Redefining Memorial in the Context of Baghdad

BAGHDAD; MEMORIAL CITY Redefining Memorial in the Context of Baghdad A Design Thesis Architecture MA September, 2018 University of Westminster Hiba AlSafi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to the University of Westminster for granting me with this platform to expand my explorations on topics of my interest, and for supplying constant inspiration through the astonishing work being produced and exhibited regularly.

I would like to extend my appreciation to my advisors; professor Yara Sharif for providing a personally relatable role model and extended feedback whenever needed, and to professor Nasser Golzari for supporting me since the start of the course and pushing me to explore

new mediums and ideas beyond my comfort zone.

Additionally, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues from the MA Architecture group for providing a fantastic support system and making my journey a great experience, with a lot of advice, encouragement and laughter.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to my parents; Tariq Al Safi and Kifaya Lilo for being my greatest supporters and for their constant trust and countless prayers. God bless you.

Abstract .............................................. 07 1.0 | Introduction

1.1 | Design Interest .......................... 10

1.2 | Methodology & Outline ............. 12 2.0 | Background; Notion & Context

2.1 | Notion of Memorial ....................16

2.2 | Site & Context............................ 18

CONTENTS

3.0 | Memorial Analysis through Time, Space & Memory

3.1 | Time as a background

3.1.1 | Today & Yesterday ........... 22

3.1.2 | Measuring Change .......... 25

3.1.3 | Disappearing Baghdad..... 28

3.2

3.3

| Space & Fluidity 3.2.1 | Fluid Identity .....................31 3.2.2 | Memorial in Thirdspace .... 34 | Memory & Memorial 3.3.1 | Memory Boom ................. 38 3.3.2 | Memory Definition ........... 38

3.3.3 | Collectivity ........................ 38 3.3.4 | Selectivity ......................... 38 3.3.5 | Reflections ....................... 41

4.0 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roofs, Design Process

4.1 | River Studies ............................ 48

4.2 | Roof Studies ............................. 53 5.0 | Memorial City, Design Proposal

5.1 | Redefining Memorial ................ 53

5.2 | Design Manifesto ...................... 54

5.3 | Design Strategy

5.3.1 | Overall .............................. 55

5.3.1 | Ground ............................. 73

5.3.2 | Roof ................................ 76

5.3.3 | River ................................. 80

Conclusion ......................................... 85

List of Figures ..................................... 87

Bibliography & References ................. 86

ABSTRACT

This thesis aims to question and rethink what a commemorative space sensitive to the context of Baghdad could be. In a hybrid approach of research through design, it seeks to redress the sheer amount of human loss, in addition to that of culture, the city of Baghdad has encountered in the past few years in specific, but also throughout history. The city transformed from the centre of civilisation during the Golden Islamic age, to another of

ruins and terror. It became trapped in between the duality of the two; the ghosts of its past and its desire to rebuild.

The design aims in its approach and scope to interrogate the notion of the memorial in the dimensions of memory, time and space, and in a manner that best celebrates a city, its people and history that is being forgotten and represented

“Take their limbs strewn about the streets

Offer them free to anyone who wants to

Multiply by a thousand and one.

leave.

Go see the coffin maker. Ask how much

Ask everyone in Baghdad who has lost

[0 1] INTRODUCTION

Cedar and pine, he has ordered this month.

A brother. Cousin. Sister. Child- to speak Their name in a recorder.

The dead don’t require much. They don’t speak

Go to every school, stand

In numbers or tongues, they lie silent

At the front of the class, take roll; For every empty desk, at least two dead.

Waiting - to be counted.”

Find every shop that sells cigarettes Ask how many more cartons they have sold this year.

Ways to Count the Dead

by Persis M. Karim

Go to the bus station and buy ten tickets-

(Beausoleil, Bodman and Colby, 2013)

While learning about that news developed into a daily occurrence for viewers, it is not a normal incidence for the victims’ families and loved ones. My other frustration is with the ambiguity of the death toll numbers, ranging from 461,000 as estimated by a University of Washington’s research (BBC News, 2013), to 1.2 million civilians; a number projected by ORB organisation (Iraqbodycount.org, 2010). There is no official body count, consistent documentation of the victims’ identities or a national commemoration on a collective level.

While US and British militaries (Fig. 1a), as part of the same war, have had various memorials commemorating their relatively smaller numbers and celebrating their participation in the birth of democracy which for Iraqis, was conducted on a bed of blood (BBC News, 2011).

In response to these frustrations, my quest is to design a memorial space in the capital Baghdad. Even though it is not in my power to document numbers and names at this point, my research, however, aims to find the ultimate way to commemorate civilian loss and acknowledge a crucial historical phase of the country, through redefining what a memorial space could be. While carrying the research through and freeing myself from the negative connotations attached to Baghdad by media, my aim evolved to commemorating a city vibrant with its culture and shaped by unique social layers.

[ 1. 1]

Des ig n I n t e re s t

This thesis commenced with a personal interest and frustration as an Iraqi watching the extent of civilian casualties in my country become so repetitive and normalised, in a manner that does no longer trigger international reactions.

The thesis will, therefore, explore the following questions; How to think of a city as a memorial? What is the ideal memorial strategy to commemorate the city and its civilian loss, forgetfulness or remembrance? How can memorial design cater to individuality while still representing a collective national front? Can memorials actively suggest political, economic or social changes? How can memorial design adapt to a continuous conflict and a changing context? And finally, can memorials protect cities from loss?

And how?

4,424 Americans

Fig. 1a. Second Gulf War Casualities (2003).

179 British

500,000 - 1,200,000 Iraqis 01 | Introduction | 11 |

The method of conducting this research is a hybrid as declared earlier. The work, therefore, tries in its approach and scope to explore different themes through drawings, layering and making, while also building on collected stories. The combination of those mediums is fundamental in exploring and provoking the research, hence should all be seen as complementary parts of a whole (Sharif, 2017).

This thesis is divided into five chapters. After this introduction, chapter two provides a background of both the notion of a memorial and the context of Baghdad. It explores concepts of ‘monument’ and ‘memorial’ in the light of Francoise Chaoy’s work (2001). It analyses how commemorative architecture matured from erecting statues; reflective of political order, to more spatial designs with contemplative nature, which celebrate the community rather than the state and welcome user interaction. The exploration is further reinforced by examples of early influential monuments, such as Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington and Monument against fascism in Hamburg (Choay, 2001). Lastly, the chapter will introduce the city of Baghdad as a changing entity with a continuous loss, in need of commemoration.

[ 1. 2]

M et hodology & O u t l i n e

With the base definitions established, the third chapter redefines memorial through a theoretical examination of time, space and memory. The complicated history and transformation of urban spaces are broken down by conducting a time-line examination. The continuous change the city goes through instigates an immense amount of loss and disappearance, evaluated through a comparison with the case of ‘London: City of Disappearances’ (2006).

Assessing the city through time, Baghdad has

continuously been occupied by numerous conquerors. As a result, its current identity became a synthesis of its several pasts; fluid, fragile and easy to hijack. The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is a recent instance in which identity is manipulated using architectural space and monument design. A potential space is then highlighted between the utopian image inspired by the city of Arabian Nights and the harsh reality of struggle on the ground; a ‘thirdspace’ as Edward Soja defines (1996).

With societies’ fear of forgetfulness, memory studies boomed, especially after the revolutionary work of Bergson, ‘Matter and Memory’ (1896). In his work, he suggests that memory is not merely a recollection process of old events but is shaped through present circumstances. While taking these notions further, definitions of memory are introduced; individual and collective. Biased representations of collective memory for the pursuit of power, slow down the recovery of traumatic experiences. Based on its findings, the paper then suggests three potential design strategies for a memorial; rebuild, reproduce and reflect.

Chapter four zooms into the design process, identifying two main general components as a spine for the design concept and a method for reconstructing the city; the river and the roofs. The river is seen as the most stable feature of the city throughout time despite the layers of change; it remains a witness of history and a carrier of memories. The roof, on the other hand, is seen as a ‘thirdspace’ between the reality of the ground and the volatile memories of the past, defined as per the work of Edward Soja (1996).

