I think that our audience may learn just as much if not more, in specific areas of knowledge, from good projects that have not been premiated, and we will soon be making this new information available through the Internet. In the very first Award cycle, the master mason of a private summer house in Agamy, Egypt received commendation and a share of the prize money, along with the architect, the plasterer, and the carpenter. The Italian architectural magazine Domus was so amazed that it put the mason on its cover. In each cycle that has followed, honor and money if appropriate, is shared among the public agencies, preservation societies, various specialists as well as the architect. I think that this is one of the most intelligent and generous policies of the Award.
People still ask why an award for architecture honors artisans and craftsmen.
But architecture is an art for which a large number of people contribute, and I believe that it is important to give credit to as many as we can. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has been implementing historic cities projects in Cairo, Samarkand, Karimabad and Zanzibar. Such cities can only be revitalized and survive if they become centers of economic well being. They must be self-sustaining, and that can't be done just by investing in the restoration of one or two buildings. In Cairo we have made a major investment in a public park and are studying its impact on the peripheral population, in the hope that we can cause a well-directed, beneficial ripple effect.