Place Identity of Residential Environment in Iraqi Contemporary Architectural Trends and its Impact on Academic Architectural Product

Abstract

Iraqi contemporary architecture is characterized with rise of some trends associated with Iraqi pioneers who had various attitudes in expressing place identity. Two main trends which are swinging between the conservative one who adopts the domestic architectural heritage and the second trend who tends to follow international architectural tendencies entirely could be mentioned . Today, in spite of these trends are more than fifty years old , there still some argument about this issue. The architectural works reflect more variation and ambiguity in expressing the contemporary local environment with no serious attempts to have a stable background for this case . Within such situation , this paper tries to explain the role of academic institutions in dealing with this issue as these institutions are producers of new generations of architects who could be motivated to have a positive participation in local environment . A sample of third year students works concerning housing projects is selected for the study. Key words : Architectural identity, Place identity, Iraqi architecture, Residential architecture, Architectural education .