Rifat Chadirji Prize for Architects and Designers and an Opportunity to Win $5,000 2018

The Rifat Chadirji Prize invites architects, students, engineers and designers to participate in the prize for 2018, which aims to promote the advancement of architecture in Iraq through an open source of design ideas responding to Iraq’s most urgent social challenges. It also highlights the current challenges facing communities in Iraq, encourages individuals and organizations to produce concepts responding to local community needs, and annually celebrates the importance and influence of Dr Rifat Chadirji through a prize in his name.

Eligibility criteria:

[1] Architects, students, engineers and designers are eligible to participate

[2] Participants can participate as individuals or teams (4 team members maximum), and multidisciplinary teams are particularly encouraged

[3] Jury panel members, organizers and their family members are ineligible

[4] This is an anonymous competition and the unique registration number is the only means of identification

[5] The official language of the award is English

The challenge:

Since 2003, more than half of the listed and historical buildings have been lost. At the moment, the majority of Iraq’s heritage buildings have become victim to two negative approaches: either they are intentionally or unintentionally neglected, leading to their collapse or they are unlisted and replaced with modern, low-quality developments. In the last 15 years, 700 buildings out of 1,300 historical buildings in the Iraqi capital have been lost, according to various news reports. 

For this reason, this competition hopes to see a new architectural approach that helps Baghdad celebrate its heritage and raise awareness of the importance of maintaining all the layers of its history and heritage.  The transformation of the site into a Design Center that showcases the best of contemporary Iraqi design and is also a space of creative collaboration forms the basis of the brief.  Whilst creating a new and optimistic vision for the future of design within Iraq, the proposals should also set a benchmark for the respectful treatment of cultural heritage in a true fusion of the old and the new.

Prizes:

[1] Prize winner: $5,000, the Rifat Chadirji Trophy, a certificate and a trip to the 2018 Award Ceremony (flights and accommodation)

[2] Second and third prizes: $1,000 each, a certificate and a trip to the 2018 Award Ceremony (flights and accommodation)

[3] People’s Choice Award (Sustainability Prize): $500 and a certificate

[4] Top 20 and top 50: Published on the competition’s website and social media pages

What is the Rifat Chadirji Prize?

The Rifat Chadirji Prize is the newest prize to be established as part of the Tamayouz Excellence Award championing and celebrating the best of Iraqi architecture. The prize is named after Dr Rifat Chadirji, the great Iraqi Architect whose influence and importance is far beyond built work. The Prize is a thematic open international prize focuses on proposing designs responding to local challenges in Iraq, aiming to introduce Iraq and its challenges to the world. It also invites them to submit their ideas and establish an uncompromising open source of ideas tackling social issues in Iraq through design.