An unassuming white building behind King’s Cross conceals a wonderful interior and rooftop garden. This is the Aga Khan Centre, opened in 2018 to house several divisions of the Shi‘a Ismaili charity and its design incorporates a collection of gardens, courtyards and terraces all based on Islamic principles.
While it looks like a conventional office block from the outside, it’s inside that the real action takes place. A central floor to ceiling courtyard space dominates, but what really marks the building out at the many gardens dotted around the outside and on the roof.
What’s also delightful about the building is the attention to detail, from the careful use of patterns in the decoration to both shade rooms while reminding people of the building’s origins to the furniture dotted around the library spaces, and even the signs for the toilets seem to have been custom designed when an off-the-shelf sign would have been adequate.
They had started tours just before the pandemic closed everything, and have now resumed them.
Tours of the Aga Khan Centre vary, but in general will take in the main building areas, such as the library, some of the impressive meeting spaces, and of course, the gardens.
There are themes to the tours:
- Spring Programme: 26 March – 21 June 2022: New Life – focus on Garden of Life
- Summer Programme: 2 July – 24 September 2022: Colours of Summer – focus on Jellico & Garden of Life
- Autumn Programme: 1 October– 10 December 2022: Light & Shade – focus on Architectural features
- Winter Programme: 14 January – 11 March 2023: Geometry & Pattern – focus on Gardens of Tranquillity & Light
The tours are free and can be booked from here.
