Contemporary Arab Architectural Trends and Heritage: Iraq as a Case Study

Abstract

Abstract The rapid progress of technology and other factors have a severe impact on the characteristics of contemporary Arab Architecture. These factors led to chaos in Architectural production and loss of identity due to the Prominence of a two-way problematic problem. First, the return to traditional Architecture (Heritage) with its theoretical and applied values. Second, the western modernity (The disposal of the past). Third, the other current trends in Architecture, which appealed to the need for continuity of traditional heritage and linking it to the concepts of modernity at the same time. Hence the problem of the research is in the lack of clarity of the Architectural concepts, despite the multiplicity of Arab Architectural trends that seek to create contemporary Arab architecture. Besides, the absence of identity and the lack of clear orientation in the perception of heritage. The research aims to identify a mechanism to analyze the contemporary Arab Architectural reality, and the production of Architectural pioneers in Iraq as a case study by presenting the analysis of contemporary intellectual currents and their way of dealing with heritage. Further more, the evaluation of contemporary reality and its problems to reach conclusions, and recommendations that help lay the foundations for the future vision to build an Arab identity in contemporary Architecture.

Keywords

• contemporary architectural trends; iraqi architecture; identity; heritage; modernity