Archinect - News

Marlon Blackwell will deliver a new memorial to the Global War on Terror on the National Mall in Washington

2023-07-13T08:00:00-04:00

Marlon Blackwell Architects has been selected as the designer of an important new memorial to veterans and service members lost during America’s decades-long War on Terror on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The Arkansas-based firm was announced as the project’s lead following a search process that began last summer with submissions from 177 different U.S. and international competitors. Its development will be guided by a newly-created Design Advisory Council (DAC) comprised of Gold Star family members, veterans, and "other stakeholders." The project was commissioned by the nonprofit Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, which was first founded in 2015.

The foundation’s President and CEO Michael “Rod” Rodriguez complemented the designer’s “ability, credibility, and humility to lead the design of an inclusive and reverent Memorial,” adding “Marlon’s proven track record as a world-class designer, combined with his personal experiences in a family with a history of military...

Iraq's Mosul Cultural Museum partially reopens following yearslong restoration

2023-06-12T18:01:00-04:00

The Mosul Cultural Museum was targeted and almost destroyed by the so-called Islamic State (Isis) when the terrorist group took over the Iraqi city in 2014. Less than a decade later, the partially restored museum has restarted its activities once again.

The museum won’t fully reopen until the reconstruction is completed in 2026 following the plans of its original architect, Mohamed Makiya. It joins a slate of other important restoration projects in the city, led by the somewhat controversial UNESCO-backed reconstructions of Al-Nouri Mosque, Our Lady of the Hour Church, and some 124 historic houses.

Several tens of thousands of buildings in Mosul are believed to have been severely damaged or destroyed during the three-year ISIS occupation.

The Art Newspaper also reports that the World Monuments Fund has signed on to oversee the museum project, which will at least partially undo changes made to the museum in 2008.

UNESCO's restoration of Iraq's historic Al-Nouri mosque site has been placed on hold

2022-04-18T14:07:00-04:00

The UNESCO-led effort to restore the historic Al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul has come to a halt this week after recent discoveries and feedback from the community have prompted a change of direction from the cultural agency.

The Art Newspaper reports that the restoration was placed on hold after months of highly public criticism leading up to January’s discovery of a 12th-century prayer hall and ritual ablution rooms underneath the mosque’s interior core.

The original plans. Rendering by Salah El Din Samir Hareedy and team

The team of Egyptian architects selected last spring to oversee the overhaul will now redraw its plans for a glass-paneled modern update to the hall. Other major changes are reported to include the scrapping of a car park in favor of a new Institute for Islamic Art and Architecture and the re-installation of original the original brick pattern to form the mosque’s famed “hunchback” minaret. Exterior elements like sun shading will be thrown out as well. The Sunni religio...

A UNESCO-backed redesign contest is met with controversy in Mosul

2021-07-03T13:55:00-04:00

But in many circles, it has done anything but, prompting an uproar among architects, urban planners and some Mosul residents who say it ignores Iraqi heritage. Perhaps in a nod to the United Arab Emirates, which is footing the bill, the winning design features cream-colored brick and straight angles of the kind found in the Gulf — a contrast to the arches, blue-veined local alabaster and limestone of traditional Mosul buildings.

An 8-member team of Egyptian architects had initially been selected from a lot of 123 for their "Courtyards Dialogue" proposal that will add a cultural center and school to a storied 12th-century mosque complex. The mosque features a leaning minaret that earned its famous nickname of "The Hunchback."

The $50 million restoration project will repair three religious structures in the war-ravaged Iraqi city including the Al-Nouri Mosque at the center of the dispute. The proposed complex was announced in May and has received significant blowback from academics and trade associations ever since.

This recent criticism may derail initial plans for the project to commence in the fall. The New York Times has more detail on the UN-backed competition here.

