Bagdhdad native Zaha Hadid has landed on the shortlist to construct a new $1 billion building for the Iraqi Parliament in the city of her birth, and is now busy at work on its design.
Does that mean we can expect a new deconstructivist Iraq? Since 2010, Hadid has already been designing a new headquarters for the 37-story, estimated $500 million Central Bank of Iraq — but it's still too early to say. The shortlist also includes English firm Assemblage with Americans Buro Happold and Davis Langdon, Iraqi firm Al-Khan in collaboration with Canada’s Adamson, and the United Arab Emirates' Dewan Architects & Engineers, as reported by BD Online. Reportedly Iraq’s Ministry of Construction and Housing is keeping the rest of the shortlist close to the vest.
The spokesman at Zaha Hadid Architects who confirmed that they're working on the project was unable, at this point, to provide further details on the design. Proposals are due to a technical committee in the first week of July, and afterwards will be presented to an international jury to make a final decision. The building site is the abandoned Al Muthana Airport where Saddam Hussein had planned to build a supermosque. Construction there was halted during the 2003 U.S. invasion, but some parts of its foundation remain standing, including 150-foot-tall pillars of reinforced concrete. Architects have the option of demolishing them or incorporating them into their designs.
The ramifications of winning this project are far-reaching. Whomever the ministry selects to design the parliament building will play a major role in the nation's postwar rebuilding program, as they'll also be tapped for other government buildings, a new hotel, and public parks along the Tigris River, as well as a master plan for the surrounding city. The ministry will select a winner toward the end of 2012.
Ever busy, Hadid is currently finishing up Michigan State University's Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the opening of which has recently been moved from spring 2012 to fall.