The Iraqi Marshes, a lost Cultural Landscape:
The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Safa Husain
W1646990
Tutor: Constance Lau
Dissertation submitted for the degree of Architecture (BA),
University of Westminster
1
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Table of Contents
0 Introduction
0.1 Personal resonance to the topic
0.2 The Iraqi marshes
1 WESTERN INFLUENCES: PHOTOGRAPHERS
2 THE ARCHITECTS INFLUENCE : THE INDIGENOUS REALM
3 Re-Assessing the Marshes: THE INFORMAL SYSTEM OF ARCHITECTURAL “TRADITION”
4 Conclusion
5 Bibliography
6 Appendix
2
INTRODUCTION
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
INTRODUCTION
PERSONAL RESONANCE
I found out about the Iraqi marshes three years ago by coming across Gavin Youngs photo journal, Return to the
Marshes: Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.1 I was unaware of the existence of the marshes until that moment.
Considering my Iraqi background, I found it strange how I had never seen or heard of the marshes. A place visually
unique to the rest of Iraq would have imagined for it to be more in the limelight. The marshes did not fit into the
Iraq that I recognised pictured through the photos, news, stories, films, or my three visits to Iraq throughout
the years. Finding out about the marshes through Gavin Young rather than a source from my Iraqi background
stressed the importance of a fading history within Iraqis in the West. As Iraq’s western experiences are easily
accessible in the West, and Iraqi sources bound within Iraq, it forces the estimated 4-5 million Iraqis outside of
Iraq to view their country through the western lens. This dissertation aims to engage the architecture profession with the marshes settlement and examine the architectural significance within the context and beyond its
boundaries.
Figure 1 : My Architectural experience of Iraq
*Referenced in bibliography
4
1
Gavin Young, Return to the Marshes: Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq (London: Faber and Faber, 1977).
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
THE PRESENT
From Iraq’s change of Regimes from 2003, its architectural progression is severely behind. It has been frozen for
almost 20 years. The marshes in the south of Iraq have been frozen for even longer due to their ecosystem and
architecture destroyed due to the past regime.
The marshes architecture is unique to the rest of Iraq’s courtyard dwellings, from records of western photographers during the 1900s, the marshes were populated with woven reed houses built on artificial islands, and now
for the past 30 years, infrastructure is scarce in the area.The landscape of the marshes is different to the rest of
Iraq. The marshes are one of the largest lakes and water bodies in the middle east, and one of the oldest settlements in the word. It lies in Southern Iraq, where the Tigris and Euphrates meet. The marshes are depressions in
the earth which collect the water of the rivers. The inhabitants are known as the marsh Arabs, and their lives are
similar to that of the nomads, they depend for their livelihood on fishing, rice cultivation and buffalo breeding.
Its inhabitants are an extension of the Sumerians and the remnants of the first humans in the world. Its inhabitants live in houses made of reeds that grow there to form forests, and they travel in long, thin boats. The use
of reeds and papyrus in building their homes is a tradition inherited since the Sumerians. Reed and papyrus are
an inexhaustible source of building materials and tools for daily use. Unfortunately, the reed houses’ historical
knowledge is limited as the reed is a fully biodegradable material. Therefore, in the marshes’-built environment
it returns to nature without leaving traces to understand the development of the architecture in relation to the
socio-cultural context of the land. With the community sharing their innate knowledge on construction through
oral tradition, it is at risk of being lost due to their mass dispersal.1
“As a way forward”, the Iraqi marshes were inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list from 2016. This progress
appeared as hope for many, however the UNESCO documentation outlines the preservation of the environmental importance, excluding the architectural value of the site, and therefore the intangible cultural values of the
region. The value of the site is not only because of its environmental significance but also the communities way
of life, which teaches us the nature of the architecture within the community, potentially the core of the culture. 2
Local NGO’s, Universities, cultural and environmental experts, and architectural practices have been working
towards re-developing the marshes and harnessing the marsh people’s memory, although taking different approaches.
The Iraqi youth are active in conserving their identity, final year architectural projects in the Baghdad University
of architecture are repeatedly of the marshes although remain unpublished. This puts a greater attention on the
published studies, which are exclusive to its environmental importance, potentially the reason behind UNESCO’s
exclusion of the cultural landscape, including the architecture.
