Four decades ago, the Aga KhanAward for Architecture began as an intellectual search that continues to this day. The essence of the Award is to examine, analyse, understand, and try to influence the dynamic of physical change in Islamic societies. The immediate goal of the Award is to find the ways in which the profound humanistic tradition of Islam can inform the conception and construction of buildings and public spaces, and to do so in ways that were appropriate in scale yet inspiring in impact. 

This collection, containing all of the the cyclical monographs and seminar proceedings produced by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, constitutes a vast body of knowledge on the architecture of Muslim societies.