The last chapter proposes a memorial design based on the previous studies. It starts with redefining memorial by answering the research questions set earlier. A design manifesto is then expressed and a design strategy of intervention and observation, on the realistic ground, imaginative roof and a lost river.

01 | Introduction | 13 |

“Once upon a war I took a quill Immersed in death

[0 2] BACKGROUND; NOTION & CONTEXT

I drew a window On the wars wall And opened it, Searching for tomorrow, Or for a dove, Or for nothing.

But I saw another war And a mother weaving a shroud For a dead man Still in her womb.”

Wars by Sinan Antoon (Beausoleil, Bodman and Colby, 2013)

The following chapter will establish an introductory background defining concepts of ‘monument’ and ‘memorial’ and presenting the city of Baghdad as the context of memorial design. A traditional monument is “a structure, statue, or a building that is erected to honour someone notable or an unusual occurrence” as defined by Oxford Dictionary. Every so often, the terms monument and memorial get applied interchangeably. While they are similar concepts, the term memorial was introduced later to communicate a shift in commemorative architecture (Tanovic, 2015).

According to the French historian Francoise Chaoy, (2001), building monuments is a human defence mechanism against the traumas of existence. Mortals trivialise the fear of death and termination by attempting to freeze particular moments in time, as a means of celebrating a person or a group of people and preserving their deeds and memories alive in the minds of future generations.

[ 2. 1]

N ot ion of M e m o r i a l

On the other hand, monuments translate memories into stone, which implies an act of termination. Traditional monuments perform memories for a limited time only as the event or person they celebrate becomes less and less relevant to new generations. Therefore, monuments get neglected by the public and become invisible after a while; as their supremacy resides in their effective nature and

capacity to stir up emotions in people (Tanovic, 2015).

Only when beauty started to become appreciated with the rise of the Renaissance, people began to recognise monuments for their commemorative value and not for their political purpose. Memorials emerged as powerful contemplative spaces proposing possibilities, in contrast to polished monuments, which do not mirror present memories or respond to current matters (Erll and Nünning, 2008). Instead of creating a literal representation of an event or person, a modern memorial sculpts space in reference to its topic, while incorporating elements of past, present and future.

According to Danto, “in monuments, we honour ourselves as we create heroes and triumphs, with memorials we honour the dead” (Danto, 1987).

A significant shift in commemorative architecture was the ‘Vietnam Veteran Memorial’ in Washington (1982) designed by Maya Lin (Fig. 2a). In contrast to previous measures, the memorial invites people to interact and symbolises the unrepresentable pain as a scar in the landscape, made of dark materials. She describes the memorial;

“I thought about what death is, what a loss is… a sharp pain that lessens with time but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it” (Griswold, 2007).

Another essential monument that created a shift towards the definition of the memorial is ‘Monument against fascism’ by Jochen and Esther Gerz constructed in 1986 (Fig. 2b). The monument translates the phycological concept of healing emotional pain of the past into a physical act of a vanishing column. People’s participation by writing on the column makes an influence and sink the column further into the ground (Young, 1993).

Fig. 2a. Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, 1982.

Fig. 2b. Monument Against Fascism, 1986.

02 | Background; Notion & Context | 17 |

Vibrant streets packed with outdated automobiles, picturesque mosques with intricate details stretching over a relatively low-rise context, hot and sweaty bazaars loud with voices advocating spices, books, birds or other goods engulfed in the smell of citrus fruits and the smoke of exotic cigars (Jackowski and Ostos, 2007), lavish modern palaces overlooking the winding Tigris river, and tired faces fighting the traumatic aftermath of continuous years of war and terror, and experimenting with a dangerous game of democracy, exported from the west; the reality of the city of Baghdad today is a blend of a typical weary politically-challenged city of the Middle East with hints of beauty concealed behind narrow streets and layers of history waiting to be unraveled.

“For Sale: A fertile wealthy country with a population of around 25 million ... plus around 150,000 foreign troops, and a handful of puppets. Conditions of sale: should be either an American or British corporation … preferably affiliated with Halliburton.” (Riverbend and Ridgeway, 2006)

The purpose and definition of memorial vary depending on their geographical locations, and their relevant issues and memories. In order to redefine the memorial through this thesis analysis, it is essential to study the city of Baghdad through history.

[ 2. 2]

Sit e & C o n t e x t

Baghdad is the third largest city in the Middle East with a population of roughly seven million inhabitants. It consists of nine districts, four of them sit on the west bank of the Tigris river. Prior to the ongoing process of ethnic cleansing, Baghdad was a multi-ethnic city with churches and mosques of all sects (Al Obaydi and Rashid, 2015).

Today, the city is still recovering from harsh sanctions that lasted over a decade, and three of a brutal dictatorship, followed by the so-called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and the chaos of sectarian civil conflict afterwards, at which the city became a theatre where external powers selfishly chose to fight their battles. During the past half-century, the city witnessed three different wars causing a tremendous amount of physical loss, human causalities and most dangerously; mental damage.

“We do not want to hear explosions, we do not want to hear about motor attacks, we want to be at peace… An Iraqi wants to put his head on his pillow and feel relaxed.”

(Beausoleil, Bodman and Colby, 2013).

Fig. 2c. Mourning Woman.

Fig. 2d, The Tigris River snakes its way through Baghdad. (Al Tamimi, 2018)

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 19 |

[0 3] MEMORIAL ANALYSIS THR O U G H T I M E , SPA CE & M E M O RY

as described in the previous chapter and though not visibly evident on ground, as ninety-nine percent of the city is estimated to be built within the last century, the city is one of the oldest in the region, backed by thousands of years’ worth of culture (McAllester, 2003). It is the current capital of Iraq; the land of first ever civilisation; Mesopotamia, which witnessed the upswing and descends of multiple empires including Babylonia, Assyria and Akkadian. Baghdad first materialised as a settlement in the fertile land next to the Tigris river around 1800 B.C., but it was only after 762 AD that Baghdad got recognised as the circular city; the capital of the Abbasid Muslim Empire (Fig 3b) (Kennedy, 2006).

“Baghdad was designed as an artwork in itself, the most splendid in the history of the Arabs” (Said, Singh and Johnson, 2004).

This thesis aims to redefine what a memorial space is in the context of Baghdad through analytical research and a design-based approach. In order to comprehend a new understanding of memorials, this chapter will break down the main components of the memorial; memory, time and space, establishing the base for later memorial design proposals.

3.1.1 | Baghdad Between Today and Yesterday

In contrast to the image portrayed about Baghdad

[ 3. 1]

Ti me as a B a c k g ro u n d

Caliph Al-Mansur designed the Circular City for “geopolitical, socioeconomic, and cosmological purposes” (Al Derry, 2015). Initially, it was constructed as a fortified military city but soon enough it transformed into an intellectual hub that attracted all kinds of people, especially after Bayt al Hikma (House of Wisdom) library was founded by Caliph AlRasheed (Fig. 3a). The establishment became a repository of various knowledge fields in the world as significant works were translated from Greek, Syriac, Indian and Persian (Kennedy, 2006).

Consequently, Baghdad flourished intellectually, politically, economically and socially, as it becomes a multiethnic melting pot where people dreamt of living in or even visiting. Hence a utopian romantic image of Baghdad was formed, inspired by the magical myths of Arabian Nights of genies and flying carpets, within the context of beautifully designed domes representative of Islamic-style architecture in a low-rise context. An image that nearly vanished from present Baghdad (Al Derry, 2015).

Fig. 3a. Illustration of the House of Wisdom.

Fig. 3b. The round city of Baghdad in the 10th century, the peak of the Abbasid Caliphate (Soutif, 2016).

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 23 |

“The commission from Baghdad to build an Opera House is an agreeable surprise and I am pleased to join Iraq in a Twentieth century enterprise ….

To me this opportunity to assist Persia is like a story to a boy fascinated by the Arabian Nights Entertainment as I was …

I cannot tell you how pleased I am to serve my feelings for the orient again …”

(Wright and Alofsin, 1999)

3.1.2 | Measuring Change

modernist movement in Baghdad as insensitive to the unique fabric of the city; it is an application of modernist theories inspired by myths of ‘Arabian Nights’ that no longer exist rather than a synthesis of the city’s several pasts (Makiya, 1990).

