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Book SynopsisAga Khan Award for Architecture 2022 – Inclusive ArchitectureThe release of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture every three years is an enormously important moment for the architecture world. The projects recognized by this Award represent the vanguard of thinking and practice in architecture that goes beyond the regular scope of building, planning and preservation through its strong impact on the needs and aspirations of societies. This publication presents the twenty shortlisted projects, including the six recipients of the 2020–22 cycle of the Award.The Aga Khan Award for Architecture’s mandate is different from that of many other architecture prizes: it not only rewards architects but also identifies municipalities, builders, clients, artisans and engineers who have played essential roles in the realization of a project. This publication thus presents the projects from various viewpoints alongside detailed and up-to-date images and descriptions.The acclaimed, interdisciplinary master jury and steering committee of this cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture that determines the projects presented include David Chipperfield, Francis Kéré, Anna Lacaton, Marina Tabassum, and Sarah M. Whiting, to name but a few. Scholarly essays across various disciplines from members of the master jury and steering committee round out the publication. Contributions include a text on the optimism of humanity by Souleymane Bachir Diagne, director of the Institute of African Studies, Columbia University, and a contextualization of Modern Architecture in the Muslim World by Sibel Bozdoğan of Boston University. Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, director-general of the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, writes on the perspective of the dialogical, while Nasser Rabbat, the Aga Khan Professor at MIT, shares notes on architecture as a humanist empire. The texts also include a Salon des Refusés by Nader Teherani, founding principal of Boston-based architecture firm NADAAA.The texts, which come from a wide range of geographies, are informative and descriptive, often striking an emotional note. Together with the project presentations, the publication thereby guides the reader through a contemplation of an architectural question of increasing urgency in our current times of crisis: how to build ethically for our shared global future.With contributions by Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, Sibel Bozdoğan, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Farrokh Derakhshani, Nasser Rabbat, Nader Teherani, and Sarah M. Whiting.Table of ContentsAll 20 shortlisted projects are covered in the book.BahrainRehabilitation of Manama Post Office, Manama, Bahrain, by Studio Anne Holtrop: Built in 1937, the Post Office was rehabilitated to its original form and role as a functioning post office, and added a new wing to the existing building.BangladeshCommunity Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response, Teknaf, Bangladesh, by Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi, Saad Ben Mostafa: Sustainably built structures in the world’s largest refugee camps, which occurred collaboratively in the field without drawings or models.Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana: A community-driven project providing public spaces in a riverine city with 250,000 residents, offering walkways, gardens and cultural facilities, as well as environmental efforts to increase biodiversity along the river.Cape VerdeOutros Bairros Rehabilitation Programme, Mindelo, Cape Verde, by OUTROS BAIRROS / Nuno Flores: An urban rehabilitation and redesign of a public space allowed residents to execute works in their own neighbourhoods and enhance their sense of belonging.IndiaLilavati Lalbhai Library at CEPT University, in Ahmedabad, India, by RMA architects / Rahul Mehrotra: The library, a living case study of passive climate mitigation strategies, integrates seamlessly into the existing campus while forging its own distinct identity.IndonesiaBlimbingsari Airport, Banyuwangi, Indonesia, by andramatin: Serving more than 1,100 domestic passengers per day, the airport’s roofs indicate a clear division between departure and arrival halls.Expandable House, Batam, Indonesia, by ETH Zurich / Stephen Cairns with Miya Irawati, Azwan Aziz, Dioguna Putra and Sumiadi Rahman: This new sustainable dwelling prototype is designed to be flexibly configured around its residents’ (often) precarious resources over time.IranAban House, Isfahan, Iran, by USE Studio / Mohammad Arab, Mina Moeineddini: On a narrow