With western architects, the marshes’ knowledge accessible to them is pre-dominantly photos of the reed architecture; it does not lend itself to be analysed by architects easily. The confinement of architectural knowledge
has meant the marshes material have not been processed by an architectural eye and not interpreted in a way
that makes it digestible for architects. Architects like Bernard Rudofsky or Sandra Piesik, who have published
books on the world’s vernaculars, include the marshes in their books but with little engagement, lacking an
architectural reading and theorising of the marshes. A critical evaluation and exploration of the marshes from an
architectural perspective.
The marshes and the rest of Iraq is an opportunity for architects. Where there is a need for thousands of masterplans to happen, but it takes a bold architect to do their job within a region where there is a challenge to practice
architecture, where the architecture system varies from the west, the architect would deal with the informal
ways of building in Iraq.
A discussion is long overdue of the marshes’ architectural stance and progression as it is increasingly represented in sources with minimal context. To encourage networks and connections between the marshes informal
builders and a western architects, this dissertation will investigate the dynamics of building in Iraq, investigating
the representations of the reed architecture, effects of the architecture and understand what progression of
re-introducing architecture within the context of this isolated land looks likes. A critical evaluation of the building norms in Iraq would prove to be insightful over a subject that is not often discussed.
1
Sigrid Westphal-Hellbusch , Die Ma’dan: Kultur und Geschichte der Marschenbewohner im Süd-Iraq ([n.p.]: Duncker
& Humblot GmbH, 1961).
2
UNESCO, The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities
5
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Figure 2
*Referenced in bibliography
6
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Figure 13
*Referenced in bibliography
7
CHAPTER 1
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
8
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 01
WESTERN INFLUENCES
It is supposed that the Iraqi marshes were once the utopian city of the world’s first and only one: referred to as
the “biblical garden of Eden.” 1if this is true, much has happened since humans settled there. The biblical connotations of the marshes as the “garden of Eden,” and as a Mesopotamian society, and its ability to overcome situations of extreme constraints of the landscape; climate disasters, and isolation from the urban realm, has led to
admiration for the way people have efficiently created a life in the face of adversity. These historical successes
are kept alive in the minds of the community as a source of their hope for conditions to return to the colourful
life pictured to them one day. However, the visual deterioration of the Iraqi marshes presents substandard living
conditions. With the hope and faith of the community supported by historical successes, the marshes have
never been deteriorated and frozen in that state for 30+ years. The need for architects to get involved with the
Iraqi marshes context is crucial. Such a large project requires a critical evaluation of the architects and other
people involved with the site. Characteristics of boldness, adventurous, and curious architectural practices are
crucial towards working in Iraq, where instability and fragility is the nature of the region.
During a period in which Iraq experienced a kind of independence led by the “national bourgeoisie” where it
witnessed a substantial financial abundance, In 1955, a project to expand Baghdad implemented, Le Corbusier
was entrusted with the design of an Olympic city in Baghdad. He visited in 1957 to examine the location of the
project and the surrounding sites. After returning to Switzerland, he completed the work on the projects adding
up to 500 drawings. However, the Iraqi 1957 revolution erupted shortly after his visit and stopped development,
the updated Baghdad on its way to turning into a reality put at a halt, however, to be returned to later. The boldness of Le Corbusiers conforming to a region of prone instability is inspiring. However, Iraq’s tendency to turn to
western people for work with an assumption to be free of error is a common and problematic attribute to Iraqis.
Following the end of the revolution in 1980, 15 years after Le Corbusier’s death, the Iraqi Government decided
to contact the architects who worked with le Corbusier—where they attained the plans and built the stadium
themselves, without le Corbusier’s team. The project’s implementation did not arouse interest in the west, as
was intended, and less than a little was reported about it as well as a missing link in le Corbusier’s career path
back to the stadium, which troubled the Iraqis. The missing link to le Corbusier was because the stadium was
designed in a hurry, and with no evidence of the plans of le Corbusier incorporated in the final building. 2The
omitting of le corbusiers plans, the architectural significance of the project, yet maintaining the desire for it to
remain a project tied to the name of le Corbusier illuminates the difficult of construction within Iraq3, whether
it is economic instability or social instability. Although this was more than 60 years ago, this complex collaboration between professions still remains.