Baghdad has transfigured significantly from one generation to the other, organically and spontaneously (Al-Ashab, 1974). In order to examine that transformation, particular historical benchmarks are selected for reference; the Circular City of Al Mansur, modernisation upswing in the dawn of the twentieth century, dictatorship and sanctions throughout the 1990s, Second Gulf War in 2003, consequent sectarian tension, and lastly Baghdad in the present day.

After a period of globalisation, the monarchy was overthrown, and the Republic of Iraq was established in 1958, which developed into a dictatorship of Saddam Hussein lasting for a quarter of a century. The UN later imposed sanctions controlling trade and oil exports, which affected the economy massively, causing absolute isolation of Iraqis from the rest of the world (Fig. 3c.3) (Marr and al-Marashi, 2018).

The Circular city of Baghdad was built at a radius of one kilometre, surrounded by a massive fortifying wall of 30 meters high and 44 meters thick (Fig. 3c.1). Walls were not only a safety tactic, but they facilitated constant surveillance and control, causing the city to generate a unique specific identity influenced by the powerful Islamic ruling that dictated the way of life and manner of expression at that time (Kennedy, 2006).

After a long string of conquerors ending with the British colony (1920 – 1932), Iraq got its independence for the first time as the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq backed by the British (Fig. 3c.2), which opened a gate towards globalisation; modern concepts of grid city planning, introduction of railway infrastructures, discovery of oil in 1927 and shortly after the introduction of automobiles and wide asphalt roads which overtook the narrow traditional pedestrian alleys (Pieri, 2008), Baghdad continued to head towards modernity, and several modernist architects were hired to envision the tremendous modernist Baghdad of the future such as Le Corbusier, Frank Wright and Walter Gropius. Mohamed Makiya, who is a pioneering Iraqi architect and educator, critiqued the

In 2003 the Ba’ath party was overthrown by American intervention leaving extremely vulnerable spaces and a state of urban chaos (Fig 3c.4). Public spaces were influenced by people’s desire to practice democracy, but also the fear of lack of security. Soon after, the civil conflict escalated around 2006, fracturing Baghdad into a vast network of segregated walled communities which reinforced the sectarian divisions and covered the city’s main landmarks (Fig. 3c.5). Surprisingly, closing off car traffic reflected the necessity to have pedestrian zones in parts of the old city like Al Moutanabbi street which witnessed a significant increase in visitors (Al Obaydi and Rashid, 2015).

“For media purposes, the walls are called ‘security walls’. Outside, most Iraqis on either side of these structures call them ‘occupation walls’, ‘hatred walls’, ‘sectarian walls’ or ‘segregation walls” (Al Maki, 2015).

Today Baghdad is still in the transformation stage, what can be called a thirdspace (Fig. 3c.6). A very fluid vulnerable space that is still shaping itself prompted by internal and external trends.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 25 |

Fig. 3c.1. The Circular City of Al Mansur, 762

Fig. 3c.2. Modernisation Upswing in the Dawn of the

Twentieth Century, 1940.

Fig. 3c.3. Dictatorship and sanctions throughout the 1990s.

Fig. 3c.4. Second Gulf War, 2003.

Fig. 3c.5. Sectarian Tension, 2006.

Fig. 3c.6. Baghdad today in Thirdspace, 2018.

3.1.3 | Disappearing Baghdad

The changes the city went through, as discussed in the previous section, live in the element of time and the realm of memories shared collectively. In the case of Baghdad, the amount of change is equivalent to the sum of loss (Fig. 3d), especially with the lack of documentation and preservation; two of the primary values important for this memorial study. In other words, modernisation, external influences and political game are continually changing Baghdad; the familiar face of the city is disappearing in a way that does not carry through the values gained from the past.

“Baghdad once offered pleasurable streets with phantasmagorical visions and beckoned the stroller through its labyrinthine chaos with a sense of urban vibrancy that had nothing to do with modern construction methods and materials.”

(Al Derry, 2015).

In his article ‘Racist Sparrows’ in ‘London: City of Disappearances’ journal, Drummond alludes to the necessity of achieving a balance between accepting future change and preserving one’s traditions. He argues that Londoners’ denial of change opens doors to racism, in a multi-national environment such as London (Sinclair, 2012). Reflecting on his writings, the appropriate argument in the context of Baghdad would be whether locals’ acceptance of change increases racial and sectarian conflict, or it does contain it. Change for Iraqis potentially equals better services and enhanced democracy and preserving elements of the present could trigger traumatic emotional pain. However, welcoming a vast deal of change erases traces of the present and creates a hole in the chronological evolvement of the society as issues of trauma have been disregarded and not treated appropriately, whether on the individual level or the collective (Fig. 3e).

Fig. 3d.

3e. Loss in Baghdad.

Fig. 3e, Fluid Identity of Baghdad.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 29 |

3.2.1 | Fluid Identity

One of the reasons Baghdad has been perpetually shifting and suffering from loss is the fact that its conquerors have utterly dominated it for over than two millennia (Fig. 3f). Like many other cities, Baghdad was moulded by the interchange of war and peace throughout history, and the form of its architecture shadows the system of politics.

When an identity gets imposed over the existing synthesis of historical parts, whether philosophical, religious, political or tribal, sectarian hostilities arise (Al Derry, 2015), causing the identity of the city to float across the element of time, exposed to further future hijacking.

[ 3. 2]

Space & F l u i d i t y

The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein (1979-2003) is a prime example of national identity hijacking in Iraq (Marr and al-Marashi, 2018). The nationalism of oil boosted the government’s spending on construction. The historical parts of Baghdad were massively infected by the city-wide urban development and erection of new highways. Meanwhile, historic icons were being replaced with stone and concrete representations of Saddam. Throughout the process of validating his regime and immortalising his presence, Saddam reshaped the brittle Iraqi identity by integrating themes from the history of Iraq into his personality, creating an illusion of no other possible political substitute (Al Derry, 2015).

Having comprehended the rule of Architecture in manipulating social and collective memory, Saddam soon nationalised the school of architecture in the University of Baghdad, controlling the building education system. He further institutionalised public spaces turning them into icons of power, marked by his authoritative presence. All tracks of the city of 1001 nights were absent. Instead of the lowrise skyline, the context is now dominated by iconic buildings such as’ Saddam International Tower’ (Fig. 3g), built in 1994 intentionally higher than London post office Tower, to authenticate an anti-west philosophy that developed to be the central aspect of the Iraqi identity at that time (Al Derry, 2015).

In addition to the monuments Saddam built to reinforce his power, he constructed a few others to portray triumph in the war against Iran (1980-1988), even before the conflict was over. Few years into the war, the expenses were overwhelmingly increasing and threatening the economy of Iraq, which stimulated Saddam to construct another monument to reflect a false positive image and attempt to win a media war; ‘The Victory Arch’ (Al Derry, 2015). The monument was publicised as an announcement of ‘the good news of victory to all Iraqis’ (Makiya, 2003), and was constructed in 1985 under Saddam’s direct supervision. The arms were plaster casts of Saddam’s with forty-metre-high swords inserted in each and sculpted from melting the steel weapons of those who died in the war (Fig. 3h). Underneath the swords, nets of over than 5000 Iranian helmets are placed, acquired from the battleground (Al-Samarai, 2017).

The constant hijacking of identity, destruction and rebuilding through erasing the past have confused the identity of the city and created vulnerable spaces which appear as a synthesis of consecutive historical events, spaces in need of unwrapping and exploring; ‘thirdspaces’, which will be investigated deeper in the next section.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 31 |

Fig. 3f, Baghdad, a History of Blood.

Fig. 3g, International Tower of Baghdad (International Tower of Saddam previously).

Fig. 3h, The victory Arch of Baghdad.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 33 |

causing them to withdraw to the comfortable anonymity of their digital screens; easier to vacillate and unable to practice their rights in their cities (Soja, 2014). In Baghdad, locals withdrew giving to the injected fear of practising democracy and utilising their vulnerable spaces. They became trapped in a fluid status in between reality and the imagined (Fig. 3i), what Edward Soja identified as ‘thirdspace’.