rectangular site in Isfahan’s historic centre, the three-storey house is arranged around three open courtyards.Argo Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre, Tehran, Iran, by ASA North / Ahmadreza Schricker: Distinct materials differentiate new additions from the brick-built historic fabric in this contemporary art museum housed in an abandoned 100-year-old brewery.Jadgal Elementary School, Seyyed Bar, Iran, by DAAZ Office / Arash Aliabadi: An elementary school, managed by villagers and teachers and funded by tourism and needlework from local women, is a sustainable development centre for surrounding areas.LebanonRenovation of Niemeyer Guest House, Tripoli, Lebanon, by East Architecture Studio: Designed by Oscar Niemeyer but abandoned when civil war erupted in 1975, the guest house has been transformed into a design platform and production facility for the local wood industry.KuwaitWafra Wind Tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait, by AGi Architects: The 13-storey building conceived as a wind tower features a central, vertical courtyard that provides natural ventilation to each apartment unit.MoroccoIssy Valley Improvement, Ait Mansour, Morocco, by Salima Naji: While improving the palm orchards and water reservoirs, trails and facilities for tourists were also upgraded in the first phase of a larger project for the valley.NigerNiamey 2000, Niamey, Niger, by united4design / Yasaman Esmaili, Elizabeth Golden, Mariam Kamara, Philip Straeter: As a response to a housing shortage amid rapid urban expansion, this prototype housing of six family units seeks to increase density while remaining culturally appropriate.PalestineTulkarm Courthouse, Tulkarm, Palestine, by AAU Anastas: Featuring two buildings, one for administration and the other containing 10 courtrooms, the Courthouse is anchored to its urban context by a public space.SenegalCEM Kamanar Secondary School, Thionck Essyl, Senegal, by Dawoffice / David Garcia, Aina Tugores: For this secondary school, volunteers, using local techniques, produced vault modules from clay which (with lattices) act as evaporating coolers.Sri LankaLanka Learning Centre, Parangiyamadu, Sri Lanka, by feat.collective / Noemi Thiele, Felix Lupatsch, Valentin Ott and Felix Yaparsidi: A multifunctional cultural centre and adult school where locals learn craftsmanship creates a multi-ethnic meeting point.TunisiaLe Jardin d'Afrique, Zarzis, Tunisia, by Rachid Koraïchi: An ecumenical cemetery provides a sanctuary and dignified place of final repose for the hundreds of unburied bodies that had been washing ashore.TurkeyRehabilitation of Tarsus Old Ginnery, Tarsus, Turkey, by Sayka Construction Architecture Engineering Consultancy: Adaptive reuse of an abandoned 19th century ginnery allows the operation of a contemporary centre for archaeological research and public engagement.United Arab EmiratesFlying Saucer Rehabilitation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, by SpaceContinuum Design Studio / Mona El Mousfy: The Flying Saucer, a 1978 Brutalist-style building that was fully restored as a community art space, contributes to Sharjah’s collective cultural memory.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisVaccination is a topic that has long divided opinion. Today, in view of Covid-19, that debate has become ever more polarized. Illustrated throughout with full-colour images, Covid Vaccines from a Spiritual Perspective deals with scientific facts, but also with research that requires spiritual-scientific methods. Led by main author and activist Thomas Mayer, the volume features reports, experiences and commentary from more than fifty contributors with clairvoyant and psychic abilities. From their observations, it is argued that Covid vaccines are not 'harmless jabs', but potentially violent interventions in the subtle structures of the human body, soul and spirit. The vaccines even have implications for an individual's life beyond death. Instead of the soul evolving in the afterlife, it could remain bound to the earth, suffering deeply. --- Although this book's conclusions may appear alarming, it is not the author's intention to create fear. He seeks only to provide useful information and enlightenment, demonstrating how vaccinated and unvaccinated people can deal with this subject consciously, courageously and with hope for the future.Table of ContentsInvitation - Preface - Part 1. Perceptions - Basic Considerations - Physically Visible Phenomena - Supersensible Research - Supersensible Observations of the Vaccinated - Investigation of the Vaccines - Spiritual Covid Vaccinations - Medication Damage during Life after Death - Damage from