Figure 3
*Referenced in bibliography
1
Sigrid Westphal-Hellbusch, Die Ma’dan: Kultur und Geschichte der Marschenbewohner im Süd-Iraq
([n.p.]: Duncker & Humblot, 1961), p. 73.
2
Mina Marefat , Le Gymnase de Le Corbusier à Bagdad ([n.p.]: PATRIMOINE, 2014), p. 19-28
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 01
WESTERN INFLUEUNCES
With the social structuring of reliance and referral to western validation is problematic, in result of this what
we see today is a lack of published works through the Iraqi lens, forcing Iraqis to look through the western lens
rather than their own. In a hoped-for case, processing the Iraqi lens to the outsider’s eye, allowing it to be accessible beyond the limits of Iraq would be a important resource for networking and creating connections.
The referral to western material is notably seen within the context of the marshes. Archived material of the
marshes is predominantly watched through the western lens, where even the marsh community fall in this
category. A notable influx of western photographers to the marshes during the 1900s, it indicated a surge in
vernacular architecture.The influx corresponds to the growing number of vernacular studies published in the
1950s and 60s, perceiving this as a response to the ascendance of the postmodernism movement, as one of the
characteristic features was the breaking down of barriers “high” & “low” cultures.1
Western photographers shaped many imaginations of the Iraqi marshes. The visual documentation such as
Return to the marshes by young and wheeler2, stories from Wilfrid Theisgers’ time3, and Gavin Maxwell’s photographic journal evoked and revealed the Iraqi marshes’ existence significance. 4The photos are a standard
reference to the marshes; it has been the critical material that draws people’s attention to the marshes, making
these photos so influential. However, the limitation to refer to the marshes through the western lens is subjective by an outsider. In Young and wheelers travel journal they rarely spoke of the people and their way of life; it
was more of a nature study depicting the origins of human kind study where the people are as flora and fauna.
Iraqi photographer raised in the UAE Tamara Abdul Hadi shared her experience of her visit to the
marshes. “Jasim Al-Asadi from Nature Iraq-our tour guide, so to speak-had the young and wheeler
book in his office. It made me realise that we need to start publishing our works from our unity directly. It is our generational duty.” 5 (Tamara Abdul Hadi, 2020)
Publications of photos are crucial and powerful tools to comprehend the marshes, however, they only
bring recognition and prompt questions; Photography is not the tool to make change; photography
conjures emotion, an effort to understand what is happening around us. However, The photographer
does not directly interact with the scene itself. Whereas as an architect, that training of interaction
with the site is there. However, the role of western architects with publications on the marshes has
shied away from that interaction.
Figure 4
*Referenced in bibliography
1
10
Hans Bertens , The Idea of the Postmodern: A History (London: Routledge, 1994), p.101
2
Gavin Young, Return to the Marshes: Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq (London: Faber and Faber, 1977).
3
Wilfred Thesiger , The Marsh Arabs (London: Penguin Classics, 2007).
4
Gavin Maxwell , A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels Among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq ([n.p.]: Eland Publishing Ltd, 2003).
5
YASSIN ALSALMAN, IT’S ALL IN THE EYES () <https://www.sole.digital/its-all-in-the-eyes> [accessed ].
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Figure 5
*Referenced in bibliography
11
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Spatial proximity of a village
social interactions
Figure 6
*Referenced in bibliography
12
CHAPTER 2
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 02
THE ARCHITECTS INFLUENCE : THE INDIGENOUS REALM
The architect’s desire to expand its role within the indigenous realm is prevalent. The famous book Architecture without Architects and the exhibition by Bernard Rudofsky, where his work entails hundreds of indigenous
architectures built without architects, initiated a conversation between architects on indigenous builders. We
also see contemplative sketches on traditional architecture by Le Corbusier, his notebooks full of sketches of
traditional Mediterranean buildings.1 These thoughts and exertions on the indigenous realm by architects are
steps towards expanding architecture’s territory in design. However, it is prevalent that the architect’s interest
is predominantly as part of a more extensive study, as was the western photographers. The concentration on
mass cataloguing indigenous architecture rather than analysing individually and personally, architecture’s existence within the sociocultural landscape would provide far more useful to prospective architects and welcome
change.