In his book, Soja encourages readers to explore the potentials of thirdspace, leaving the definition open-ended as any possible hybridity of the real (first space) versus the imagined (second space). He defines the term as a space that inhabits change when people reject ultimatums and choose thirding as an alternative (Soja, 2014).

The above argument inspired a further analysis of the city. The interruption between the ruthless current existence and the utopian representation of yesterday is the space which this thesis investigates further. Today, Baghdad is confused between the romanticism of its name; its metaphoric legacy of being the beautiful city of domes and between a cruel reality of several wars, poverty and disguised tensions(Al Derry, 2015) (Fig. 3j & Fig. 3k). In other words, the identity of the city is floating in a thirdspace that is a hybrid of the real and the imagined; a space abstracted from the element of time, where boundaries are blurred, and the past is as influential as the present. Derek Gregory identifies that as Geographical Imagination which describes a place visualised in the maps, books, or works of literature and fiction, different than the real geography of the ground (Al Maki, 2015).

3.2.2 | Memorial in Thirdspace

The political and marketing powers of humankind operate towards distracting people from the physical world to a virtual realm that can be manoeuvred smoothly. Their agenda is to deteriorate people’s presence in their spaces,

The hybridity of the spaces in Baghdad is not merely a mixture of the realms of reality and imagination or the loss versus the existing, but also a blend of two images; one portrayed by the media and another indication of the normality of everyday life. Spaces are a fusion of the unsecured public domain with the finally democratic virtual space; residing on

Fig. 3i, Fluid Thirdspace in Baghdad between the real and the imagined.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 35 |

the internet and other media forums. It is a hybrid of ruined spaces of traumatic memories but also future potentials offered by a blank canvas (Fig. 3l). Baghdad is a mixture of the sorrows of the wars versus the natural human ability to move on; to get dressed and go to work in the next morning.

So as to detain that fluidity; not to disturb historical credibility or current political order, not to be selectively biased or hijack the collective memory of Baghdadis, the memorial ought to flexibly rest in that hybrid thirdspace. Additionally, it needs to be adaptive to future change in order to stay emotionally relevant to users, as humans continuously evolve in appearance, values, desires and emotions among other things. We even change internally as our cells get entirely renewed every seven years (Moore, 2015). Therefore, it would be unreasonable to try to pin the memorial to a specific identity, event, or a group of people as done in traditional monument design.

After highlighting a potential space for the memorial in Baghdad fluid through time, the next section will analyse the final dimension of redefining memorial; memory.

Understanding memories, their types and psychological mechanisms help to define the appropriate strategies for commemoration.

Fig. 3j, Arabian Nights in Baghdad (Al-Orfali, n.d)

Fig. 3k, Destruction in Second Gulf War, 2003.

Fig. 3l, Thirdspace in Baghdad between the past and the present.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 37 |

3.3.1 | Memorial as a Reaction to “Memory Boom”

Interest in studying memories have increased since social and political groups have been practising their rights to represent their memories and happenings freely, a term identified as ‘memory boom’ by the historian Jay Winter (Tanovic, 2015). The desire to keep memories alive is ascribed to societies’ fear of forgetfulness or ‘social amnesia’, due to the fast-changing pace of events and the increased gap between modern day and the past. As traditions are not organically passed on any longer, they must be artificially recreated through museums or memorials (Crinson, 2005).

3.3.2 | Defining Memory

[ 3. 3]

Mem or y & M e m o r i a l

“Memory implies the ability to reinvoke or repeat a specific mental image or a physical act” as defined by Edelman; however, the modern interpretations of memory are further complicated by taking psychology, time and brain mechanisms into consideration, in addition to the level a memory transformation takes place at, whether that be individual, or national (Edelman, 2004).

Bergson studies revolutionised the understanding of memory as he noted that conception of memory should

not be demoted purely to the phenomenon of psychological recollection; a capability of replication or reproduction of the past abstracted from innovation and creation. On the contrary, it is a synthesis of the past and the present formed through a futuristic outlook. He further argues that memories are not preserved in the present brain, as it only stores motor contrivances, but rather in time and could exist in multiple modes. The brain, therefore, is not a tool of representation but acts as an instrument of analysis that only actualises the past images considered relevant to the present-day (Bergson on Memory, n.d.).

3.3.3 | Collective Memory and Identity

Memories can be categorised into ones of reconstructive nature; individual mental abilities, and others of a cognitive, social character known as ‘collective memories’; a term first defined by French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs. Official commemorations and memorials use physical objects, visual arts, movies and literature to construct a collective national memory that becomes a more stable point of reference than individual memories. They invite people to participate in evoking their emotions; therefore they could impact or become the participants’ memories. Commemorations on a smaller scale, as Winter clarified, are more resilient towards the political intentions of those in power, since these motives lead to the hijacking of history-telling and consequently the national identity (Tanovic, 2015).

3.3.4 | Selective Memory and Trauma

One challenge of memorial design especially when dealing with contexts of trauma is the selectivity of

memory representation. Supremely, the collective act of remembrance must be inclusive of all groups who have been violated, irrespective of who they are and who harmed them (De Greiff, 2006). Most contemporary commemorative architecture is designed through selective remembering or creating by forgetting, which leads to the inevitable amount of distortion. Sacrificing the authenticity and precision of the story is a natural outcome of memorialising the past and is part of any form of memory archiving. Adorno believed that devoted art should be banned. Although it is run by a moral not to overlook, some of the meaning of the traumatic narrative memory is lost due to the stylised aesthetic representations of suffering (Tanovic, 2015).

Since commemorative architecture offers a space for people to channel their emotions, it strengthens their sense of continuity and feelings of belonging. Failure of a memorial to acknowledge the trauma of a particular group of people destabilises their identity causing a mental state defined by Adorno as non-identity. Denial of those traumatic feelings obstructs healing, keeps the wounds open and can cause social death (Tanovic, 2015). Furthermore, the French historian Francoise Choay argued that monument architecture helps in relieving grief, provides a transition to the afterlife and seeks to reconcile the anxiety of death and extinction (Choay, 2001).

On the other hand, Mersky argues that stories remembering violence can be converted into revenge invites.

It is preferred to move on when violence or repression ends, as conversing the past and reliving its crimes runs the risk of returning to conflict (Mersky, 2016).

Fig. 3m, to reproduce or rebuild?

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 39 |

extracted from the reflections on Bergson’s studies of memory, and others discussed earlier; a memorial aimed to forget or rebuild, to relive and reproduce, and to reflect and represent.

Memories can no longer be realised if the chain that links perception to memory is broken down, causing forgetfulness. Some people trust that forgetfulness is the cure for trauma and the only means to ensure a peaceful future (Pullan, Baillie and Kyriacou, 2013). Therefore, a possible strategy for memorial design is to focus on moving on and rebuilding the future without any traces of the past (Fig. 3m).

Perhaps the opposite approach is to build a memorial that attempts to represent destruction by constructing spaces evocative of traumatic experiences, in order to avoid social amnesia. As discussed earlier, this strategy aims to avoid erasure of history and emphasise on triggering guilt in the user experience (Fig. 3n & Fig. 3o). This strategy runs the risk of being biased due to its selectivity.

“Memory is absolute with its origin in the particular, spaces, gestures, performances and objects.

Transforming memories are often based on psychological rather than historical principles� (Dimkovi, 2016)

3.3.5 | Reflecting on Memorials

Three possible strategies of memorial design are

Another method is to adapt to the individual experiences of each user, not imposing a certain identity or triggering a specific emotion. In that way, a memorial allows for moments reflective of individuality (Fig. 3p). Perhaps it also allows for a breathing space where a memorial takes a step back through the healing process (Fig. 3q).

After analysing memorial through time, space and memory, the following chapter will suggest two concepts relevant to the context of Baghdad and the outcome of the previous analysis; the roof and the river.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 41 |

Fig. 3n, Repeating or Reproducing memories through memorial.

