The Aga Khan Centre

King’s Cross, London
May 2024

The Aga Khan Centre, as defined by its website, is intended to be a place of education, knowledge, cultural exchange and insight into Muslim civilisations.

It is situated in the King’s Cross area of London, and was designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. Although very modern, it embodies many elements which you might find throughout the Islamic world, such as patterned tiles and water features.

Geometric shapes prevalent in historic Islamic architecture appear everywhere in this building, from walls and screens to windows.

The atrium of the building extends all nine floors with a glass roof (image shown looking upwards from the base) and the artwork shown running up the entire space is by Rasheed Araeen entitled “Rhapsody in Four Colours”, which is a modern interpretation of the classic geometric shapes.

It is an impressive building, and widely used by students who could be seen studying in various parts of the centre which we did not get to visit. Our host was very knowledgeable about both the building and Islamic history.

I wish it had been a better day, weather-wise, to explore and photograph the many outdoor terraces.

It is quite hard to get tickets to visit, and London weather is highly unpredictable, but I do hope to return when the light is better.