Winners of UNESCO architecture competition to rebuild damaged Al-Nouri Mosque complex

2021-05-12T11:35:00-04:00

UNESCO has unveiled plans for the reconstruction of the Al-Nouri Mosque complex in Mosul, Iraq. The proposal, titled “Courtyards Dialogue”, was pieced together by Egyptian architects Salah El Din Samir Hareedy, Khaled Farid El-Deeb, Sherif Farag Ebrahim, Tarek Ali Mohamed, Noha Mansour Ryan, Hager Abdel Ghani Gad, Mahmoud Saad Gamal, and Yousra Muhamed El-Baha.

Selected from among 123 entries, Courtyards Dialogue was the winning entry of an international architectural competition held by UNESCO as part of its Revive the Spirit of Mosul project. The initiative is an attempt to rehabilitate the city of Mosul after it was badly damaged during its occupation by ISIS between 2014 and 2017.

Rendering by Salah El Din Samir Hareedy and team

"The reconstruction of Al-Nouri Mosque complex, a historical site that is part of Mosul's fabric and history, will be a landmark in the process of advancing the war-torn city's reconciliation and social cohesion," says UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azo...

Rebuilding Mosul

2020-06-16T15:18:00-04:00

After a five-week lockdown, several conservation projects have begun in earnest in Mosul as part of a Unesco programme aimed at restoring the rich heritage of the war-ravaged Iraqi city’s old quarter. Restoration work funded by Germany has begun on the Al-Aghawat mosque, houses are being refurbished with the aid of the European Union, and the rehabilitation of the Dominican Al-Saa’a church is under way with funding from the United Arab Emirates.

Rebuilding efforts are underway in Mosul, Iraq as part of UNESCO's Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative launched in February 2018.

The program aims to reconstruct not only the heavily war-damaged Old City but also foster social reconciliation and trust in the local population after years under brutal ISIS rule through skill development and education.

Rifat Chadirji, father of Iraqi “international regionalism,” dies from COVID-19 at 93

2020-04-13T13:42:00-04:00

Rifat Chadirji, a world renowned international architect from Iraq, has passed away in London following a positive diagnosis for COVID-19.

Chadirji was born in on December 6, 1926 and passed away April 10, 2020.

Throughout a long career, Chadirji helped to develop and propagate a new pan-Arab architectural language that fused traditional architectural forms and building approaches with modern materials, building technologies, and functional uses.

Born into an influential political family in Baghdad while the Iraqi territories were under “British administration,” Chadirji studied architecture at the Hammersmith School of Arts & Crafts in London, graduating in 1952 with a degree in architecture. Upon graduating, Chadirji started the Iraq Consult IQC group, an architectural practice that he used as a launching pad for his inventive “architectural experiments.” Two years later, back in Iraq, he was appointed as the director of the Building Department of the Iraqi Waqf, a body that ove...

Mosul residents fear revamping of Tigris riverfront will erase their historical identity

2019-07-20T09:00:00-04:00

"People know Mosul's Old City by its riverfront - it has some of the city's most important historic features," Fethi added, referring to the city's old wall, the citadel, palaces and other heritage sites along the Tigris' west bank. "It [the council] should aim to preserve Mosul's heritage rather than turn [it] into another Dubai ... an absolute anathema to what should be done."

Two years after Iraqi forces regained full control of Mosul from ISIL, local authorities are pushing a proposal to transform historic neighborhoods along the west bank of the Tigris river into a modernized “new city”, with high rises, large supermarkets and restaurant chains. Al Jazeera spoke with Mosul residents, who believe the plan will erase their historical identity. With some 300,000 residents still displaced, the redevelopment plan doesn't include a budget for rebuilding homes or restoring heritage sites.

“While still a vision for now, local authorities have already begun talks with residents to convince them of the proposal, which, they say, is the only way to redevelop Mosul in the face of limited support from the central government in Baghdad,” Al Jazeera reports. The article states that “Locals and experts alleged that the redevelopment plan was also an effort to manipulate communities into leaving their neighbourhoods”.