Fig. 3o, Representing Memories through memorial.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 43 |

Fig. 3p, Adaptive Memorial, Reflective of Individuality.

Fig. 3q, Memorial as a Space that Allows for Reflection and Healing.

03 | Memorial through Time, Space & Memory | 45 |

[0 4] R ECO NST R U C T I N G THE CI TY; T H E R I V E R A ND THE R O O F S , D ESI G N P R O C E S S

and the past that formed it. Reflections prompt restoration of emotions and habits in honour of the space they occupy, in other words, memories shape current spaces through nostalgia stimulated by reflections (Dawson, 1999). In (Fig. 4b), spatial quality of Al Sarrafiya Bridge is influenced by reminiscences of the social pedestrian bridges in the early twentieth century and the traumatic destruction in 1991, and again in 2007 (BBC News, 2007).

The pristine river untouched by ravages of time is impossible to grasp as seen through the human eye, polluted by a watershed of memory. The rest of the memories not being recalled are hidden underneath the surface or lost in the flow.

The banks of Tigris River invited civilisations for centuries as a metonym for all creation and evolution; its twelve bridges are the veins stitching Baghdad together, signifying its unity (Al Obaydi and Rashid, 2015). Those joints became the primary priority for invaders seeking to paralyse movement in the city. Tigris geographically morphed the urban structure of Baghdad along its shores, growing to be a critical aspect of Baghdad’s identity, whom poets and intellectuals praise as the spring of wealth and wellness to their country (Fig. 4a).

[ 4. 1]

The R iv er; C a r r i e r o f Memory

As discussed in the previous chapter, Tigris has been the only constant element through the history of Baghdad, carrying a flow of its memories and stories. According to Dawson, rivers have memories, and the process of recollection is parallel to the one of river formation; memory acts as a network of channels that get filled up under the appropriate stimulus. Rivers respond to their precedent, and the process of reflection merges between the present

“Memory was at last defeated by the blank grey water. No effort of mind could restore the river or drain the valley. I surrendered to what my eyes were telling me. Only then was I truly exiled” (Sanders, 1998).

In (Fig. 4c), the memorial acts as machine extracting memories from the deep waters, not filtered through traumatic recollections. It is a fixed web catching memories before they flow with the moving river.

“Quick or sluggish, all creation is a flow; rivers, mountains, trees, babies and parents, butterflies and parrots, rocks, clouds, sun, milky way; each part is driven at own pace within a single current” (Sanders, 1998).

Similar to the ever-shifting city of Baghdad and the river which subtly changes, sliding within its banks altering moment by moment, people move on, and their recollections adjust through time; a severe current trauma might become irrelevant in the future. (Fig. 4d) proposes a memorial that adapts to the changing city, in which old memories sink further down when fresher memories are inserted.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 49 |

Within your bank grasses as thus flourish rose ِ ‫ يا أغصان زيتو ِن‬،‫خن َجر الغدر‬ ‫ يا‬،‫الموت‬ ‫سكتَ َة‬ ْ ‫يا‬ ْ ‫أطياف ساحرٍة يا‬ َ However, you are the death-stroke, you have charming feature.

Although you are the olive branch, you have betrayal nature ٍ ‫ظر‬ ِ ‫الدهاقين‬ ‫دد حتى في‬ ‫يا ّأم‬ ٍ ‫ف ومن َغ‬ ْ ‫نج متى‬ ُ ‫التبغ‬ َ ْ َ ‫ من‬،‫بغداد‬ Tigris you are the jewel of Baghdad in cheering and flirtatious.

Till when you stay the jewel as far as tackles with those in powers! ٍ ِ ِ “‫البساتين‬ ‫ يا َّأم‬،‫فحييني يا دجلة الخير‬ ُ ‫حي‬ ّ ،‫يت سْفحك عن بعد‬ ّ I greet your bank Tigris from distant place...

Please welcome me...

Tigris the welfare donor, Tigris the orchards owner, Please welcome me

ِ ‫التالحين‬ ‫عطر في‬ َ ‫يا ّأم تلك التي من (ألف ليلتها‬ ٌ ‫يعبق‬ ُ ‫لآلن‬ You Tigris are the witness of “Thousand and One Nights”.

Still its tone is eternal and stays delight

ِ ‫سفحك ظمآناً ألوُذ به لوَذ الحمائم بين‬ ِ ِ ‫الماء و‬ ‫حي ْي ُت‬ ‫الطين‬ ّ ْ I greet your charming bank.

Thirsty I seek your shelter.

As a white pigeon of broken wing Back and forth trips within your mud and water

‫وشي (هارون‬ ‫لبست به الحضارة ثوبا‬ ‫تجم (النواسي) الذي‬ َّ ‫)يا ُم ْس‬ ْ ّ َ ْ ً One day you were the amusement resort of Abu Nawas The poet.

The civilization had attired one day the Harun al-Rashid ornament

ِ ‫يا دجل َة الخير يا نبعاً أفارُقه على الكر‬ ِ ‫اهة بين الحين و‬ ‫الحين‬ ُ ْ Tigris the fresh water source, how can I leave you?

Hatefully but forcibly, I leave you between time and time

ِ ِ ‫ ما ي ْغ‬:‫يا دجل َة الخير‬ ٍ ‫ليك من َح‬ ‫شجيك ُيشجيني‬ ‫ وما ُي‬،‫نق ُيغلي فؤادي‬ ُ Tigris the donor of welfare you cannot endure what I was furious onto.

That is boiling my heart, yet you have not the anxiety of mine

‫غير مضمو ِن‬ ‫ قد هانت‬:‫يا دجلة الخير‬ ٍ ‫مطامحنا حتى ألَدنى ِط‬ ُ ‫ماح‬ ُ Tigris the welfare donor, our wishes is halt.

Less than the ambitious intent, guaranty is not yet

Fig. 4a, Tigris River in Baghdad, (Huzam, 2017).

ِ ‫الحشائش أو بين الر‬ ‫ياحين‬ ‫مقيالً لي سواسي ًة بين‬ ‫أتضمنين‬ Figure 16: ْ Can you secure for me a nap- shelter to repose?

ِ ‫البغى ناقع ًة في‬ ِ ‫هر بين الحين و‬ ِ ‫ط‬ ‫الحين‬ ُ ‫مائك ال‬ ُ ‫ال سيا‬ ْ ‫ط‬ ُ ‫ما إن تز‬ Yet the scourges of oppression still wet on the pure water.

They are recurring their different method from time to time”

Fig. 4b, Memory Reflection Through the Tigris River.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 51 |

Fig. 4c, River Polluted by Memories.

Fig. 4d, Adaptive memorial to the process of moving on.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 53 |

to sleep during hot summer nights, trusting their neighbours and the mysteries the sky holds. Recently this relationship has changed as Riverbend describes in her blog:

“We run out to the roof to see where the smoke is coming from after an explosion; we gather on the roof to watch helicopters flying overhead; we reluctantly drag ourselves into the roof to fill the water tank when the water is low; we hang clothes to dry on the cloth lines strung out haphazardly across the roof” (Riverbend, 2006).

As described in the previous chapter, Baghdad is associated with a utopian image of a low-rise city experienced through mythical flying carpets, during the golden age of Islam. Being elevated, the roofs provided a platform to view the city and grasp a better understanding of the context from various angles, as things feel familiar despite appearing remote (Fig. 4e). Additionally, the suspension grants security and peace away from realities of the ground. Historically, building higher meant being closer to God as believed in the example of the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” (Al Maki, 2015). Inspired by that legend, NaJa & deOstos architects designed a cemetery hovering above the city of Baghdad (Fig. 4g & 4h). Their speculative work is a story told by two fictional witnesses describing the cemetery as a ramp that people climb in a pilgrimage, representative of the journey Iraqis embark on while facing the consequences of war.

