Structural engineer and AKT II co-founder Hanif Kara has been named the winner of this year’s Soane Medal for “realising some of the most recognisable architectural projects across the globe”.
Since co-founding London-based firm AKT II with Albert Williamson-Taylor and Robin Adams in 1996, Kara has overseen the engineering of several high-profile projects, including four Stirling Prize-winning buildings.
Stirling Prize-winning projects in Kara’s portfolio include the Peckham Library in London by Will Alsop, the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge by Stanton Williams, Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London by Foster + Partners and Kingston University London – Town House by Grafton Architects.
The Uganda-born engineer has also worked on Herzog & de Meuron’s One Park Drive residential skyscraper in London, BIG’s The Twist art gallery in Norway, Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan and the Masdar Institute campus in Abu Dhabi by Foster + Partners.
“As the co-founder of renowned structural engineering firm AKT II, Kara is a leading advocate for interdisciplinary collaborations and approaches to the built environment, as well as realising some of the most recognisable architectural projects across the globe,” read the Soane Medal citation.
Kara is the seventh recipient of the annual Soane Medal award, which was established by the Sir John Soane’s Museum in 2017 to celebrate the museum’s founder and “encourage a better understanding of the central importance of architecture in culture and society”.
He is the first engineer to receive the prize.
In the award announcement, Kara was praised for “challenging the traditional role of a structural engineer”, drawing on knowledge from engineering, design and architecture sectors to develop his structural solutions.
Reflecting on the award, Kara said “the scale of ecological, economic and social challenges we face today requires a transdisciplinary approach” of this kind.
“It is impossible to solve the problems we face without interdisciplinary collaboration and thinking,” said Kara.
“Only through curiosity and continual enquiry, questioning practices and norms, will we find the solutions that are so urgently required.”
Other noteworthy projects engineered by Kara that are currently under construction include Google’s London headquarters, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and Thomas Heatherwick, and the new building for the Museum of London at Smithfield Market by Stanton Williams and Asif Khan.
Outside his work at AKT II, Kara has mentored artists, architects and engineers, and taught at the Architectural Association, the Royal Academy of Arts, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and KHT Stockholm.
British architect David Chipperfield, who has worked with Kara on a number of projects including Turner Contemporary in Margate, said “Hanif is the very embodiment of the medal’s values”.
“With his enthusiastic championing of interdisciplinary collaboration, outspoken advocacy of reuse and material innovation, and generous mentorship of emerging architects, Hanif is the very embodiment of the medal’s values,” said Chipperfield.
“He operates as a true consultant, always interested in defining and expanding the ambitions of a project and understanding the evolution of design as a participatory process,” he continued.
“Hanif is an ever-present contributor to the architectural debate, and as we better understand the evolving and complex responsibilities of our profession, his example is more important than ever.”
Kara will be presented with the award at the Royal Academy of Arts on 26 November, where he will also give a lecture on his career.
Last year’s Soane Medal was awarded to French studio Lacaton & Vassal for producing “some of the most important buildings of our time”, while British architect Peter won the award in 2022 for his contribution to helping resolve the UK’s housing crisis.
The top photo of Kara is by Matt Tidby.
