Congrès Mondial des Études sur le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord

Barcelone du 19 au 24 Juillet 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: AV62Arquitectos and UPC-ETSAB (Spain)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Victoria Garriga and Pedro Azara

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: The Mayoralty of Baghdad has organized an international architectural competition for installations (mosque, madrassas, museums, lodges, restaurants, etc.) in the neighbourhood around the sanctuary of Khadimiyia in Baghdad. The whole neighbourhood (houses, bazar, sanctuary, mosques) had to be kept and restored. AV62Arquitectos and Pedro Azara, who have already worked with the University of Baghdad, have been invited to submit a project. We went to visit and study Khadimiyia and to talk with the religious and civil authorities in June 2009. The project, done in collaboration with Mawrid Architects, reflects our understanding and vision of how to project in the old urban fabric of a lively and quite well preserved neighbourhood, answering to pilgrims´ and inhabitants so different needs, how to answer to westerned and easterned questions about modernisation and restoration, and how to mix modern structures with the old and traditional fabric, which criteria to follow and why.