UNESCO launches exhibition of designs for Bamyan’s new cultural centre

12 May 2015

UNESCO launches exhibition of designs for Bamyan’s new cultural centre

KABUL - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has launched an exhibition of the top 15 designs for the new cultural centre which will be built in Bamyan, Afghanistan’s world heritage site.

Last year a competition for the design was launched resulting in 1,070 entries from 117 countries.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information and Culture and UNESCO decided to select the design for the cultural centre through an open international competition.

The aim was to generate interest in the project and ensure that the winning design was both iconic and reflected the worldwide significance of the site, famous for the Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

With the financial support of the Republic of Korea the new visitor complex will be located in the centre of Bamyan city with a view of the imposing cliff face where the Buddha statues once stood.

The design competition was officially launched on 15 November 2014 and administered by UNESCO’s office in Kabul in partnership with the International Union of Architects (UIA). A wide range of individual architects, engineers and students from around the world submitted their designs.

During the selection process, the jury applied design principles emphasizing innovation, community needs, environmental consciousness, sustainability and connection to the natural and cultural landscape of the Bamyan Valley.

A group of seven professional and experienced jury members examined each of the designs and voted for an Argentina-based architecture team as the winning entry, with four runners-up from Turkey, Cyprus, France and the Netherlands. The work of Carlos Nahuel Recabarren and his fellow team members Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan and Franco Morero’s was selected as the best design.