Rifat Chadirji

Rifat Chadirji
Born	Baghdad
Nationality	Iraqi
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Rifat Chadirji (Arabic: رفعت الجادرجي‎‎) was born on December 6, 1926 in Baghdad, is an Iraqi architect, photographer, author and activist. He is admired as the greatest modern architect of Iraq, and taught at the Baghdad School of Architecture for many years. He, along with his brother Kamil Chadirji, documented much of Baghdad and the larger region of Iraq and Syria by photograph, fearing the regional architecture and monuments would be lost to the development that was coming with the oil boom starting in the 1920s. Rifat Chadirji's architecture is inspired by the characteristics of regional Iraqi architecture, and the time tested intelligence inherent in it. His Tobacco Warehouse, along with his other great works, are informed by natural ventilation and an architectural language of arches and monolithic piers that remind one of the great Iraqi architectural history. ^{[1] [2]}

Work

Site	Location	Country
Central Post Office	Baghdad	Iraq
Hamood Villa	Baghdad	Iraq
National Insurance Company	Mosul	Iraq
Offices and Tobacco Warehouses	Baghdad	Iraq
the Unknown Soldier	Baghdad	Iraq

^[3]

Associated publications

His publications are primarily in Arabic and include:

• al-Ukhaidar and the Crystal Palace (1991)
• A Dialogue on the Structure of Art and Architecture (1995).^[4]
• Regenerative approaches to mosque design-competition to State Mosque, Baghdad. In Mimar 1984,11 page 44-63 ISSN 0129-8372.
• Concepts & Influences: Towards a Regionalized International Architecture, 1987.ISBN no. 0-7103-0180-4.
• Internationalised Tradition in Architecture, 1988. ISBN no. 1-85035-146-5.^[1]

Author	Title	Year
Chadirji, Rifat	Introduction to Urban Design and Architecture in Lebanon	2004
Chadirji, Rifat	Medina Interviews Architect	1999
Khan, Hasan-Uddin	Regional Modernism: Rifat Chadirji's Portfolio of Etchings	1984
Chadirji, Rifat	Concepts and Influences	1986[5]

^[3]

Awards

• 1986: Chairman's Award of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture^[1]

References

1. Rifat Chadirji at the archINFORM database.
2. http://archnet.org/authorities/11
3. http://www.archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.jsp?party_id=13
4. http://www.csbe.org/avisors2.htm, The Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE)
5. "Rifat Chadirji Architect, Iraq". architectural-world. May 2005. Retrieved March 3, 2011.