-year-old Lina Ahmed, a graduate of the American University of Sharjah, who took the aspiring architect award and Emirates' Al Maha resort, which took the preservation and conservation award.

"These prestigious awards were launched to recognise and promote excellence in architecture - and with the announcement of the first winners, we believe we have achieved that aim," said Hickman. "By celebrating the very best in building design, these awards will contribute significantly to the debate about the future development of the built environment."

The awards' distinguished international judging panel was compiled from six countries and included: George Ferguson, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Chairman, Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects; Suha Ozkan, Secretary General of the Aga Khan Foundation; Professor William Alsop, Architect, Alsop Architects; Bernard Khoury, Architect, Bernard Khoury Architects; Bernado Fort-Brescia, Principal, Arquitectonica; Balkrishna Doshi, Architect, Vastu Shilpa Consultants and Ken Yeang, Architect, T.R. Hamzah and Yeang.

"Judging criteria included how the project related to its immediate context and locality; how it met the client's requirement, its contribution to the advancement of ecologically sustainable design; the successful integration of the needs of the disabled, elderly and children; the contribution to the advancement of architecture and to the long-term improvement in individual or community well-being," said Hickman.