Assemblage for new Iraqi parliament

British architectural practice Assemblage, consisting of architects Hannah Corlett and Peter Besley, has won the international competition to design the new Iraqi parliament buildings in Baghdad. More than a hundred projects were presented in the competition; the finalists included a project proposed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which came in third.

The competition required development of a masterplan for the area, including construction of government offices, a public park and a hotel. The site is an abandoned airport facility in which Saddam Hussein had begun to build a giant mosque, never completed.

The architects of Assemblage preferred an overall urban project rather than a plan for a single building. The project they presented is a system of internal and external routes, green courtyards, plazas and low buildings creating links and drawing attention to the main government buildings.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Assemblage (Hannah Corlett, Peter Besley)
Images: courtesy of Assemblage

assemblage.co