As the architectural profession in Iraq emerged, it resulted in a shift from the established patterns of constructing the built environment, where knowledge was passed on through apprenticeship. The new professional
role of architecture brought the urgency for rapid development under modern conditions, where new ways of
learning and validation systems displaced the old practices of social conventions of construction and tradition. The emergence of the architectural roles formality potentially undermined settlements like the marshes,
overlooking their epistemological value towards a coerced built environment where the vernacular and modern
meet.
Diwan + Architects + Engineers practice based in Dubai initiated a competition in 2018 to build a school in the
marshes, with Zaha Hadid Architects as one of the guest critics is significant for the marshes. Major infrastructure, healthcare, and educational facilities are essential to re-establish a community, prioritising schools,
especially primary schools, which are very rare in the marshes and south in general, addressing the common
trait of illiteracy to the community.2
The proposed site was donated by one of the inhabitants with a desire for a primary school to be built, serving
the nearby villages. The inhabitant’s donation indicates a level of trust for the architect’s ability and potential to
help; this indicates positive development in the challenge between an indigenous client and a non-indigenous
architect. The architecture profession within rural areas of Iraq and urban cities is often deemed inaccessible,
where people are scared off by the fees, so the great majority of architects are tied to centrally administered
systems. The founder of Dewan architects, founded in Baghdad, is an Iraqi born architect, Mohamed Al Assam.
Providing his innate understanding and knowledge of the Iraqi cultural values, the indigenous inhabitants are
given reassurance. The personal engagement between architect and client is particularly sensitive at the
current stage of the marshes. Considering where other plans towards developing a tourist site have been made
leaving inhabitants worried for where they stand in these decisions. The combined effect between heritage
and tourism development commonly leads to the emergence of a commercialised environment and knowledge,
where the community’s traditional culture becomes a style. For example, the function of the reed houses to
become a museum.
Bridging the gap between non-indigenous architects and indigenous communities encourages a fuse of design
process, where the self-building norm of the inhabitants is fused with the architect’s academic training.
The established norm of design and construction in the marshes is traditionally inspired rather than academically. Its tradition is sourced from its extensive pre-historic background, and surprisingly, external influences do not appear to influence their traditional design and construction as their architecture is unique to the
marshes, likely due to their remoteness and isolation from the rest of Iraq. The marshes’ isolation allowed society to be its own governing body, by complex, rigidly maintained unspoken rules and conventions that the community shared and understood. For example, a family’s trade would determine the form of their house and its
location. The buffalo breeders’ houses were built on reed islands in the central marshes shallow waters, where
part of the island was planned as the buffalo’s space to spend its night. The proximity between the breeders’
homes is approximately 3m apart,3 creating a dense environment with short distances between homes through
connected waterways and boats. Their proximity led to a natural and ease of communication and interaction,
leading to a thriving trade of buffalo breeding.
14
1
Mina Marefat , Le Gymnase de Le Corbusier à Bagdad ([n.p.]: PATRIMOINE, 2014), p.32
2
Dewan Architects, Dewan Award for Architecture 2018 School in the Marshes () <http://www.dewan-award.com/2018-competition.html> [accessed ].
3
Sigrid Westphal-Hellbusch, Die Ma’dan: Kultur und Geschichte der Marschenbewohner im Süd-Iraq
([n.p.]: Duncker & Humblot, 1961), p. 103.
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 02
THE ARCHITECTS INFLUENCE
Planning regulations communicated by oral tradition rather than written records, slowly unwinded as the community shrunk from 50,000 to 8,000.1 Currently, the architecture is deviating from the standard of constructing
the elongated barrel-vaulted homes panelled with lattices made from reeds. Bringing us to the current situation
where buildings are no longer constructed according to the principle conventions.
For this reason, the remaining community has adopted ‘a freedom to build’ system, where individuals build their
homes based on their budgets and priorities. It is seen from the deviation of using reeds, weaving, and building
the arches to construct homes, shifting towards impermanent structures, corrugated iron/plastic shacks, materials that are completely strange to the area, indicating the absence of the mindset of the creative craftsmen
of the reed house. In a desert/wetland climate where corrugated iron houses are uncomfortably hot during the
day, indicating the external space is used intensively.
