Rifat Chadirji

Iraqi architect (1926–2020)

Rifat Chadirji (Arabic: رفعت الجادرجي Rifa’a al-Khādarjī, also Romanized Rifa'at Al Chaderchi; December 6, 1926 – April 10, 2020) was an Iraqi architect, photographer, author and activist. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He was often seen as the father of modern Iraqi architecture. He designed more than 100 buildings across the country.[1] His best known work was the The Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad.

Rifat Chadirji in 2013

Chadriji died from COVID-19 in London on April 10, 2020, at the age of 93.[2][3]

Some works

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The Monument to the Unknown Soldier

Architecture works

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Site Location Country
Central Post Office (1975)[4] Baghdad Iraq
Hamood Villa (1972)[5] Baghdad Iraq
National Insurance Company[6] Mosul Iraq
Offices and Tobacco Warehouses (1965)[4] Baghdad Iraq
The Monument to the Unknown Soldier (erected 1959: replaced 1983)[7] Baghdad Iraq
Rafiq Residence (1965)[8] Baghdad Iraq

Written works

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Author Title Year
Chadirji, Rifat Introduction to Urban Design and Architecture in Lebanon 2004
Chadirji, Rifat Medina Interviews Architect 1999
Chadirji, Rifat The Photographs of Kamil Chadirji 1995
Khan, Hasan-Uddin Regional Modernism: Rifat Chadirji's Portfolio of Etchings 1984
Chadirji, Rifat Concepts and Influences:Towards a Regional International Architecture, 1952-1978 1986[9]

[6]

References

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  1. "Prominent Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji dies in London aged 94". The National. 11 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
  2. "Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji dies of COVID-19". MEO. 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
  3. "وفاة المعماري العراقي رفعة الجادرجي » وكالة بغداد اليوم الاخبارية".
  4. 4.0 4.1 Elsheshtawy, Y. (ed.), Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope, Routledge, 2004, p. 72
  5. Frampton, K. and Khan, H-U. (eds), World Architecture 1900-2000: The Middle East, Vol. 5, Armenian Research Center, 2000, [World Architecture Series], p. xxx
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Rifat Chadirji". Archnet. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  7. Bernhardsson, M.T., "Visions of the Past: Modernizing the Past in 1950s Baghdad," in Sandy Isenstadt and Kishwar Rizvi, Modernism and the Middle East: Architecture and Politics in the Twentieth Century," University of Washington Press, 2008, p.92
  8. Hagan, S., Taking Shape: A New Contract Between Architecture and Nature, Routledge, 2007, p. 124
  9. "Rifat Chadirji Architect, Iraq". architectural-world. May 2005. Retrieved March 3, 2011.