Covid Vaccination in the Life after Death - Covid19 Illness Viewed Supersensibly - Part 2. Other Authors - Rudolf Steiner on Vaccinations - Elaim Gairo: Covid19 - Attack on the Spiritual Development of the Human Being - Heinz Grill: The Dark Shadow-Specter in the Cosmos - Ajra Pogacnik: Breaking into the Sacred Space of our Being - Robin Kaiser: Impact on Future Incarnations - Ines Siri Trost: Bridge-People - Part 3. Discussion About the Reasons for Vaccination, and its Consequences - Personal Experiences with Covid Vaccinations - Why do Vaccinated People Hardly Notice Changes in Themselves? - Covid Vaccination Constellation - At the Cutting Edge Between Unvaccinated and Vaccinated - Views of Artists - Alien in Evolution - By Way of Comparison: How do Measles Vaccines Work? - What is Illness and Infection? - Karmic Background - What is Transhumanism? - How Does Soratic-spirit Infiltration Occur? - Cohesion or Fragmentation - Are Covid19 Infection, Vaccination and Lockdowns - Fed from the Same Spiritual Sources - The New Fall of Humanity - Everything is Good if We Only Look Deep Enough - What-to-do Snippets - Part 4. Summary - Part 5. Follow-up: Experiences after Six Months Further Experiences - Medical Examination of Novavax and Valneva - Supersensible Examination of Novavax und Valneva - Tips for Vaccination and Covid19 Processing - Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2019 Dr. Sona Aronian Book Prize for Excellence in Armenian Studies (NAASR) From the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, the city of Ani was the jewel of the Armenian kingdom, renowned far and wide for its magnificent buildings. Known as the city of 1001 churches, Ani was a center for artistic innovation, and its architecture is a potential missing link between Byzantine and Gothic styles. By the fifteenth century, Ani was virtually abandoned, its stunning buildings left to crumble. Yet its ruins have remained a symbol of cultural accomplishment that looms large in the Armenian imagination. The Ruins of Ani is a unique combination of history, art criticism, and travel memoir that takes readers on a thousand-year journey in search of past splendors. Today, Ani is a popular tourist site in Turkey, but the city has been falsified in its presentation by the Turkish government in order to erase Armenian history in the wake of the Armenian Genocide. This timely publication also raises questions about the preservation of major historic monuments in the face of post atrocity campaigns of cultural erasure. Originally written by young priest Krikor Balakian in 1910, just a few years before the Armenian genocide, this book offers a powerful and poignant counterpart to Balakian’s acclaimed genocide memoir Armenian Golgotha. This new translation by the author’s great-nephew, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Peter Balakian, eloquently renders the book’s vivid descriptions and lyrical prose into English. Including a new introduction that explores Ani’s continued relevance in the twenty-first century, The Ruins of Ani will give readers a new appreciation for this lost city’s status as a pinnacle of both Armenian civilization and human achievement. Trade Review"This fine English translation breathes new life into a crucial, and yet neglected source for the celebrated medieval Armenian city of Ani, and for the brief but important period of Russian control in the region." -- Christina Maranci * author of Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation *"Peter Balakian's translation and recasting of his great uncle's memoir combines sensitive Armenian religious and cultural history with a clear focus on the cultural dimension of genocide. It is a remarkable and invaluable study." -- Robert Jay Lifton * author of Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide *"This is an enthralling account of the 1909 pilgrimage of an Armenian priest to the ruins of the Armenian city of Ani. Introduced by his great-nephew, the distinguished poet Peter Balakian, this memoir is a powerful expression of Armenian pride and longing for the land on which they lived for a millennium. Written a bare six years before Ottoman forces carried out the Armenian genocide, this document underscores forcefully how central cultural destruction was and is in the unfolding of that crime against humanity." -- Jay Winter * author of War beyond Words: Languages of Remembrance from the Great War to the Present *“Vartabed Balakian describes Ani as an 'Armenian genius,' a title befitting of Balakian. His eye on the ancient capital is intricate and mournful, and creates a new depth post genocide.” -- Donna-Lee Frieze * editor and transcriber of