History and Conceptualization
ArchNet is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Through various programmes, partnerships, and initiatives, the AKTC seeks to improve the built environment in Asia and Africa where there is a significant Muslim presence. ArchNet complements the work of the Trust by making its resources digitally accessible to individuals worldwide.
ArchNet was conceptualized in 1998 during a series of discussions between His Highness the Aga Khan, the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Charles Vest, and the Dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, William Mitchell. The foundations of ArchNet were predicated on remarks made by the Aga Khan in Istanbul in 1983, about his desire to make available the extensive dossiers resulting from the nominations for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) for the purpose of “ those institutions where the professionals of the future are trained.”
The purpose of the website is to create a viable platform upon which knowledge pertaining to the field of architecture can be shared. ArchNet aims to expand the general intellectual frame of reference to transcend the barriers of geography, socio-economic status and religion, and to foster a spirit of collaboration and open dialogue. ArchNet therefore manifests many of the Aga Khan’s values and principles regarding not only rural and urban development but also pluralism and the role of culture, while exemplifying MIT’s OpenCourseWare initiative, giving everyone access to its course material free of charge.
The website came to fruition in 2000 and was officially launched on September 27, 2002 by Lawrence Summers, then President of Harvard University, Charles Vest, then President of MIT, and the Aga Khan. It continues to grow with new institutional partners in North America and abroad as well as individual users. Today it has over seventy-five thousand users — fifty percent of whom are students or teachers — representing over one hundred fifty countries and averaging over five thousand unique visitors a day.
Read more about this topic: Arch Net
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