The Mosques of Abdel Wahed El-Wakil

Few contemporary architects of the
Islamic world have received the
international acclaim and recognition enjoyed by the Londonbased Egyptian architect, Abdel Wahed
El-Wakil. His work has been published in
international architectural journals including
Architectural Design, Architectural Review, and
MlMAR.l Leon Krier, the renowned European architect, has referred to El-Wakil’s
work as the “light after a long, dark tunnel, the
shining tip of an iceberg, the precious trickle
of an underground stream which has at last
broken to the surface.,,2 In his A Vision if
Britain, A Personal View of Architecture, Prince
Charles describes El-Wakil as an architect of
“considerable skills,” and as one of Hassan
Fathy’s “most gifted students”.3 He has
received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture twice: the first time in 1980 for the
Halawa house in ‘Agamy, Egypt, and the
second in 1989 for the Corniche mosque in
Jedda, Saudi Arabia.