Drawing from the marshes history of challenges, the landscape’s constraints proposed unique opportunities towards building with the reed, towards creative thinking- where constraints become more critical than a myriad
of choices. However, presently, the trauma instilled within the marshes community from its attacks from the
war poses a sense of fear for their future. The absence of a sense of security by the tenant blocks the individual’s creative energy, will, and desire to build beautiful homes.
1
UNESCO, The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities ()
Figure 7
*Referenced in bibliography
Figure 10
*Referenced in bibliography
15
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Figure 8
*Referenced in bibliography
16
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Straying away from traditional norms of building: from reed to plastics & metals
Figure 9
*Referenced in bibliography
17
CHAPTER 3
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 03
Re-Assessing the Marshes: THE INFORMAL SYSTEM OF ARCHITECTURAL “TRADITION”
The marshes architectural aesthetic appreciation increasingly gained popularity post its listing as a world heritage site. Initiatives of revaluing the reed architecture within Iraq are observed predominantly through university
students and architectural practices centring their projects based on the marshes. However, these designed
projects are always unrealised projects.
In contrast, the realised projects are surveyed as shy attempts to ‘the revival of the Iraqi heritage.’1 In Baghdad,
there is a trend where signs and décor of the reed architecture are seen in cafes and shops to display goods,
misrepresenting the reed architecture within a contrary context of Baghdad; where its defining architectural qualities would be its courtyard homes, circumscribed by narrow shaded streets, and houses are built of
masonry and shared party walls. However, removing the reed architecture’s confinement to the marshes opens
possibilities and creative work of the inclusion of reed into the broader context of Iraq. In Baghdad, the display
of reed architecture has had positive reviews. However, the reed has been presented for visual means and not to
inhabit. As architects, sourcing inspiration from the reed architecture, drawing from the concepts and evolving
it using the architects academic training; becoming a useful source of inspiration of tradition and academics for
architects. The architecture is not to be studied to imitate it, but that it be recognised for its own merits where
it occurs, and that efforts be directed to conserve it where appropriate.
Local groups and ordinary citizens’ associations act for themselves, the freedom to build system, as the peoples
earnings are insufficient to attain housing in the formal housing market, driving them towards informal production. The museum of the marshes or self-built corrugated iron shacks; being unable to accede to housing within
the formal system, they produce their housing within the south of Iraq’s remote boundaries, where it is free of
the legal and social framework of the urban city.
The desire to remember the marshes intensified after the intense shrinkage of the community, architecture,
and ecosystem. With a clear intention, a realised project, ‘The Museum of the Iraqi Marshes,’ opened in May 2019,
driven by environmentalist activist Raad Habib Al-Asadi. The museum, now a ‘cultural landmark,’ built in a form of
the traditional reed house, includes four halls; the first is devoted to boats and fishing tools, the second is for the
way of life of the marshes’ inhabitants, the third is for natural life, and the fourth is the cultural hall. The activist
announced it would contribute to introducing the history and reality of local people’s lives and adding a creative
touch in supporting marsh tourism.2
The museum’s proposal to showcase the way of life of the Marsh Arabs poses no significance or stability for the
community or neighbouring villages. However, it introduces a shift of the land towards a commercialised space
for tourism, which goes against the community’s character and way of life. The settlement’s rich quality was its
humaneness—the land populated with reed structures belonging to a greater whole, a community. Compared to
the museum, an isolated form in a remote area does not show an initiative for a community to inhabit but for the
tourist tour guide to have another place to take its tour group to.
Figure 10
*Referenced in bibliography
1
Note: Referenced in page 30, interview with architecture student
2
Alaraby, Museum of the marshes () <https://www.alaraby.co.uk/‫فحتم‬-‫ديدج‬-‫ثارتل‬-‫راوهألا‬-‫يف‬-‫[ >قارعلا‬accessed NovemFigure
ber]. 12
*Referenced in bibliography
19
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CHAPTER 03
Re-Assessing the Marshes: THE INFORMAL SYSTEM OF ARCHITECTURAL “TRADITION”
The success of the society in its efforts to overcome the resulting social exclusion due to its remoteness was
reacted in the architecture. It incorporates distinctive characteristics; predominantly organic building materials of the reed as lattice panels and barrel vaulting using a series of ribs reed. Their design allowed them to use
their houses to communicate their identity as members of Iraqi society. Their success in this portrayal is the
display of reed architecture throughout Iraq as the national heritage.
