Fame, Imprisonment and Rebirth: The Story of Rifat Chadirji, Iraqi Modernist Architect
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Chadirji's genius in Modernist Architecture and ability to reconcile modernity with colloquial traditions of the Middle East met head on with the brutal mentality of Iraq's former leaders. Serving time for no crime, Chadirji, like many of his creative contemporaries, left Iraq to spread his knowledge and vision where it was appreciated, but not before leaving a legacy in Iraq, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.
Professor Rifat Chadirji is one of Iraq's and the region's most prominent international architectural thinkers of the 20th century. Chadirji has been at the vanguard of those grappling with how to reconcile modernity with the vernacular traditions of the Middle East. However, Chadirji's life closely reflects the tragic story of the region. Instead of being celebrated for these noble attempts, the free thinking involved in such a pursuit meant that he was perceived as a danger to those in power. Rifat Chadirji would spend two years in an Iraqi jail and would consume a large part of his intellectual life not in the Middle East but in America.
Rifat Chadirji was arrested in October 1978 on the charge of high treason, a sentence that carried life imprisonment. Chadirji is now 83 years old and talks in a soft clear tone. His keen eyes show the depth of a sharp mind, as he reflects on the details leading to his being arrested. 'The [ostensible] reason that I was sent to prison was because I refused to collaborate on a project with a British firm called Wimpy,' Chadirji stated. 'Because I did not collaborate with them, Wimpy did not submit an offer to the Iraqi government. This caused 'economic damage' to the country which the government considered an offense of high treason due to the fact that we were at war with Israel at the time. 'One morning, while he was having breakfast, government troops arrived and incarcerated him. He lost two years of his life behind bars,' Balqis Sharara, Rifat Chadirji's wife stated.
Sharara and Chadirji have written a joint account, in Arabic, of his time in prison: Jida Bayn Dhulmatain (A Wall Between Two Darknesses). The book details the trauma of being locked in a cell 2 meters long by 1.7 meters wide and Sharara's trauma trying to cope with being left isolated and separated from her husband. Chadirji suspects he was sent to prison because then President Bakr did not like his father who founded the first secular party in Iraq: the National Democratic Party (NDP). But ever the academic, Chadirji feels uncomfortable speculating and adds: 'I do not know exactly why the President Ahmad Hasan al Bakr sent me to prison.'
In 1979 Saddam Hussein came to power and he wanted Baghdad to be prepared for the planned conference of the Non Aligned Countries (NAM) in 1982. In the late 1980s, 152 days after his imprisonment, Chadirji was driven, still in his prison clothes, to the President. Chadirji was then given a choice by Saddam to either remain in prison or to prepare Baghdad for the NAM conference. The very next day, Chadirji was back to work. 'I would not design any of the works myself,' Chadirji stated. 'Instead I would advise the government and I compiled a list of the best international architects that included Venturi from the United States, Bo from Denmark and Richard England from Malta, among many others.'
However, the Iran-Iraq war would destroy Saddam's grand plans, and for Chadirji this would be the end of his association with his homeland. 'I told the Palace Director that I would work for two years and not a day more. After I did my two years, I left Baghdad for London and then went on to Boston where I spent the next twelve years at Harvard university.' He would not return to Iraq until 2009 when he was invited by President Jalal al Talabani.
Chadirji was invited back to Iraq in 2009 to rebuild one of his famous monuments, the 'Unknown Soldier'. This monument used to be located in Baghdad square, until it was demolished and replaced by a statue of Saddam Hussein. That statue would become globally famous when it was pulled down by Iraqis and US marines in 2003. Now the Iraqi government would like to rebuild Chadirji’s original monument. 'I am very happy about this commission and the interest in rebuilding the Unknown Soldier, which was so rudely removed,' Chadirji stated when he was in Iraq last year.
Chadirji the Architect
Unfortunately the violent conflicts that have all too frequently been present in Iraq have meant that the Unknown Soldier is not the only piece of Chadirji's architecture that has received rude treatment. However, and despite this, Chadirji has left a rich heritage behind him both in the Iraqi landscape and in the many books he has produced. Architectural theory as well as the actual practice of architecture make up a huge part of his body of work.
