Sunni Islamic radicals have taken over large swathes Iraq and have the capital city of Baghdad surrounded, but that hasn’t stopped the secretary general of Iraq’s parliament, Ayad Namik Majid, from saying a $1 billion parliamentary complex will move forward.
Mr. Majid told the Architect’s Journal that Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid’s proposal for a 2.7-million-square-foot building on the 49-acre site will face “no problems” in the months ahead. The assertion was made even as sectarian tensions and battles with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant continue to rage, Defense One reported Thursday.
The decision to build the parliamentary complex means that it has been prioritized over projects like hospitals in Basra or an oncology center in Baghdad, the defense website reported.
Ihsan Fethi, an Iraqi architecture critic, is upset because the actual proposal for the complex has been kept secret, Defense One reported. Iraqi citizens have been kept in the dark regarding the building’s appearance.
“Of course this is contrary to the principle of transparency and it is absolutely unacceptable for us Iraqi architects, or any Iraqi citizen to that matter, to be prevented from seeing what their Parliament would look like. We absolutely have no idea,” he said.
Miss Hadid is also in the process of designing the headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq.
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• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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