UNESCO finally recognizes Iraq's Babylon as a World Heritage Site

2019-07-08T18:31:00-04:00

Since 1983, Iraq has lobbied to have Babylon, the "Mesopotamian metropolis," recognized as an official World Heritage Site. For three decades, Iraq persisted until finally, on July 5th, a committee met in Azerbaijan to vote for the city to be recognized by UNESCO. According to a piece in Al Jazeera, Iraq's UNESCO World Heritage Committee representative stated, "What is the world heritage list without Babylon? How to tell the history of humanity without the earliest of old chapters, Babylon?"

Reconstructed ruins of Babylon. Image courtesy of unsualtraveler.com

The Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Image © Hussein Faleh/AFP

Remains of the original walls from the Tower of Babylon. Image © Toby Johnson

Located near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad, Babylon was the center of the Babylonian empire. Recognizable by its temples and towers made of mudbricks, Babylon is famously associated with the Tower of Babel as well as the Is...

Preserving Iraq's Heritage: World Monuments Fund partners with Google for new online exhibitions

2018-06-06T16:10:00-04:00

Launched on the Google Arts & Culture platform today, the project includes drone footage of ancient sites and structures like the ziggurat in Borsippa and the Archway of Ctesiphon, 3D models of now lost architecture, like Babylon’s famous Ishtar Gate, and documentation of sites that have been damaged or destroyed by Isis, including Nimrud, Hatra and Mosul.

"Using drone footage, 3D models and videos, the tech giant is working with cultural institutions to make preservation efforts accessible to a larger public," The Art Newspaper reports.

View the Preserving Iraq's Heritage online exhibition here.

Training refugees to conserve their monumental heritage

2018-03-20T15:43:00-04:00

The problems: how to conserve extraordinary monumental heritage in Iraq and Syria [...]. The issue is exacerbated by the depletion of skilled craftspeople; once the dust of conflict settles, there will be few able to carry out restoration. At the same time, thousands sit in refugee camps, lives on hold, seeking a future. The solution: train refugees to become the craftspeople and conservators of the future. Give them a skill to help restore their nation’s heritage.

Photo: World Monuments Fund.

Learn more about the World Monuments Fund’s new stone masonry training center for Syrian refugees in Mafraq, Jordan (backed by the UK government’s Cultural Protection Fund) here.

Is anything left of Mosul?

2017-08-10T17:40:00-04:00

While UN satellite analysis suggests about 10,000 buildings have been severely damaged or completely destroyed, the real level of destruction is believed to be higher. Taking into account damage to multiple floors of buildings, not seen via satellites, the UN now estimates the real number of damaged buildings to be more than three times greater - about 32,000.

Lucy Rodgers, Nassos Stylianou & Daniel Dunford provide an in depth examination of the architectural/urban impacts (what to speak of the personal, loss of lives etc.) of the, nine months long, battle for Mosul.

ISIS believed to have bulldozed 2,900-year-old Assyrian ziggurat in Nimrud, Iraq

2016-11-14T18:42:00-05:00

One of the tallest surviving structures from the ancient world has been totally destroyed by Isil extremists at Nimrud, the former capital of Assyria, which was captured by Iraqi government forces on 13 November. The ziggurat, which was nearly 2,900 years old, was obliterated. Only the largest Egyptian pyramids are higher than Middle Eastern ziggurats and central American step pyramids. [...] incidents represent “the worst damage that Isil has inflicted on Iraqi archaeology”.

An older satellite photo from August 31, 2016 shows the Ziggurat and Temple of Ishtar still intact. Image via ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives Facebook page.

Saddam Hussain's architectural heritage—and what to do with it

2016-09-13T18:30:00-04:00

During his time in power, as head of state and as leader of the all-powerful, secularist Ba’th party, Saddam would oversee an unprecedented program of monumental development across the historic city of Baghdad. This was not limited to monuments of war and hollow bronze shells, but enormous palatial complexes, museums, art galleries, and civic squares [...] marshal it, awkwardly, unevenly, into the post-industrial age, a modern city shaped by the aspirations and egotistical tastes of a despot.

