Rifat Chadirji
Architect, theoretician, educator.
Born in Baghdad, Dec. 6, 1926.
This award was established in 2017 as part of the Tamayouz Excellence Award programme of championing and celebrating the best of architecture. The prize is named after Dr Rifat Chadirji (1926), a great Iraqi architect who has left an incredible impact on the built environment of Iraq and whose influence and importance, which extends beyond built projects, remains greatly felt today.
The Rifat Chadirji Prize is a thematic, open ideas, international prize focusing on design proposals responding to local challenges and opportunities. The primary objective is to establish an accessible source of ideas to respond to social challenges through design.
Professional practise
Founder, director, principle of Iraq Consult IQC, 1952 - 78.
Designed and conducted numerous projects: architecture, industrial, furniture, landscape, gardens, interior decoration, urban and regional studies, etc.
Official appointments
- Director Building dept.,Waqaf,1954-57
- Director, Unit II, Health & Education Buildings, PWD, 1957-8.
- Director General - Housing dept., Ministry of Planning, Iraq; 1958-9.
- Director General - Planning Dept. Ministry of Housing, Iraq; 1960-3
- Counsellor to the Mayoralty of Baghdad, 1980-82.
Academic appointments
- Loeb fellow, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 1983.
- Member, Award Committee, Aga Khan Award for Architecture.1983.
- Visiting Scholar, Graduate school of Design, Harvard University, 1984-86.
- Member, Philosophy of Education Research Centre, Harvard.1985- 92
- Visiting Scholar- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, 1987-92.
- Visiting Scholar, Aga Khan Program, Dept of Architecture, MIT, 1986-92.
Awards and affiliations
- Four international architectural competitions.
- Bronze medal - Barcelona International Furniture Design -1964
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1982.
- Awarded the Chairman Award of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1986.
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, 1987.
- Sheikh Zayed’ Book Award 2008.
- Tamayouz Excellence Award 2015
- Honorary PHD from Coventry University 2015.
Chadirji Foundation
- Annual award: Chadirji Award for Lebanese Students of Architecture (2000-2025).
- Chadirji Foundation Association for architecture and Society in Lebanon.
Major publications
- Portrait of a Father, (Arabic, 1985)
- Taha Street and Hammersmith, (Arabic, 1985)
- A Collection of Twelve Etchings, (English, 1985).
- Eight Etchings of Photographs by Kamil Chadirji, (English/Arabic, 1985).
- Concepts and Influences, (English, 1986.)
- The Photography of Kamil Chadirji - Social Life in the Middle East 1920-1940, (English, 1991)
- Kamil Chadirji Photographe - La vie au Proche-Orient 1920-1940 (French Edition 1992)
- The Ukhaidir and the Crystal Palace, (Arabic 1991)
- Dialogue on the Structure of Art and Architecture ( Arabic 1995)
-The seating status in Arif Agha's househould, an anthropological study of the relationship between the formation of identity and seating artifacts,( Arabic 2001)
- Introduction for The Biography of Kamil Chadirji and the History of the National Democratic Party, (Arabic 2002)
- A wall between two darkness, (Arabic 2003)
- Introduction for the book of Ahali Newspaper Editorials , (Arabic 2003).
- Dialectics Causality of Architecture. (2007)
- The Characteristics of Beauty in Man’s Consciousness (Arabic 2013)
- The role of the architect in the development of human civilization (Arabic 2014)
Born in Baghdad, Dec. 6, 1926.
This award was established in 2017 as part of the Tamayouz Excellence Award programme of championing and celebrating the best of architecture. The prize is named after Dr Rifat Chadirji (1926), a great Iraqi architect who has left an incredible impact on the built environment of Iraq and whose influence and importance, which extends beyond built projects, remains greatly felt today.
The Rifat Chadirji Prize is a thematic, open ideas, international prize focusing on design proposals responding to local challenges and opportunities. The primary objective is to establish an accessible source of ideas to respond to social challenges through design.
Professional practise
Founder, director, principle of Iraq Consult IQC, 1952 - 78.
Designed and conducted numerous projects: architecture, industrial, furniture, landscape, gardens, interior decoration, urban and regional studies, etc.
Official appointments
- Director Building dept.,Waqaf,1954-57
- Director, Unit II, Health & Education Buildings, PWD, 1957-8.
- Director General - Housing dept., Ministry of Planning, Iraq; 1958-9.
- Director General - Planning Dept. Ministry of Housing, Iraq; 1960-3
- Counsellor to the Mayoralty of Baghdad, 1980-82.
Academic appointments
- Loeb fellow, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 1983.
- Member, Award Committee, Aga Khan Award for Architecture.1983.
- Visiting Scholar, Graduate school of Design, Harvard University, 1984-86.
- Member, Philosophy of Education Research Centre, Harvard.1985- 92
- Visiting Scholar- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, 1987-92.
- Visiting Scholar, Aga Khan Program, Dept of Architecture, MIT, 1986-92.
Awards and affiliations
- Four international architectural competitions.
- Bronze medal - Barcelona International Furniture Design -1964
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1982.
- Awarded the Chairman Award of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1986.
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, 1987.
- Sheikh Zayed’ Book Award 2008.
- Tamayouz Excellence Award 2015
- Honorary PHD from Coventry University 2015.
Chadirji Foundation
- Annual award: Chadirji Award for Lebanese Students of Architecture (2000-2025).
- Chadirji Foundation Association for architecture and Society in Lebanon.
Major publications
- Portrait of a Father, (Arabic, 1985)
- Taha Street and Hammersmith, (Arabic, 1985)
- A Collection of Twelve Etchings, (English, 1985).
- Eight Etchings of Photographs by Kamil Chadirji, (English/Arabic, 1985).
- Concepts and Influences, (English, 1986.)
- The Photography of Kamil Chadirji - Social Life in the Middle East 1920-1940, (English, 1991)
- Kamil Chadirji Photographe - La vie au Proche-Orient 1920-1940 (French Edition 1992)
- The Ukhaidir and the Crystal Palace, (Arabic 1991)
- Dialogue on the Structure of Art and Architecture ( Arabic 1995)
-The seating status in Arif Agha's househould, an anthropological study of the relationship between the formation of identity and seating artifacts,( Arabic 2001)
- Introduction for The Biography of Kamil Chadirji and the History of the National Democratic Party, (Arabic 2002)
- A wall between two darkness, (Arabic 2003)
- Introduction for the book of Ahali Newspaper Editorials , (Arabic 2003).
- Dialectics Causality of Architecture. (2007)
- The Characteristics of Beauty in Man’s Consciousness (Arabic 2013)
- The role of the architect in the development of human civilization (Arabic 2014)
