Rifat Chadirji ‑ an Iraqi architect, photographer, author and activist – died on 10 April 2020 due to Covid-19.
He was often referred to as the father of modern Iraqi architecture, having designed more than 100 buildings across the nation.
Chadirji was born in Baghdad in 1926 into an influential family. His father, Kamil Chadirji, played a central role in Iraq's political life as the founder in 1946 and then president of the National Democratic Party.
Chadirji trained as an architect. In 1952, after completing his graduate training, he returned to Baghdad and began working on what he called his "architectural experiments." Rifat Chadirji's architecture is inspired by the characteristics of regional Iraqi architecture, and the time-tested intelligence inherent in it, but at the same time, he wanted to reconcile tradition with contemporary social needs. In an interview, Chadirji explained his philosophy:
From the very outset of my practice, I thought it imperative that, sooner or later, Iraq create for itself an architecture regional in character yet simultaneously modern, part of the current international avant-garde style.
In the context of architecture, Chadirji called this approach international regionalism. Chadirji's approach was entirely consistent with the objectives of the Modern Baghdad Group, founded in 1951, of which he was an early member. This art group sought to combine ancient Iraqi heritage with modern art and architecture, in order to develop an Iraqi aesthetic, that was not only unique to Iraq, but also influence the development of a pan-Arab visual language.
Chadirji's early works were firmly grounded in the discourse being conducted by members of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, including sculptors Jawad Saleem and Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, and artist-intellectual, Shakir Hassan Al Said. His designs relied on abstracting the concepts and elements of traditional buildings, and reconstructing them in contemporary forms. However, Chadirji's critics have pointed out that although Chadirji was sympathetic to the group's aims, he was essentially a modernist at heart.
Chadirji's early works were primarily reconstructions of old buildings. In 1959, he was commissioned to construct a major public monument, The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, which was later destroyed by Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist government, and replaced with a statue of Hussein himself. Chadirji's monument, centrally located in Baghdad's Ferdous Square, referenced Iraq's tradition, the monument evoked the parabolic arch from the Sassanid Palace, Ctesiphon. Described as a simple, symbolic, modernist structure, sketches of the design concept found at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, reveal the inspiration for the design which represents a mother bending over to pick up her martyred child.
Chadirji would continue to use ancient Iraqi motifs in his building designs. His works, such as the Hussain Jamil Residence (1953), Tobacco Warehouse (1965), the Rafiq Residence (1965) and the Central Post Office (1975), are informed by Iraqi practices of temperature control – natural ventilation, courtyards, screen walls and reflected light. He also employed the architectural language of arches and monolithic piers that remind visitors of ancient Iraqi architectural history. Although, his designs often used vernacular elements, he often abstracted them and incorporated them in new forms. At times, he relied on traditional exteriors, but designed European interiors.
In 1978, Chadirji was jailed for life for unfounded charges during the Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr presidency. However, after serving almost two years in the Abu Ghraib prison, he was released when Saddam Hussein assumed power. Saddam wanted Iraq's best architect to oversee the preparations for an international conference to be held in Baghdad in 1983 and to assist with general plans to give Baghdad a facelift. He became Hussein's architectural consultant for Baghdad City Planning, for the period, 1982–1983. While imprisoned, he wrote a book on architecture, Al Ukhaidir and the Crystal Palace, using materials that his wife had smuggled into Abu Ghraib. The book has been described as a "seminal work" on the subject of Iraq's architecture.
In the 1980s, Chadirji became Councillor to the Mayor, a role that found him overseeing all the reconstruction projects in Baghdad. He left Iraq in 1983 in order to take up an academic position at Harvard University. Some years later, on his return to Baghdad, he was saddened by the deterioration in the city. He and his wife decided to leave Iraq permanently and they settled in London, where he continued to live.
Along with his father, Chadirji photographically documented much of Baghdad and the larger region of Iraq and Syria They feared the regional architecture and monuments would be lost to new development associated with the oil boom. In 1995, he published a book of his father's precious photographs. His father's position as a politician gave him access to many people and places that may have been difficult for other photographers.
In an interview with Ricardo Karam, Chadirji talked about his atheism; after studying philosophy with his wife, he came to the understanding that religions originated from magic. He also said that he respected all religions, and asked after his death that prayers not be offered for him, and that his body be cremated.
Chadirji died from COVID-19 in London on 10 April 2020, at the age of 93. The Iraqi prime minister designate Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and the Iraqi president Barham Salih both paid their tributes.
Although Chadirji designed many residences, he is most noted for his public works, including both buildings and monuments. His Monument to the Unknown Soldier (1959), described as a simple, symbolic, modernist structure, was removed from al-Fardous Square to make way for a statue of Sadam Hussein in the early 1980s. The replacement statue was infamously toppled on 9 April 2003 in full view of the world, as global media filmed and photographed the destruction.
In 2017, the Rifat Chadirji Prize was created to recognise local architects who are involved in rebuilding parts of Iraq that had been destroyed. The prize is awarded under the umbrella of the Tamayouz Award for Excellence.
In the same year, he also donated his architectural archive and the photographic archives of his father, Kamil Chadirji, to the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries. Selections from both collections are being made available on Archnet.org.