Presented by the International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA), the Bruno Zevi Book Award recognizes significant contributions to architectural scholarship and criticism from around the world. The 2026 awards were announced following the CICA Public Debate at the UIA World Congress Barcelona, held on June 29 at the Design Hub in Barcelona.
Co-published by ORO Editions and the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, The Mother Tongue of Architecture brings together a selection of Dr. Ashraf's essays exploring architecture's cultural, historical, and environmental dimensions. Spanning topics from the architectural phenomenology of water to the landscapes of Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier, and the architecture of Balkrishna Doshi, the collection reflects on architecture across time and places in South Asia while examining broader questions of history, landscape, and the built environment.
An architect, urbanist, historian, and critic, Dr. Ashraf is the Director-General of the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His scholarship and writing examine the intersections of architecture, landscape, urbanism, and culture, with a particular focus on Bangladesh, India, the city of Dhaka, and the work of Louis Kahn.
We congratulate Dr. Ashraf on this well-deserved recognition and celebrate his continued contributions to architectural scholarship and critical discourse.
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