With an attempt to understanding the convention of the architectures form in the socio-cultural context,
perceiving as a cultural value where it is to express the difference of the inhabitants’ social identity as to the
broader Iraqi society. The particular influences of the isolated geographical location in which the inhabitants
are subject to mean the architectural form established in the marshes is distinct. It is differentiated from the
courtyard typology of the urban cities.
However, the Museum project follows an approach of ‘copy and pasting’ of the architecture, an architecture
that does not reflect the social needs of now. The evolution of the reed has not undergone numerous innovations to comply with various architectural styles but has been a spontaneous and gradual community activity
with a shared heritage and working under an ancient community of experience. Therefore, these architectural
forms adapted as per the available resources, the sociocultural attributes, the climate, and the site, which
all of the above has changed significantly since 30+ years ago.The museum merely relies on the repetition of
well-proven construction solutions marsh community and taken for granted.
There is a conflicting gap between the conservation of Iraq’s cultural heritage between the locals and the
regional level. Events such as the United Nations 21st annual conference party highlight the Iraqi Government’s
detachment from issues of cultural conservation, Article 7 of the Paris Agreement[2], a global climate deal
established, 195 countries signed up to a climate-change ‘roadmap,’ which included framework on how to adapt
indigenous technologies for everyday use at local, subnational, national, regional and international levels. Iraq
signed but did not confirm its participation in the climate deal.1
Issues of proceeding with conservation projects at a regional level are frequently witnessed. As a way forward,
the Iraqi marshes were inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list from 2016. This progress appeared as hope
for many, however the UNESCO documentation outlines the preservation of the environmental importance,
excluding the architectural value of the site, and therefore the intangible cultural values of the region. The value
of the site is not only because of its environmental significance but also the communities way of life, which
teaches us the nature of the architecture within the community, potentially the core of the culture. 2
20
1
2
<https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf> [accessed October].
UNESCO, The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities ()
CONCLUSION
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
21
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
CONCLUSION
With the influx of vernacular studies in the 1950s/60s, it illuminates the interest of architects involved with
the indigenous realm, and as it continues to rise in response to current events in the middle east with rising
instability, it puts rural settlements like the marshes at further risk of losing its cultural landscape. Where the
architecture embodies the culture. As the necessary vernacular studies of the marshes are drawn from the
west, it has brought Iraqi negligence to publish formal material through their architectural knowledge when the
material, studies, and research exist. Architects and the indigenous builders in the marshes are isolated within
their sector, with indigenous builders bound to informal ways and architects tied to the centrally administered
systems; there is a growing gap between the two roles when the two roles deeply overlap in interests and
responsibilities. As the engagement of vernacular studies within the realm of architects is increasing, the past
mass cataloguing approach reveals the presence of the world’s architecture but does not take it further than
that, proving it not to be digestible to the architectural eye as it is presented merely as photos. The impersonal
approach, where interactions with the people are unevidenced, is contrary to the architecture’s very distinct
characteristic, its humanness. ‘If you want to design for the people, you have to go and understand their way of
life,(Hassan Fathy).
As the architecture is the backbone of the Marsh Arabs, its easy visual recognition has provided security for the
community’s remembrance and to carry its name and historical significance. The practice of building reed architecture has diminished; it illustrates its need for a new iteration to respond to scars from the war surrounding security, safety, and stability as these issues have numbed the innate creativity of the Marsh Arabs.
The knowledge of the marshes’ built environment is heavily based on oral tradition; the informal system
remains intact as Iraq’s development has been frozen in time. As the Iraqi heritage revival trend is a response
to the Iraqi freeze, the revival is voiced through the reed architecture. Many have embraced the architectural
informality, intrinsically linked with ease, low-priced, and sustainability by re-purposing the structures to serve
new needs. However, the capabilities to extract the reed architecture’s ancient and extensive concept to inhabit a new iteration of the reed architecture requires the architect and the indigenous builder to coalesce.
22
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
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Construire l’image : Le Corbusier et la photographie (Exhibition), Le Corbusier and the power of photography (London:
Thames & Hudson, 2012).