Totally Unofficial *"Krikor Balakian’s rhapsodic narrative is a scholarly, flowery mix of architectural history and a travelogue of his much-anticipated pilgrimage. He writes lovingly about church ornamentation and holy day services held among the architectural ruins; he also thunders against bloodthirsty marauders and unworthy, greedy priests in Armenia’s past. The text is accompanied by numerous richly toned photographs of Ani’s dramatic ruins, which are critical evidence of lost history." * Foreword Reviews *"Krikor Balakian’s The Ruins of Ani published by Rutgers University Press," by the Armenian-American Spectator * The Armenian-American Spectator *"[The Ruins of Ani] documents the history, genius, and tragedy of the Armenian civilization as refracted through its ancient capital. It also illuminates one of those rare places that leaves visitors feeling they might have to dust off the word mystical to describe the experience." * The Arts Fuse *"Balakian’s book explores both the ancient and modern versions of the city of Ani, unknown to many non-Armenians. The intertwined legacy of the Balakian family and their connection to a revered city provides a moving and enduring account of history." * Armenian Weekly *"This book is a valuable contribution to the scholarly study of the art, architecture, and archaeology of Ani, and its translation into English will help it to reach a wider audience." * Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies *"This new edition of The Ruins of Ani is not merely an informative description of a dazzling city that became a 'great museum of the arts and crafts of Armenian antiquity'. It is also an intriguing document of trans-historical and cross-generational imagination. The 'richness and opulence' that 'always [aroused] the greed of conquering rulers” when Ani was in its prime have long vanished, but eyes are converging on the city once more.'" * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsContents Introduction by Peter Balakian Chapter I: The History of Ani Part I—The Foundation and Flourishing of Ani Part II—The Sale of Ani Part III-The Seljuk Invasions and the Destruction of Ani Chapter II: The Topography of Ani Chapter III: The Description of the Ruins of Ani The External Walls The Cathedral Surp Krikor Lusaworich‘ [St. Gregory the Illuminator] Church Surp Aṙak‘elots‘ [Holy Apostles] Church Abughamrents‘ Surp Krikor Church Kakgashēn [Gagkashēn] Surp Krikor Church Vrats‘ [Georgian] Church The Palace of the Pakradunis Ani’s Residence of the Catholicos The Statue of Kakig [Gagik] I Ani’s Citadel The Girls’ Fortress The Two Story Bridge and the Pekhents‘ Monastery The Tombstone of the Royal Princes The Ruins of the Royal Bath The Royal Road Leading to the Akhurian River Ghōshavank‘ Near Ani [The Monastery of Hoṙomos] The Vaulted and Pillared Inner Part of the Royal Conference Hall in Ghōshavank‘ Surp Minas and Surp Kevork Chapels in the Valley of Ghōshavank‘ The Tomb of King Ashod [Ashot] the Merciful Chapter IV: Scholarly Ani Part I—The Armenian Architectural Style Ani’s Plan [illustration] Part II—The Present Excavations of Ani Voyage to Ani His Holiness the Holy Patriarch’s Voyage to Ani The Pilgrim of Ani Acknowledgments Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume marks the first short-story collection in the Slime series, taking a deep dive into the epic tale’s fantasy world—and what its characters get up to when Rimuru isn’t bossing them around! Gard Mjöllmile, the most powerful human member of Tempest’s government, is up to some less-than-proper dealings in the Western Nations; Velgrynd gets involved with a familiar-looking planet as she traces the trail of her lover; Caligulio starts facing up to his past as he strives to rebuild the Empire; and Raine, Primal Demon and servant of the demon lord Guy Crimson, has a complaint or two about her toxic work environment. All that plus an extra tale you won’t want to miss in this stellar collection!

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Book SynopsisThe many marked hiking, cycling and mountain biking trails prove it: The High Black Forest with its highest elevation, the Feldberg (1,308 m above sea level. NN), is a paradise for active vacationers. Steep climbs are rewarded with great views. Mountain bikers in particular should be fit, as they have to climb 10,000 meters in altitude on the 450 km long Black Forest Bike Crossing Tour. In the info section you can find out which recreational and overnight accommodation options places like Todtmoos, Titisee-Neustadt or St. Blasien have to offer.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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