Iraq honors Zaha Hadid with commemorative stamp — which features rejected Tokyo stadium design

2016-06-20T17:45:00-04:00

The Iraqi postal service has issued new postage stamps honoring two of the country's beloved architects: Zaha Hadid, who died in March, and Mohamed Makiya, who died last year at the age of 101. Hadid and Makiya both changed the perception of architecture in the Arab world and introduced some of the aesthetics of Arabic-inspired architecture in projects around the world.

A small selection of Archinect news posts covering ZHA's winning/not winning Tokyo Olympic Stadium bid:

H/T Curbed

Zaha on Zaha: "I always thought, you know, I should do well because the work is good."

2016-03-31T14:09:00-04:00

What was it like to be Zaha Hadid? From teaching to developing her vision to turning down an opportunity to work with Rem Koolhaas, in this remembrance we collect a few of Zaha's first-person writings and interviews about her life and work from her unparalleled, groundbreaking career.

On being a woman and an Arab, excerpted from The Guardian, 2012:

Being an Arab woman and a modern architect certainly don't exclude each other – when I was growing up in Iraq, there were many women architects. You cannot believe the enormous resistance I've faced just for being an Arab, and a woman on top of that. It is like a double-edged sword. The moment my woman-ness is accepted, the Arab-ness seems to become a problem.

I've broken beyond the barrier, but it's been a very long struggle. It's made me tougher and more precise – and maybe this is reflected in my architecture. I still experience resistance but I think this keeps you on the go.

As a woman in architecture, you need confidence. Sometimes, w...

Destruction of Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery by ISIS militants went unreported for 16 months

2016-01-20T17:01:00-05:00

Iraq’s earliest Christian monastery has been destroyed by Isil extremists. [...] This seems to have occurred in September 2014, three months after the site on the southern outskirts of Mosul was seized by Isil forces. [...] If the near-total destruction of Mar Elia is confirmed, 16 months after the event, it is worrying that it went unreported, since it suggests that other Christian sites may have also been destroyed without publicity.

ISIS continues destruction of ancient artefacts, burns Mosul library, smashes antique statues

2015-02-27T12:42:00-05:00

Islamic State militants ransacked Mosul’s central museum, destroying priceless artefacts that are thousands of years old, in the group’s latest rampage which threatens to upend millennia of coexistence in the Middle East. The destruction of statues and artefacts that date from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires, revealed in a video published by Isis on Thursday, drew ire from the international community and condemnation by activists and minorities that have been attacked by the group.

Monuments Men: U.S. Army struggles to recruit enough heritage specialists for conflict areas

2015-01-28T16:53:00-05:00

The US Army is looking to recruit the next generation of “Monuments Men and Women” to help preserve sites and cultural property in combat zones and to advise troops on heritage. [...] It is turning to museum directors, archaeologists and preservationists to fill these posts. [...] With extremist groups such as Islamic State using the destruction of cultural heritage as a tool of war, such expertise is needed more than ever.

The British countryside family who are designing entire cities in Iraq

2014-08-28T13:38:00-04:00

“The cities we’re working on were neglected by Saddam Hussein, so they have little basic infrastructure,” says Elliot Hartley, 36, a director of Garsdale Design. But why can’t Iraqis redesign their own cities? “There has been a massive brain drain of professionals from Iraq over the years, and a lack of investment in local government planning departments, which means that the skills aren’t there – yet,” [...]. More improbably yet, only one member of the family firm [...] has set foot in Iraq.

Blowing up Mosul's historic mosques is 'a war crime'

2014-07-28T13:12:00-04:00

Leading British archaeologist and member of the House of Lords, Colin Renfrew, says the destruction of historic mosques in Mosul, northern Iraq, by Islamic state militants (Isis) “is a disaster for the cultural heritage of Iraq, and indeed of Islam”. The Prophet Jirjis mosque and shrine in Mosul was destroyed on 27 July, according to unconfirmed press reports. The 14th-century mosque was the latest in a series of holy sites targeted by the jihadist group.