24
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
IMAGE REFERENCES
Figure 1 My family house in baghdad built 1993 - Own photography
Khadmiyeh Mosque Baghdad - own photography
Figure 2
Own illustration
Figure 3
Mina Marefat, Le Gymnase de Le Corbusier à Bagdad mis à l’honneur () <https://www.maison.com/architecture/histoire/
gymnase-corbusier-bagdad-mis-honneur-7781/> [accessed November].
Figure 4
MIS ÚLTIMOS LIBROS , The Marsh Arabs, Wilfred Thesiger,1964 () <https://www2.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/
new%20website/PROXIMO%20ORIENTE/MARISMAS_IRAQUIES.htm> [accessed October].
Figure 5
Ourheritage, Wilfred Thesiger : The Marsh Arabs () <http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/10757> [accessed October].
Section & elevation of reed architecture - own drawing
Figure 6 own illustration
Figure 7
Haider Raheem Al Maliki, Iraqi Marshes () <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBQcmrIjwvk> [accessed October].
Tamara Abdul Hadi, Tamara Abdul Hadi Photography marshes () <https://www.vice.com/en/article/59jdy8/photos-of-theregion-some-believe-was-the-biblical-garden-of-eden-v25n1> [accessed November].
Figure 8
Combing images from Figure 5 and 7
Figure 9
The Baghdad Post, Museum of the marshes () <https://m.thebaghdadpost.com/ar/Story/154818/‫يدسألا‬-‫نلعي‬-‫نع‬-‫برق‬-‫حاتتفا‬‫فحتم‬-‫راوهألا‬-‫ةيقارعلا‬-‫يف‬-‫ءاضق‬-‫__?شيابجلا‬cf_chl_jschl_tk__=d678e5b89c65f34a2f2c42a38bfe17f67ce62299-1609749892-0-AY320i7UOqHyt2V9osf2Cwj3rQ7kTCZlachqzuPMzN96vB65LCdd8lspQ47Uv8hVS04MOHHhIFBpKLBSmenKWjQn0-Zpx0ttdMM9zH4L0xy3kMiD1X8VdZXwShQiK2sFR1sGK1FnW0knZyeX2EiAq0i-h1uOTRApjPfHBImcLx6EEnLtWdxWJwTgvZGUEsI4N7jffCvnJollDFjrV36jKuvmE0L-lY59cV7vQqNc2EZKdJjZ5q0LezCKciNszd0C6muk8AcvuC-ITf-aNRUMIvdFpocy-6J5gUWfdYWI8W1U51XE9ujDvPm2EZE_K5IJ90Eoqo6rpoSriZR449UkpKTSFXPdbfavjR2e9-MKi8xbzHMfMKqN_v43_YvmB_IbGV2dWQjq2Lc8u7Tddofb9OcxcJb2PlesYIb867bB05UDEYdOH9lv0R7FwiHW_InQNvmsbobSPmuC9Evjen34yqsiDNymyo3eXO5fMoG0zfIYU5N21_w7f1_CYWpqHthg1Os3mkSZ1UFhBTTJmJyqObn9wXC-WRAMyUiUmcSwlTtKKyeOBojo9YIZmvolep7faeaO5vm1YLSISyoKrOcnSIknU0SfqqJm2U_sAtts24AA53kR_1O572NuYpgUIWBEdQmaGobjtUIhSH52eYOPIgQKE2j3wLPVg-bw9IH4iea4ufWa3hJ9NwEHrUD2aOJr79XDYWqw1bBuNr3Q3C5l0c0zmLR2eCLBso_PZwtQUjQU5EZcFjUf5dq7yezIWrB42g> [accessed October].
figure 10 Own illustration
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APPENDIX
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
26
The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
Interviews
1
1.1 Universtiy student : Nawar
1.2 Winner of Dewan Architects competition : Ehson Kazerooni
1.3 Architecture student : Mariam Hussein
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
FROM NEIGHBOURING CITIES
CONDUCTED INTERVIEW: NAWAR
Nawar 20 years old University student studying Biomedical science from the City Basra
10 miles away from the marshes visited September 2020. Praises Raad Al-Asadi a lot.
You visited the for the first time in 2020, how comes you haven’t visited before considering how close you are to the marshes?
