Bagdad, Iraq

Urban planning and design of the area surrounding the Holy Shrine Kadhimiyah - Bagdad

Bagdad - Irak

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PRINCIPLES: Our proposal for the restructuring of the Khadimyia neighbourhood that surrounds the shrine is built on the following premises: 1.- Maximum respect for existing urban structure. 2.- Restoration of Khadimyia’s historic centre. 3.- Care with regard to the definition of public space. 4.- Cohabitation of neighbourhood life alongside the massive influx of pilgrims. 5.- To avoid construction in spaces that would remain empty and without function once the pilgrims leave. 6.- To use sustainable techniques and building materials that suit the climate and traditions (at least in the historic centre). 7.- To ensure that Baghdad’s citizens and not just the pilgrims are able to take advantage of the new facilities. 8.- To install solar and PV energy storage systems in all new buildings. With this in mind, the creation of a small treatment plant for dates is under proposal. It would use dates from palm trees that will be planted as part of a plan to recreate a palm grove nearby that was there in the fifties. The plant would also use the fruit from existing trees, for their conversion into ethanol. 9.- Facilities linked to the neighbourhood will be designed using the same volumetric criteria as existing buildings and integrated into the urban fabric. The buildings will be divided up and placed between existing ones in the neighbourhood. Sinuous or labyrinthine public spaces will be created or restored. 10.- The new buildings will be kept within the boundaries of the general urban scale and not compete in height or monumental character, particularly with regard to the shrine. The only elements that are volumetrically or symbolically relevant are those related to the new mosque building; its domes and minaret will need to establish a dialogue with the shrine’s more monumental aspects, whilst still respecting its pre-eminence. 11.- Only the more recent constructions that, as far as we understand, have distorted the sanctuary’s definition and size, will be knocked down. 12.- How to minimise the impact of the new, mediocre buildings without using traumatic methods that end up being non viable? In our opinion, the most efficient and economically viable way to bring back some character to these pedestrian centres and provide them with the intimacy and privacy that you still see in the more traditional streets of Baghdad, would be to put up an impermeable cover structure made from wooden slats. The structure would still allow for the shrine to be seen in the distance at all times, but will convert the street space into a more habitable and homogonous area. This longitudinal pergola will hide the heterogeneous and impersonal new buildings that line the street, promote the smaller businesses and create a shaded, pedestrian walkway. The design will include the planting and conservation of a central, green and leafy space, in order to make the street an agreeable place during those times when it experience large influxes of people passing through it. At other times it will simply act as a pleasant meeting place or sitting area and be enjoyed as a long and leafy square. You will always get a framed view of the shrine from the walkway, which will become more pronounced as you get nearer to it. The area will have all the normal street fittings, public lighting, benches and strict regulatory norms applied to it with regard to signposting, advertising and the location of plumbing and wiring.

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Europaconcorsi Beta

Urban planning and design of the area surrounding the Holy Shrine Kadhimiyah - Bagdad