The Black Taj competition winning entries

Winners of The Black Taj: An incomplete memory of the Mughal Empire competition were recently announced. The Black Taj was a black marble mausoleum envisioned by Mughal emperor Shan Jahan which was never built. The structure was meant to be built across the Yamuna River directly opposite the Taj Mahal, the memorial to his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is believed the emperor desired the Black Taj to be a mausoleum for himself similar to that of his wife's. There has always been some debate around the authenticity of plans for the Black Taj. In this competition, entries were to envision a Black Taj and invited to complete the narrative of the never built structure. 

Winning Entry:

PRESENCE IN ABSENCE  

Architectural Designer: Pranav Bharathi  

First Runner-Up:

TIME CAPSULE

Architect, Visualizer: Christina Morcos

Conceptualization, Lead Designer, Supervision,Implementation: Karim Elnabawy and Mohamed Ahmad Khamis 

Second Runner-Up:

THE EXEMPLAR OF MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE

Designers: Abhishek Panelia, Jeet Bakhai, Kishan Makwana, Pratik Changela 

Third Runner-Up:

THE BLACK TAJ

Conceptualization, Research, Drawings, Visuals:  Leon Vohl, Johnny Jeong Yeob Kim, Gregor Loeber 

View all honorable mention entries here.