The Jencks Foundation at The Cosmic House and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) are pleased to announce that DAAR will receive the 2025 RIBA Charles Jencks Award. The prize recognises their major contribution to the theory and practice of architecture, including their humanitarian projects that promote peace, improved teaching, and better opportunities for displaced people. DAAR, which stands for Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, was among 12 nominees in competition considered by an independent jury for the annual award.
The artistic research practice DAAR, established by Sandi Hillal and Alessandro Petti, has been given the award for a series of works including art exhibitions, built architectural structures, reimagined learning spaces, and books promoting justice and equality. Over the last two decades they have developed a body of work that is both theoretically ambitious and deeply engaged in the pursuit of justice and equality.
For DAAR, art exhibitions are not only spaces of display but also sites of action, catalysing broader interventions that extend into built architectural structures, critical learning environments, and civic spaces. Their work challenges dominant collective narratives, redefines political concepts, and fosters new forms of civic engagement. Among the many groundbreaking projects DAAR has been recognised for is a new layout for the Shu’fat School situated in a refugee camp, and a book dossier called Refugee Heritage which reuses and redirects UNESCO World Heritage guidelines and criteria to challenge and subvert the accepted idea of heritage.
DAAR will deliver a lecture at the RIBA headquarters on 30 May. We would love for you to join us. To book tickets, please use the button below.