Tamayouz Excellence Award is delighted to announce the winners of the Rifat Chadirji Prize 2018, which was themed, “Baghdad Design Centre”. The competition, organised by Tamayouz, an excellence awards programme dedicated to supporting aspirational and transformative projects tackling local and global challenges, was informed by a holistic understanding of context.
The prize is named after Dr Rifat Chadirji, a renowned Iraqi architect, theorist and author whose influence and importance stretches far beyond his built work. The Rifat Chadirji Prize is an annual international award that calls for design proposals that respond to local challenges in Iraq. Through its various themes, this prize aims to introduce Iraq and its challenges to the world and invite architects to submit ideas that would resolve the country’s urban problems, while also establishing an open source of ideas tackling social issues in Iraq through design.
In its second cycle, the Rifat Chadirji Prize, which witnessed the overwhelming participation of 310 firms and individuals from 54 countries, asked participants to transform the current unused site of the Old Governorate Building into the Baghdad Design Centre while integrating the damaged original facades into their ideas for the new building. The facades will be a memorial for an era in Baghdad’s history.
The winning entries were selected unanimously by the Tamayouz Excellence Award judging panel, which included: Dr Rasem Badran, director of Dar Al-Omran, Amman; Professor Wendy Pullan, director of Centre for Urban Conflicts Research at Cambridge University, Cambridge; Professor Khaled Al-Sultany, Iraqi academic, architect and architectural critic and historian, Copenhagen; Akram Al-Ogaily, senior vice president of Hill International, Dubai; and Ali Naji, CEO of Najmat Al-Sharq for housing and development, Amman
The Winners
First Place: Brooks Murray Architects
UK – London.
Judging Panel Comments:
“This project offers an example of how urban ruins can be regenerated into new complexes. Its response to the urban and design brief highlights the importance of the original wall, and incorporates it as the main feature of the project. Its transformation into a living function will help create life in the project’s internal space and public plaza, which responds to the traditional local fabric and enriches the urban surroundings. Covering the façade with trees will also allow the viewer to remember it as an urban ruin.
The central courtyard is flexible and adaptable and can be used for many things including events, functions, performances and festivals, while the surrounding indoor activities can also be extended to the courtyard.”
Second Place: Ali Habibianfar and Parisa Davoudi
France – Paris
Judging Panel Comments:
“The proposal of a memorial park offers a much needed space in the centre of the city that contrasts with the dense urban fabric. While there might have been the expectation of a building, we are pleasantly surprised with an open space.
The underground spaces would be particularly enjoyable in the summer months as they could create an urban cavern for social gatherings.
While the longitudinal section needed to show more information to support the idea, the waterbody would further offer a state of tranquillity and serenity that complements the wall.”
