— tags
— T-Space recognised in The Rifat Chadirji Prize 2018 - Baghdad Design Centre Competition: The Longlist
T-Space are delighted to confirm we have been recognised in the first stage ‘Long List’ of the international Rifat Chadirji Prize 2018.
Participants were asked to transform the current unused site of the Old Governorate Building into the Baghdad Design Centre while integrating the damaged facades in their ideas for the new building. The facades will be a memorial for an era in Baghdad’s history.
The proposals were asked to include;
• Flexible Space for Exhibitions, meetings and Lectures (Up to 200 people).
• Shared workshop space for artists architects and designers.
• Library
• Reception with 2 administrative offices
• Co-working and shared office space for startups
• Restrooms
• A Cafe / with a seating area and restrooms
T-Space’s proposal for the site begins with the retention and faithful restoration of the existing front façade and parts of the connecting side walls. All newly built elements are considered extensions of the front facade, intended to compliment rather than compete with its ornamentation. Due to the dense urban grain of much of the neighbourhood, the proposal seeks to retain the site’s current sense of open space as much as possible, by ensuring that circulation and access through the site is far-reaching and unrestricted, both to members of the public and users of the Design Centre.
On entering the site through the front arch, visitors will find themselves in an open lobby, from which they can visit the new café, go upstairs to the roof terrace or simply continue straight towards the public square. The square is unconfined, as it leads into the courtyard of the main building and seamlessly joins into to the pavement either side of the site.
The negative space between the buildings creates a unifying shape that visually links the retained façade to the new construction, despite their differences architecturally. The frontage and perforated brick fenestration of the new main building is also in alignment with the retained façade, to further harmonise the two.
The material of choice throughout is the humble brick, serving both to regulate internal temperatures and to ease the centre into its historic context.