“ I haven’t had a chance to visit, before it was because i was too young to travel alone, then
when i got older and i was aloud i got tied up with my studies in University. However, the
first chance that came my way to go to the marshes i took it, there was an opening for a
workshop dedicated to wildline photography organised by the marshes committee, i didn’t
hesitate to take it, and it was a very fun trip”
With the remoteness of the marshes, how was your journey from a well inhabited city
to the marshes?
“it’s an hour and half journey time, as you leave Basra the asphalt roads are not well
available, the entrance is through Al-chibayish district in Dhi Qar province?
Do you think the Marsh community is integrated with the rest of Iraq?
“The settlers of the Marshes like a simple and peaceful life, like the english settlers in
englands corniche, and a lot of people like us live in busy cities, we wish to live in peaceful places like the Marshes, they’re also away from any polluted air, away from the traffic
of cars and crowded shops. But then, they do have relationships with with the rest of
the world, they trade fish, they buy things they need,
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION WINNER
CONDUCTED INTERVIEW: EHSON KAZEROONI
Recommended me to look at Alejandro Aravena, “ Alejandro Aravena is one of the best architects who work in this field”.
What made you join the Dewan Architects competition?
“The subject of the competition was what interested us the we researched the settlements and
figured out their current condition”
Do you think these Project be built, ever?
“Well it’s a hard question, but I thinkwe are in the primitive steps, concerning about the lost land
and lost people, I think there is a bright future in front of us.”
What architectural approach would you say is best for the marshes context? As imaginative
as possible
“Once there was a horrible earthquake on the most important cities in Iran, the Bazaar and houses destroyed completely. Karim Khan Zand, the King, ordered to restore the Bazaar, he said we
should prepare places for people’s work and then they could restore their houses and other structures on their own.”
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The Iraqi Marshes, a ‘lost’ Cultural Landscape:The Sensitivity of re-introducing Architecture into the post-war context
MASTERS STUDENT - UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD: SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
CONDUCTED INTERVIEW: MARIAM HUSSEIN
Have you visited the marshes, if not, why?
“It’s very far from Baghdad, and the roads are very dangerous. But everyone would all love to visit the marshes”
How has your view of the Marshes changed throughout your life?
“The vision did not change because we did not know about the beauty of the marshes before UNESCO, we only saw the draining of the marshes that happened during the Saddam Regime. But now, it looks like a magical place and I would love to visit it
whenever I get a chance.”
Do you think the marshes should represent the modern world we live in today?
“Most of the simple people have migrated the countryside to the city... Everyone now wants a city life despite the bad city services.
Have the Reed houses become a style/trend in Iraq?
“Yes, there is a trend in Baghdad for the revival of the Iraqi Heritage, a happy trend, the signs of which we see now... some cafes,
shops, handicraftsmen and some tribal sheikhs have added reed houses to display goods and for meetings. But in a scientific
way, they seem shy attempts...The general character of construction in Iraq is a random trend that is dominated by architectural pollution of shapes, colours and materials.”
In Architecture school, are the marshes frequently discusses, formally and informally?
“Yes, always in graduation projects, there are many and great attempts to revive the marshes and make them a large tourist
area in a way that does not affect the reed houses or water, meaning sustainable attempts. Currently I am at the masters level
and I have a research paper on floating mobile architecture and marshes as an example.”
Do you think the projects will take place within the next 10 years?
“I’m not sure, the governmental do not provide allocations for such projects, so i do not expect any development.”
Usually world heritage sites after they become listed, they are at the risk of commericialising the community and settlement as a tourist site, has this been the case for the marshes?
“I do not think so... When it was included in the UNESCO list, we expected serious steps to revive its neighbourhoods, but
nothing happened ... nor did i blame the UNESCO organisation here, but the main reason for the lack of any development is the
rampant corruption of successive governmentals and their lack of cooperation with everything that might matter. Reviving the
Iraqi Heritage, whether the marshes, or the monuments of Mosul or others. There is a weak attempt of development by some
intellectuals, but there are no serious steps to revive the general situation.”
As a young female architect in Iraq, how would you approach the marshes architecturally?
“I can’t tell you now... I need to think carefully to come up with a sustainable design that preserves and develops the marshes in
a way that does not harm water, reed houses, or animals.”
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