[ 4. 2]

T he R oof ; Th i rd s p a c e

The roof of an Iraqi home is a valuable space which obtained several connotations throughout history. Roofs are transitional spaces between the security of one’s home to the vulnerability of being public; spaces which Baghdadis utilised

The work addresses the duality of the image of Baghdad; one that is projected by the media and the second is a constructed reality of normality. As brutal as standing underneath a canopy of dead bodies sound, everything in life turns strangely normal after a while. To emphasise the idea of normalisation, the cemetery offers a mechanical approach of making textiles, washing and wrapping bodies and conducting prayers; industrialising a clinical process in an emotional game of hide and seek.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 55 |

Fig. 4e. Elevated Memorial.

Fig. 4f. Elevated Observation Path.

“Summer breezes not only refresh the intense urban heat but also perpetuate a creeping feeling of paranoia. The gentle interaction between the wind and the suspended cemetery introduces an assemblage of sinister sounds, the noise of the bodies as they strike the metal structure. These sensory indicators help collapse together memories of a period that seems to perpetuate a divine city environment�

(Jackowski and Ostos, 2007).

Fig. 4g, Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad, (Jackowski and Ostos, 2007).

Furthermore, the project employs symbols, associating particular daily experiences with elements of the cemetery; the smell of fresh citrus fruits with the smell of dead bodies, feel of a summer breeze with the noise of the deceased moving by wind, and the comfort of shade with the shadows of suspended bodies. (Fig. 4i) proposes a memorial that overhangs gathered elements as representational symbols of the war; such as the use of suitcases, pictures and leftover items like clothes or shoes, to signify those who fled the city willingly and unwillingly. (Fig. 4j) Proposes an elevated spatial memorial that celebrates the memories less frequently recalled, overshadowed by traumatic ones. Those memories of Baghdad in glorious days escape from reality to the utopian world of imagination. They signify events like the construction of the first railway system, the futuristic urban plans for Baghdad proposed by famous modernist architects, and the exportation of dates most significant in the world.

Fig. 4h, Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad, (Jackowski and Ostos, 2007).

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 57 |

Fig. 4i, Suspending Memories.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 59 |

Fig. 4j, Utopian Memorial of the unrecalled Memories.

04 | Reconstructing the City; the River & the Roof, Design Process | 61 |

[0 5] DESI G N PR O P O S A L ; C I TY A S A M E M O R I A L

How can memorial design cater to individuality while representing a collective national front?

Memorials in their nature portray a façade of the city.

Since Baghdad’s identity is fluid, constantly changing and cannot be viewed under a certain light, it is best described as a synthesis of its several pasts; the collective memory of Baghdad is a hybrid of multiple individual recollections. The memorial then becomes interactive at times and observative at others in a way that integrates with everyday life as part of commemoration.

Can memorials actively suggest a political, economic or social change?

After examining a few possibilities for memorial design strategies to deal with traumatic memories, using concepts of the river and the roof, this section will answer the research questions outlined earlier in the introduction, based on the findings of the research to set a base for the design manifesto.

Which strategy is best to commemorate civilian loss?

Forgetfulness or remembrance?

[ 5. 1]

Re def ining M e m o r i a l

The research emphasised the value of coming to terms with the traumatic past in a healthy manner. Ignoring pain without healing the existing wounds leave them vulnerable to be reopened at any point. However, graphic or literal representation of suffering through repetition and reproduction of memories trivialises the pain and could possibly trigger more agony or encourage calls of revenge.

Therefore, the method this proposal suggests is allowing individuals to reflect on their personal encounters and their distinctive progress in the journey towards recovery by utilising the memorial space.

Commemoration design has shifted from constructing monuments as emblems of authority to building spatial memorials, these could be public spaces that influence the social structure by reconstructing certain memories or stitching and connecting the city. Additionally, interactive memorials could grant a platform to practise freedom of expression, rebuilding the national identity organically, returning the control to the people over political powers.

How can memorial design adapt to a continuous conflict and a changing context? And finally, how can memorials protect cities from loss?

By permitting people to participate and continuously feed their own input into the memorial, it adapts to changing events and is not just a reflection of the past that becomes irrelevant to future generations. Adaptive memorials could prevent the loss of truth and disappearance of the past through the power of storytelling. By documenting their own stories, civilians protect their voice from being hijacked, practise their freedom, and collectively stich their identity and morph it along their changing city through time.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 65 |

Baghdad is in a necessity for a memorial that collectively commemorates the city and its people along its rich history, not particular to a single episode, alliance of people or driven by a political agenda as patent in existing memorial structures populating the city.

As reviewed earlier, Baghdad’s collective memory is constantly erased and substituted, and its identity is fluid within history. In order to depict that fluidity, the memorial proposal reconstructs the city by accessing ‘thirdspace’; a space for change in between the present and the past; a space where memories meet reality. In that, the memorial adaptively operates as a device of continuous documentation; exploiting the power of the written word to archive Baghdad; its culture, emotions, events, and simply the informal acts of everyday life.

The memorial intervenes at a few anchoring points that portray the richness of city and its layered history of grieve but also rejoice. The interventions initiate change by permitting users to interact flexibly in response to their individual journeys and their desire whether to remember or forget. While those points are chosen to collectively symbolise the city, the connections between those points are pathways where individuals observe and integrate into everyday life.

[ 5. 2]

Des ign M a n i f e s t o

The routes hunt memories by learning constant patterns against the changing city. It starts from the raw ground where memories are hidden behind the cruelty of Iraqis’ reality. The path then goes above the roofs to gather the magical memories observed from an elevated platform where realities are blurred with past memories, and the city appears unanimous. Finally, the memorial hovers above the river to attain the memories long lost under the water and gone with the current.

today is causing conflict claiming a sectarian bias of the Caliph since then.

(Fig. 5a.2) shows the sectarian conflict at its peak in 2006 which almost divided the city into two. Having withstood two events of destruction (BBC News, 2007), Al Sarafiyya bridge (Fig. 5b.2) is one of the spaces that stiches the city back together with the historic memories it holds.

(Fig. 5a.3) maps a sample of the civilian casualties caused by the explosions taken place in Baghdad from 2003 till 2008 (Iraqbodycount.org, 2010). The third point of memorial is the traditional book-selling street, Al Moutanabbi (Fig.5b.3). In addition to the human loss this intellectual street suffered from, the destruction of books and knowledge resembles that of the Mongols attack (1285), in which the threw all the books into the river till it turned black (Kennedy, 2006). The next stop for the memorial journey is Al Karrada area (Fig. 5b.4), as one of the places that suffered the most destruction in an attempt to cleanse it.

(Fig. 5a.4) shows the breakage of the city from the control of sanctions and dictatorship. It maps some of the significant reforms where political change happened. One of these is ‘Al Firdous Square’; the fifth point of the memorial 5.3.1 | Overall

[ 5. 3]

Des ign S t r a t e g y

The design strategy commences with conducting a mapping exercise (Fig. 5a) to locate the major five anchoring points that reconstruct the identity of the city by expressing the prosperity of its history and present. (Fig. 5a.1) is a map that overlaps the Circular City of Baghdad with the current expansion. The first point of memorial is ‘Al Mansur’ area where the statue of Caliph Al Mansur (Fig. 5b.1), the founder of Baghdad, is located. It symbolises the irony of how Al Mansur protected the city with a fortifying wall, but his statue

(Fig. 5b.5). This square is a symbol of power where Saddam erected his stature to reinforce his rule after destroying a previous monument, only to be wrecked by the Americans to signify the end of his regime (FARRELL, 2011).

After setting the main anchoring points, (Fig. 5c) shows the urban design strategy. By revealing stories about each space, metaphors are used to represent those parallel anecdotes behind the obvious narratives.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 67 |

Al Mansur

Fig. 5a1. Expansion of Baghdad Since 762.

Fig. 5a. Mapping the City.

Fig. 5a.2. Civil War in Baghdad.

Al Saddir City

Al Moutanabbi Street

Green Zone

Al Karradah

Fig. 5a.3. Violence Body Count in Baghdad.

Al Firdous Square

Fig. 5a.4. Freedom in Iraq.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 69 |

Fig. 5b.1, Statue of Abu Jaafar Al Mansur.

Fig. 5b.3, Al Moutanabbi Statue.

Fig. 5b.5. The original Unknown Soldier Monument (1959) by Rifat Chadirji, Al Firdous Square.

