Vernacular Architecture as Model to Design a Prototype for Affordable Housing in Mosul

The project idea was born during the experience of international competition The Rifat Chadirji Prize 2017. An open international prize focusing on ideas responding to local challenges in Iraq. The Rifat Chadirji Prize is the newest prize to be established as part of the Tamayouz Excellence Award program of championing and celebrating the best of Iraqi architecture. The prize is named after Dr. Rifat Chadirji, a great Iraqi architect whose influence and importance is far beyond built work. The award will officially be launched in January 2017, celebrating the 90th birthday of the brilliant architect. The Rifat Chadirji Prize is a thematic open-ideas international prize focusing on design proposals responding to local challenges throughout Iraq. (The Rifat Chadirji Prize n.d.) The primary objective is to establish an accessible source of ideas to combat the country’s social challenges through design. The competition’s aim was to develop projects for the reconstruction of Mosul in Iraq, after the severe destruction and damaging caused by the ongoing war and the occupation by Daesh, which was terminated in July, 2017. The project idea starts from the observation of some architectural features that are crucial for the formal definition of the project. The definition of the project inescapably derives from the analysis of the rich cultural heritage and its architectural vocabulary, techniques and social values aiming at a solution that can be feasible but also in line with the local traditions, habits, economics, and society.