The Mehdi Ali Mirza Award is named after a person who laid down the foundation of professional architectural practice in a newly emerged country which had less physical and institutional infrastructure. Born to an officer of the forest service in Hyderabad State. Britih India in 1910, Mehdi Ali Mirza was amongst the first generation of formally trained architects in Pakistan. Upon his migration to Pakistan right after the formation of the new state, he was designated to a principal government post in the Public Works Department. Here, he soon realized he could achieve little with the untrained, disorganized workforce he had been provided. To ensure that he had a qualified team to assist him in various tasks, Mirza set about laying the foundations of the first institute in the country imparting professional architectural education, the Government School of Architecture. Eventually, with the assistance of few colleagues, he set up the Institute of Architects, Pakistan in 1950, and the first regulatory framework for the profession in the country. In 1962, he was awarded the Pride of Performance. After 13 years of his death in October 1961, the Mehdi Ali Mirza Award was instituted in 1984 by the Institute of Architects, Pakistan (IAP) in memory of the Founder and First President of IAP. This Award gives recognition each year to the students from each accredited architecture school within Pakistan who have excelled in their studies and graduated securing top position with the highest marks (Cumulative GPA of all five years) in their respective school. This year 19 nominations were received from 18 accredited schools within Pakistan as follows:
1 Salman Amjad – COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology, Islamabad Islamabad
2 Zahida Faiz – COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology, Islamabad
3 Hassaan Jamal – National College of Arts, Rawalpindi Campus
4 Zara Faruqui – School of Art and Design, NUST, Islamabad
5 Murk Soomro – Center of Excellence of Art and Design, MUET, Jamshoro Jamshoro
6 Fatima Mehar – Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
7 Amna Jan Muhammad – Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi Karachi
8 Aroosa Mushtaq – Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi
9 Rushad Dastoor – Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi
10 Fahmiyah Fatima Khatri – NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi
11 Ahad Saleem Malik – Beaconhouse National University, Lahore Lahore
12 Maseera Tariq – College of Art and Design, University of the Punjab, Allama Iqbal Campus, Lahore
13 Sarah Masood – COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology, Lahore 14 Hafsa Asad National College of Arts, Lahore 15 Waqas Naveed Akhtar University of South Asia, Lahore
16 Aiman Shafique – University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
17 Jamal Ahmad – University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar (Abbottabad Campus) Peshawar
18 Muhammad Saqib Ali – CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, Peshawar
19 Farzana Qurban Ali – Balochistan University of IT, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta Quetta
These 19 graduates were conferred Mehdi Ali Mirza Award in Peshawar at an event organized by IAP –Peshawar Chapter. The event was well attended by architects, students and people from building industry. President IAP, Ar. Ali Zafar Qazi, Chairman IAP Peshawar Chapter Ar. Muhammad Khalid, Organizing team members and Members National Council presented the Awards to the recipients who travelled to Peshawar from various cities of Pakistan. The ceremony concluded at a dinner followed by musical performance by the students from CECOS University, Peshawar.
