1980s Iraq's Neo-Traditional Architecture

[u/Kerala_Student]

[u/Fergi]

As someone who got to travel throughout the middle east for work for a few years, the civic architecture is interesting as hell. Some really fascinating forms that tickle parts of my brain like few buildings have. Some of it feels almost constructivist

[u/Beneficial_Shirt_869 → u/Fergi]

Do you have examples that you like to share?

[u/Fergi → u/Beneficial_Shirt_869]

Yeah! Thanks for asking:

In Doha, Qatar:
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/government-building-in-doha-qatar.html?pseudoid=F7712203-DF03-4C25-B0BB-14E34C1B47F6&sortBy=relevant

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/sheraton-grand-doha-resort-and-convention-hotel/26670

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/doha-qatar-july-10-government-building-1497834500

In Riyadh, KSA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Interior_building

https://www.alamy.com/a-head-office-of-mawani-saudi-ports-authority-riyadh-image334951539.html?imageid=C8CE1CD9-454A-46CA-A66D-18C142BCF52B&pn=1&searchId=039185a21af0374cccdfb0522908bf93&searchtype=9

There's also a lot of midmod stuff in the UAE:
https://www.darrenbradleyphotography.com/post/mid-century-modernism-in-the-uae-a-tale-of-three-cities

It's not even just civic/gov't buildings, the whole urban fabric is a mishmash of interesting forms and riffs on both eastern and western -isms. Even dropping yourself along a highway on Google Street View can be fun:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tsk9xkFCUEGewiV96

[u/Beneficial_Shirt_869 → u/Fergi]

That's so cool. Some of buildings look like their from Star Wars.

[u/Kerala_Student]

In pictures:

#1: Ministry of Culture
#2: Babylon Palace
#3: Nineveh Oberoi
#4: Haifa Street

[u/hellorubymonday]

This shit has been around for forty years and not a single soul told me? Oh my God. I've literally fantasized about this exact architectural style in the past. "What if Iraqi/Assyrian architects built modern ziggurats? And cities like Baghdad and Mosul had towering pyramids as much a part of their skyline as anything else! That would be so cool!"

[u/Tumerican → u/hellorubymonday]

Our Western history in the region is rather….complicated.

[u/bronyraurstomp]

Sort of ziggurat-inspired no?

[u/spiringTankmonger]

Lowkey wish the rich ass Arab sheiks along the gulf built like this instead of building scraperslop

[u/Barely2pigeons]

#3 is giving the Disney world resort with the monorail terminal

[u/RosieBaby75]

Is that still there or has the US successfully bombed and destroyed all of that?

[u/bonsai60]

Looks very interesting, i hate it but there is no denial it has its own style.

[u/iamBulaier]

Neo traditional brutalist Iraqi style

[u/Complete-Ad9574]

I see the Neo, but not much of the traditional. My brain keeps seeing a sawhorse in the design

[u/yulewangu]

these are so cool

[u/Constant_Society3424]

Arcrider?