Rifat Chadirji trained in Britain and returned to Iraq in 1952 where he formed the architectural practice Iraq Consult. The central idea of the practice was to create architecture that fused modernist architectural styles, such as the Bauhaus, with the Iraqi and regional vernacular. 'The basic philosophy was that I wanted modern architecture to be regionalized,' Chadirji explained.
Rifat Chadirji's work on fusing 20th century architecture with the traditional would produce startling buildings in the heart of Baghdad. In 1953 Chadirji was to build his first block of flats that tried to combine the ideas of Le Corbusier and modern aesthetics with local features. However, it would be in the 1960s that saw his golden period of construction flourish. In this period, three buildings, all in Baghdad, would define Chadirji's work: the Iraq Consult offices (1965), the building for the Iraqi Federation of Industries (1966), and offices for the Central Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration (1971).
The Central Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration building articulates the new vocabulary of architectural style that Chadirji developed. The modernist influence is immediately recognizable while simultaneously the 'Iraqiness' of the building also shines through. The distinctive arches and the focus on geometry achieve the regional modernism that Chadirji sought. The Villa Hamada also shows Chadirji's unique vision of modern architecture that draws on regional influences. Unfortunately, Iraq would not see any more buildings constructed by Chadirji after his Telephone Administration building.
Le Corbusier and the International Starts
In the happier periods of relations between Rifat Chadirji and the Iraqi government in the 1950s he was the first to draw up a list of international star architects. He made a list to design a stadium, an opera house, a post office and a royal palace. The list of architects included Le Corbusier, Frank Llyod Wright, Oscar Neimeyer, Alvar Alto, Mies Van der Rohe, Gropius and Gio Ponti. Oscar Neimeyer would however reject the offer to work for the Iraqi government stating its oppressive nature. Only the buildings by Gropius and Gio Ponti were completed Le Corbusier's sport stadium was partially built. However, Frank Llyod Wright's plans for an opera house, which was never built, were probably the most renowned. His grandiose design for an opera house is still marveled at today.
One of Chadirji's favorite stories from this period is when he met the famous Swiss French architect Le Corbusier. It was in rather embarrassing circumstances. 'Le Corbusier had written a rather rude letter to the Minister who had not paid his fees.' A radiating pride emanates from Chadirji as he recalls his meeting with the master. 'The first thing he said to me was 'Don’t you give food to your camels?' And then, 'When are you going to give me some of your black gold?' Chadirji then showed Corbusier his work to display that he was not just a government official but a practicing architect. 'Corbusier told me that if I am now 30 years old, in ten years' time I will either be a great architect or a failure.'
Maintaining Contact
There is no doubt that Chadirji has made a significant contribution to his profession. But it is the tragedy of the region that he did not get the chance to build more in Iraq or the region at large. Most of his contribution to architecture was done through his work on architectural theory at Harvard, far from the chaos that Saddam would impose on Iraq. Nevertheless, Chadirji never lost contact with his region. In the early 1990s, he and Sharara came to settle in Lebanon for the winter months, in a house they had previously had to abandon due to the Lebanese Civil War. In the small village of Halat, just south of Byblos, the Chadirji house delicately plays with vernacular styles alongside the sharp edges of modernist architecture. Built using local stones, the Halat house radiates a soft whiteness that blends subtly into the rock face that the house is perched on. This house is a significant but overlooked architectural gem on the Lebanese coast that is being threatened by ever increasing speculative developments.
Generation next
The deteriorating state of architecture today is something that is of central concern to Chadirji. 'We have thousands of university graduates today but everything being built is very ugly. Why is this?' To encourage a new wave of modernist architecture in the region, Chadirji has launched the Chadirji Award at AUB. Chadirji launched this award primarily because he feels something very wrong is going on in the built environment of Lebanon today. 'The award judged by a committee of five academics asks students to submit their schemes that focus on how we should think about architecture in the future and what the role of architecture is, or should be, in our societies,' Chadirji stated.
Chadirji's life has been one where his intellectual strength was able to surpass that of the brutal forces that tried to suppress and control it. The fact that he was never allowed to practice fully in his own country, however, is a great loss to the region.
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| Read full story in REAL's September issue |
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