Fig. 5b.2, Al Sarafiya Bridge After a Truck Bomb Exploded.

Fig. 5b.4. Al Hadi Centre in Karrada.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 71 |

Fig. 5c, Memorial Design Strategy.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 73 |

5.3.2 l The Ground

Ge n ie o f Ba g h d a d

The memorial begins at ‘Al Mansur' area, completely blended with the urban fabric of the city. As people walk down the streets of Baghdad, the pain and struggles of their political, economic and social conditions are evident all over, in the cracked building walls, old deteriorating cars and on people's drained faces. The path then moulds itself and lifts slightly above the ground, presenting a platform for users to document the details of everyday life by snapping pictures and exhibiting them on the sides of the pathway (Fig. 5d).

The city is perceived from behind this collage of composed images assembled through time, fashioning a collective identity for the city. The intervention captures memories of today before they flee to the sky to utilise them as a reminder, as the reality blocks the view towards the wonderful world of memories, of the ‘Circular City' and the magic of Arabian ‘Nights', populating the sky. This intervention point mainly aims to observe the city, while the following interventions will attempt to create a hybrid of the real and the imagined by extracting memories from the skies and the river.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 75 |

The strategy to capture those memories is to create a journey of a path that connects a few specifically chosen points in Baghdad which reflect various and complex layering of events. The main six points are places of intervention where the memorial is designed to strike a situation. The journey connecting between them is more flexible and allows for accidental observations of everyday life.

The journey varies from hovering above the ground to fleeing above the roofs to completely dissolving with the urban fabric of the city on ground. The journey also moves from one side of Baghdad to the other crossing the Tigris river and unleashing the stories stored underneath. In this manner, the strategy shifts between a collective approach on a large scale of the city, covering a wide period of time, to an individual approach where users’ perception and interaction feeds in. The following section will explain why the major six points are chosen and within which order unfolding their connotations, metaphors and stories from the past and the present.

Fig. 5d, Memorial Intervention in Al Mansour Area.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 77 |

the unbanned. I could see myself walking there among the smoke and the wreckage, treading lightly over the wounded dreams of poets and novelists. I stood by myself and cried, and the smell of burning books engulfed me. Heat from the ashes formed a layer on my face. I saw myself in the midst of darkened burnt out shells of bookshops” (Beausoleil, Bodman and Colby, 2013).

The second part of memorial spreads through Al Moutanabbi Street; an irreplaceable fragment of the city; the heart and soul of the intellectual community in Baghdad.

Figure (5e) demonstrates a collection of memories of the street, of which symbols are extracted; a book, a bed, a dome and a satellite. Although the street is flooded with books, it became a showcase to commercially sell dustcovered magazines and private collection books, after years of sanctions and isolation (Beausoleil, Bodman and Colby, 2013). In addition to reviving the intellectual quality of the street, the memorial aims to celebrate the lost memories of the fairy-tale Baghdad in one of its oldest parts. The memorial preserves the vulnerable boulevard quality and creates an intervention on the roofs where it becomes easier to capture fled memories, as the reality of the ground is blurred, and the city seems unanimous (Fig. 5f). The pathway hovering above a canvas of continuous roofs captures the everyday life quality displayed as part of a museum; people are preparing to sleep on the roofs, socialising, feeding their pets, harvesting their palm trees and even turning the generator on when the electricity is down or fixing their satellite dish.

5.3.3 l The Roofs

Minaret s o f P o e t r y

“After the catastrophe of the brutal explosion of the street of culture, I still imagined myself there. I reflected constantly upon the days we’ve spent there. My friend and I would go there on Fridays to buy books both the banned and

The memorial draws users to the roofs by reflecting a fusion of sounds which can be untangled only by reaching closer to the source. The memorial acts as a machine that records stories told by users and projects them temporarily through the minarets. It then translates them into written books, where they can be stored in the walls of the city as the stories become an integral part of its structure.

Fig. 5e.1. Oldest Seller in Al Moutanabbi Street.

Fig. 5e.3. Baghdad embracing Satellites.

Fig. 5e.2. Mahmoud Fahmy. Sleeping on The Roof of Baghdad

Fig. 5e.4. Iraq The “Cradle of Civilisation

Fig. 5e.5. Café in Baghdad

Fig. 5e Collections of Al Moutanabbi Street Memories

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 79 |

Fig. 5f, Memorial Intervention at Al Moutanabbi Street.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 81 |

5.3.4 l The river

The third location for the memorial is Al Sarafiya bridge. The intervention is designed by exploiting symbols extracted from the images shown in (Fig. 5g) which document pivot points in the history of the bridge and the city. The first element is the book, retrieved from the destructed river, as an icon for knowledge and documentation. The use of deconstructed boats, additionally, is reminiscent of the old Sarrafiya bridge when it was a pedestrian pathway supported by floating boats. The truss is also essential as a symbol for the industrialisation of Baghdad and the construction of the bridge in 1940; which was the longest in the world at the time (BBC News, 2007). Finally, the river’s ability to reflect individual memories, such as my own memory as a child of the flowers fresh painted on the bridge floor as seen from a fast-moving car.

N o sta lg ia o f Dijla h

The pathway extends underneath Al Sarafiyya bridge using the existing as a shading structure. The memorial reconstructs memories of the old pedestrian bridge, restoring their social qualities by the act of documenting (Fig. 5h). The pathway extends to become a public space where the lost books extracted from the river are showcased for everyone to enjoy. Users interact with the memorial by typing their memories for display, casting a collective whole. Those stories are reflected in the water and erased with the flow to allow for more to be shared. Although tales are exhibited shortly, they get documented in books permanently. When the older anecdotes become less relevant, they get saved underneath the water where they appear as reflections of the past on the surface of the water.

Fig. 5g.1. The Siege of Baghdad.

Fig. 5g.3. Al Sarafiya Bridge on Tigris River.

Fig. 5g.2. Celebration of the Martyrs Bridge Opening in Baghdad (1902

Fig. 5g.4. Al Sarafiya Bridge After a Truck Bomb Exploded.

Fig. 5g.5. The Oldest Bridge on Tigris under the Ottoman Empire.

Fig. 5g, Collections of Al Sarafiya Bridge memories

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 83 |

Fig. 5.h, Memorial Intervention at Al Sarrafiya Bridge.

05 | Memorial City, Design Proposal | 85 |

CONCLUSION

This paper started with a personal aspiration to honour Iraqi civilians through redefining memorial for the context of Baghdad.

After setting the base definitions of memorial and monument and introducing Baghdad as the background for this study, the concept of a memorial was redefined through time, space and memory. That highlighted a potential space for memorial in between reality and imagination; a thirdspace. The research concluded that the best strategy of commemoration is balancing between collectivity and individuality. The design evolved from that redefinition as a journey through the city that documents memories before they are lost and constructs social changes in response to the current situation.

The objective of commemoration will not conclude here; it will resume every time a conversation is had regarding memorialising Iraq, every instance an additional person learns how beautiful Baghdad is, sadly with a despicable reality, with every research conducted in dedication to those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their children having a better one. This research will not conclude here as I would like to expand it in the future by going to Baghdad myself and stretching the research on the ground and hopefully taking it further to a PhD study one day.

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Newcastle University.

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21. FARRELL, S. (2011). Firdos Square’s Symbols: Then and Now. [Blog] At War. Available at: https://atwar.blogs.nytimes. com/2008/12/11/photographers-journal-firdos-squares-symbols-thenand-now/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2018].

22. Griswold, C. (2007). Forgiveness. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.

10. BBC News (2013). Iraq study estimates war-related deaths at 461,000. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldmiddle-east-24547256 [Accessed 17 Aug. 2018].

23. Iraqbodycount.org. (2010). Exaggerated claims, substandard research, and a disservice to truth :: Iraq Body Count. [online] Available at: https://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/ beyond/exaggerated-orb/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2018].

11. Beausoleil, B., Bodman, S. and Colby, S. (2013). Al-Mutanabbi street starts here. San Francisco: San Francisco Center for the Book.

