Yesterday the world lost one of the greatest living architects, the legendary Rifat Chadirji who was born in Baghdad in 1926. There is so much to say about him that I felt overwhelmed even starting a thread. Where does one start?

Photo by Paul Taggart / WPN, Lebanon 2008

In 1952, the year he graduated with a degree in architecture from the Hammersmith School of Arts & Crafts, London Chadirji founded Iraq Consult IQC. Two years later he was appointed as the director of the Building Department of the Iraqi Waqf that oversaw construction of mosques.

Chadirji went on to design modern architecture masterpieces including the original Unknown Soldier Monument in 1959 (demolished 1982). The design was inspired by the movement of a wailing mother attempting to embrace her martyred son. !عظمة يا رفعت Source: https://bit.ly/2xkBxQI 

Rifat Chadirji collaborated with fellow architect Abdullah Ihsan Kamil (1919-1984) to design the Abood Building (Burj Abood) circa 1965 in Baghdad

Another famous structure was Rifat Chadirji's Central Post Office in Baghdad designed in 1975

His most famous collaboration, commissioned by then Iraqi leader Abdul Karim Qasim (1914-1963) is the Monument of Freedom in which Chadirji worked with prominent artist Jewad Selim (1919–1961). Photo by Latif Al Ani

There are far too many projects to name by Rifat Chadirji (he worked on over 100 buildings) including the famous Hamood Villa and the Offices and Tobacco Warehouses. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

In the late 1970s Chadirji was imprisoned for 20 months in Abu Ghraib prison. He was released to complete work on an international conference centre in Baghdad that Saddam needed to host the Non-Aligned Movement summit that was meant to bring together 96 nations in 1982.

In prison, thanks to his brave wife Balkis Sharara who smuggled his manuscripts in & out of prison, Chadirji authored three of his seminal books, one of which now sells online for over $2,500. In 2003 Chadirji & Sharara would co-author their memoir A Wall Between Two Darknesses.

Chardji then left Iraq and moved to Cambridge, MA for a fellowship at Harvard. "In 1986, Rifat Chadirji was a recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Chairman’s Award, one of only 4 people to be honored with the prestigious prize." (MIT obit: https://bit.ly/3eeM6FG )

I had the great honour of visiting him in his house in England in March 2018 during my residency at the Delfina Foundation. In the photo are his wife, acclaimed author Balkis Sharara & Iraqi architect & academic Ahmed Al-Mallak, the Founding Director​ Tamayouz Excellence Award.

Two further light readings on the great Chadirji: 1- An interview with Rima Alsammarae of Middle East Architect https://bit.ly/2Vmegps  and 2- 2003 NYTimes' interview by Hugo Lindgren "When Saddam's the Client" https://nyti.ms/3c3jGwi 

RIP Rifat Chadirji (1926-2020)