‘This is not a house of worship.’ Architect Farshid Moussavi on designing the Ismaili Center Houston
The British artichect reflects on being tasked with planning the world’s seventh Ismaili Centre, and maintaining Islamic architectural identity in an American context.
The minority Nizari Ismaili branch of Shia Islam has long wielded international influence through its glamorous spiritual leader, the Aga Khan, who has built centres in London, Vancouver, Lisbon, Dubai, Dushanbe and Toronto to promote the sect. At the head of more than 12 million Ismaili Muslims, the Aga Khan – or “master” – is a hereditary role established in the 19th century. The incumbent is Geneva-born Prince Rahim al-Hussaini, who became Aga Khan V last year. Among his philanthropic projects is the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, which recognises work in countries with significant Muslim communities and addresses their needs.
The Nizari Ismaili’s seventh centre is perched on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas, and opened in November 2025 as the first of its kind in the United States. The white-stone building is a Texan riff on Islamic architecture, with soaring eivans (Persian verandas) that open up in three directions, ensuring that the faith’s tenets of pluralism and community engagement are on dazzling display. Its architect, Farshid Moussavi, an Iranian-born Brit, spoke to Monocle about the building’s cross-cultural mission.
This building has both religious and social functions. How did this inform your design?
This is not a house of worship. One component of Ismaili centres is that they have a prayer hall but they are more like cultural centres. There are a lot of social and learning spaces, a theatre and a café. The jamatkhana, or prayer hall, is not at the centre of the building. Instead, there’s a large, five-storey atrium for social interaction.
What was it like to have him as a client?
I knew Aga Khan IV from years of sitting on the award-steering committee. His outlook on architecture is extremely broad. It’s about how the projects are conceived, how the finances are gathered and how you design with the future in mind. Today we understand this as sustainability. He had so much confidence in the power of architecture to improve lives and to bring people together.
How did you translate ancient Islamic architectural references to 21st-century Houston?
The mandate from the Aga Khan was to make something that was informed by the Islamic tradition of building, as well as one that could withstand the humidity and respond to the centre’s context in Houston. Atria, for example, can be found in both the Muslim world and the West. It’s the same with verandas. If visitors aren’t familiar with the verandas in Safavid Persia, then they might think of American houses in the south with porches. The project is not about thinking symbolically or through identity politics but about how the building performs as a social space.
Houston is a capital of evangelical megachurches, which have social functions as well as religious services. Did you think about this while designing the centre?
Not at all. But I have no problem with the idea that religion brings people together, as long as it’s inclusive and nurtures the right kind of values. We need more compassion and understanding.
