13 Facts About Rifat Chadirji

Rifat Chadirji was often referred to as the father of modern Iraqi architecture, having designed more than 100 buildings across the nation.

Rifat Chadirji's approach was entirely consistent with the objectives of the Modern Baghdad Group, founded in 1951, of which he was an early member.

Rifat Chadirji's designs relied on abstracting the concepts and elements of traditional buildings, and reconstructing them in contemporary forms.

However, Rifat Chadirji's critics have pointed out that although Rifat Chadirji was sympathetic to the group's aims, he was essentially a modernist at heart.

The first house design of Rifat Chadirji's was for Baher Faik, a former statesman and ambassador of Iraq during the 50s.

Rifat Chadirji would continue to use ancient Iraqi motifs in his building designs.

Rifat Chadirji employed the architectural language of arches and monolithic piers that remind visitors of ancient Iraqi architectural history.

In 1978, Rifat Chadirji was jailed for life for unfounded charges during the Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr presidency.

Rifat Chadirji was offered the choice to accept the commission or stay in prison.

Rifat Chadirji left Iraq in 1983 to take up an academic position at Harvard University.

Rifat Chadirji said that he respected all religions, and asked after his death that prayers not be offered for him, and that his body be cremated.

In 2017, the Rifat Chadirji Prize was created to recognise local architects who are involved in rebuilding parts of Iraq that had been destroyed.

Rifat Chadirji died from COVID-19 in London on 10 April 2020, at the age of 93.