Previously: Islamic State jihadis destroy ancient mosque in Mosul

Islamic State jihadis destroy ancient mosque in Mosul

2014-07-24T18:38:00-04:00

The mosque was built on an archaeological site dating back to 8th century BC and is said to be the burial place of the prophet, who in stories from both the Bible and Qur’an is swallowed by a whale. It was renovated in the 1990s under Iraq’s late dictator Saddam Hussein and until the recent militant blitz that engulfed Mosul, remained a popular destination for religious pilgrims from around the world.

It's Official: Zaha Hadid will design the Iraq Parliament, regardless of the fact she came 3rd in the competition

2014-06-25T17:01:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid has won the scheme to design a new parliament complex in Iraq – despite coming third in the original RIBA-run international competition.

The news is also the first official statement that Assemblage, whose designs won the competition, will not get to realize their vision. This will be the second building Hadid will design in her native country after the 2012 announcement that she will helm the Central Bank of Iraq project.

Hadid's plans for the Iraq Parliament have been marred by controversy, chiefly because they have been kept secret from Iraqi architects and the architectural community at large. Those who have seen the designs have not been favorable in their comments.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Baghdad – probably the most significant architectural project in the city since the 2003 invasion – is under threat from the Isis insurgency surging through the city. The precarious condition of the city makes it hard to imagine that Hadid's ambitious designs will come to fruition anytime soon. More pointedly, it calls into question the need for such expensive architecture in places of near constant social upheaval, partic...

Controversial Embassy in Baghdad Under Threat From Isis

2014-06-23T18:13:00-04:00

As militant Sunni fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) continue their assault on Iraq, following their recent take-over of Baquba, President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of 275 combat-ready troops to help defend Baghdad and, in particular, the new and expensive embassy there. At 4,700,000 sq ft, the Yaeger Architecture-designed embassy is the largest in the world and, with a cost exceeding $700 million, it was the most expensive to construct. Its multiple gyms, conference rooms, pools, private gardens, department stores, and fortified apartments are all protected by blast-resistant walls and multiple security checks. An American working at the embassy has no real need to venture beyond its walls. The complex is a city-within-a-city –– or, more accurately, a city-within-a-city-within-a-city, as the embassy is situated in the heavily-fortified “Green Zone” that harbors Baghdad’s international population.

The urgent rush to protect the supposedly impe...

New Baghdad library takes step closer to realization

2013-08-26T14:59:00-04:00

Designs for a new Baghdad library boasting the largest single-space reading room in the world have taken a step closer to being realised after the architects got the green light to put the project out to tender in September. The Iraq National Library was devastated by fire and looting when allied troops entered the city in 2003. An estimated 60% of archival materials [...] and 25% of books, newspapers, rare books, historical photographs and maps were destroyed.

Assemblage wins $1bn Iraqi parliament building comeptition, while organizers continue discussions with 3rd place winner Hadid

2013-01-16T15:24:00-05:00

A London architect firm has been declared the winner of an international competition to design a new $1bn Iraqi parliament building in Baghdad. Assemblage architects was one of 130 firms to put forward a design for the £620million scheme. But while Assemblage received its $250,000 prize in August, the designs have only just been released as the Iraqi Government had remained in talks with a rival, which came third place in the competition, Zaha Hadid Architects, The Guardian has reported.

Zaha Hadid: 'Being an Arab and a woman is a double-edged sword'

2012-11-15T12:06:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid on growing up in Iraq, getting the architecture bug, and the legacy of her Olympics Aquatics Centre

Iraq aims to revive Baghdad's 'lost' Le Corbusier building

2012-04-23T14:09:00-04:00

Designed by the famed architect Le Corbusier, built under Saddam Hussein then forgotten: such was the fate of a gym in Baghdad that Iraq now wants, with the help of France, to restore to its former stature. Located in the east of the capital, the massive concrete structure has surprisingly withstood the decades of war, internecine fighting and sanctions that have hit the country.

The Land of Broken Promises

2012-04-05T16:19:00-04:00

In 1958, Baghdad was featured in Time magazine—not as a hotbed of revolutionary, civil or sectarian strife, but for its ambitious plans for the world's most famous architects, among them Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, to recapture through their modern buildings the city's former glory.