24. Jackowski, N., Ostos, R. and Woods, L. (2007). The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad. Vienna: Springer.

12. Bergson, H., Paul, N. and Dowson, M. (n.d.). Matter and memory.

25. Kennedy, H. (2006). When Baghdad ruled the Muslim world.

Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. .

13. Bergson on Memory. (n.d.). University of Warwick.

Choay, F. (2001). The invention of the historic monument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

26. Kesteren, G. (2008). Baghdad calling. Rotterdam: Episode Publ.

27. Makiya, K. (1990). Post-Islamic classicism. London: Saqi Books.

28. Makiya, K. (2003). The Monument: Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. London: I.B. Tauris.

29. Marr, P. and al-Marashi, I. (2018). The Modern History of Iraq.

Boulder: Routledge.

30. McAllester, M. (2003). Baghdad - city of the Arabian nights. Gulf News General. [online] Available at: https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/ general/baghdad-city-of-the-arabian-nights-1.350921 [Accessed 15 Aug. 2018].

31. Mersky, M. (2016). Who Decides Whether to Remember or Forget?. ICTJ. [online] Available at: https://www.ictj.org/debate/article/ remember-or-forget [Accessed 30 Aug. 2018].

32. Moore, J. (2015). Capitalism in the Web of Life. London: Verso.

33. p-Rauterberg, H., Binet, H., Wassmann, L., Flett, I. and Schelbert, C. (2005). Holocaust Memorial Berlin. Baden: Lars Müller Publishers.

34. Pieri, C. (2008), ‘Urbanism in Bagdad before the planning: A codification between the fates of the arbitrary and urgent needs (1920-1950)’. DC PAPERS, revista de crítica y teoría de la arquitectura(1), 266-271.

35. Pullan, W., Baillie, B. and Kyriacou, L. (2013). Locating urban conflicts. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

2018].

41. Sinclair, I. (2012). London: City of Disappearences. London: Penguin.

34. Soja, E. (2014). Thirdspace. Malden: Blackwell.

42. Tanovic, S. (2015). Memory in Architecture: Contemporary memorial projects and their predecessors. doctoral thesis. Delft University.

43. Woods, L. (1993). War and Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press.

44. Wright, F. and Alofsin, A. (1999). Frank Lloyd Wright, Europe and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press.

45. Young, J. (1993). The texture of memory. New Haven: Yale University Press.

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2a. Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington. [image] Available at: https://www.centerpointecma.com/sermons/twelve-stones/ joshua-4-remembering-what-god-has-done-to-bring-you-this-far-008/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 3b. Soutif, J. (2016). The round city of Baghdad in the 10th century, the peak of the Abbasid Caliphate.. [image] Available at: https://www. theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/16/story-cities-day-3-baghdad-iraqworld-civilisation [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 3g. International Tower of Baghdad (International Tower of Saddam previously). [image] Available at: https://alsumaria.tv/mobile/ news/188847 [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 3h. The victory Arch of Baghdad. [image] Available at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/UStanks_ baghdad_2003.JPEG [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 3j. Widad Al-Orfali, Arabian Nights in Baghdad. [image] Available at https://artiraq.org/maia/items/show/470 (accessed August 26, 2018).

Fig. 3k. Destruction in Second Gulf War. [image] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://latimesphoto.files. wordpress.com/ (accessed August 26, 2018).

Fig. 4a. Huzam, M. (2017). Tigris River in Baghdad. [image] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tigris_river_in_Baghdad. png [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 4g. Jackowski, N., Ostos, R. and Woods, L. (2007). The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad. Vienna: Springer.

Fig. 2b. Monument Against Fascism. [image] Available at: https:// awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/esther-shalev-gerz/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 4h. Jackowski, N., Ostos, R. and Woods, L. (2007). The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad. Vienna: Springer.

Fig. 2c. Mourning Woman. [image] Available at: https:// www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/iraq-baghdad-bombingskill-23-160703045945293.html [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 5b.1. Statue of Abu Jaafar Al Mansour. [image] Available at: http://cms.aawsat.com/details. asp?section=54&article=733534&issueno=12626#.W4qJ9ojwa00 [Accessed August 26, 2018]

39. Sanders, S. (1998). Hunting for Hope. A Father’s Journey. Boston: Beacon.

Fig. 2d. Al Tamimi, J. (2018). The Tigris River snakes its way through Baghdad. [image] Available at: https://gulfnews.com/news/mena/ iraq/iran-turkey-dam-projects-drying-up-iraq-s-water-1.2198616 [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 5b.2. (2007). Al Sarafiya Bridge After a Truck Bomb Exploded. [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Sarafiya_bridge#/ media/File:Sarafiah4.jpg [Accessed August 26, 2018]

40. Simine, S. (2013). Mediating memory in the museum. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies.

Fig. 3a.Illustration of The House of Wisdom. [image] Available at: https://allthatsinteresting.com/coolest-bookstores [Accessed 28 Aug.

Fig. 5b.3. CNN. Mansour, M. (2017). Al Moutanabbi Statue. [image] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151122287@

36. Pyla. P., (2008),” Back to the Future: Doxiadis’s Plans for Baghdad”, Journal of Planning History, 7: 3 37. Riverbend and Ridgeway, J. (2006). Baghdad burning. London: Boyars.

38. Said, E., Singh, A. and Johnson, B. (2004). Interviews with Edward W. Said. Jackson, Miss: University Press of Mississippi.

N08/35438851495 [Accessed 27 Aug. 2018].

media/File:Sarafiah4.jpg [Accessed August 26, 2018]

Fig. 5b.4. (2016). Al Hadi Centre in Karrada. [image] Available at: https://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2016/07/08/urgent-iraqi-pm-sacksbaghdad-security-chief [Accessed August 26, 2018]

Fig. 5g.5. (1913). The Oldest Bridge on Tigris under the Ottoman Empire. [image] Available at: http://www.iraqarchive.com/157516041593158515751602-1601161015751604159316071583-15751604159315791605157516061610. html [Accessed August 26, 2018]

Fig. 5b.5. The original Unknown Soldier Monument (1959) by Rifat Chadirji. [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ Monument_to_the_Unknown_Soldier#/media/File:Unknown_Soldier_ Monument_in_Baghdad.jpg [Accessed 27 Aug. 2018].

*All figured not mentioned in the list are created by Hiba AlSafi.

Fig. 5e.1. Oldest Seller in Al Moutanabbi Street. [image] Available at: https://opusteno.rs/slike/2012/07/irak-bagdad-15144/irak-bagdad-16. html [Accessed 27 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 5e.2. (2015) Mahmoud Fahmy. Sleeping on The Roof of Baghdad. [image] Available at https://i.pinimg.com/ originals/49/1e/7e/491e7e75c2debe30608d3dc09934db05.jpg (accessed August 26, 2018).

Fig. 5e.3. Nelson, S. (2010). Baghdad embracing Satellites. [image] Available at: https://scottnelson.photoshelter.com/image/ I0000ovYG8SbAdnU [Accessed 27 Aug. 2018].

Fig. 5e.4. Christyromer (2010). Iraq The “Cradle of Civilisation”. [image] Available at: https://christyromer.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/iraq-thecradle-of-civilisation/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2018].

Fig. 5e.5. Café in Baghdad. [image] Available at: https://flic.kr/p/ oV6u3Q [Accessed 1 Sep. 2018].

Fig. 5g.1. The Siege of Baghdad. [image] Available at http://www. illustratedcuriosity.com/history/history-postclassical-era/biggestbattles-in-history-the-siege-of-baghdad/ (accessed August 26, 2018).

Fig. 5g.2. Celebration of the Martyrs Bridge Opening in Baghdad (1902). [image] Available at https://www.algardenia.com/2014-04-0419-52-20/hekaiyawasoura.html?start=80 (accessed August 26, 2018).

Fig. 5g.3. (2011). Al Sarafiya Bridge on Tigris River. [image] Available at: https://mapio.net/pic/p-59498898/ [Accessed August 26, 2018] Fig. 5g.4. (2007). Al Sarafiya Bridge After a Truck Bomb Exploded. [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Sarafiya_bridge#/