The generation of Rifaat al-Chaderchi facades using standard shape grammars

Abstract EN

The architecture of Rifaat Al-Chaderchi is of a distinct particularity with easily distinguished façades, they were artistically composed from rich traditional architectural elements and forms.

He was one of the first Iraqi architects to experience the trend of critical regionalism as his works exhibit the interaction between the local traditions of Iraq and Western influences.

On the other hand, the concept of shape grammars is of great importance in the field of architecture as it provides a fruitful approach for the study and analysis of the formal patterns of different artifacts belonging to certain architectural styles or architects.

The current research focuses on the problem of studying the shape grammars of the architectural facades of Al-Chaderchi.

It aims at defining the rules of the shape grammars that produced the form of those facades.

Thus, the significance of this research stems from the disclosure of the shape rules that underlie the design of Al-Chaderchi facades and providing the possibility for re-application of the derived rules to generate those facades with the synthetic properties and formal relationships that distinguish certain facade from the others.

The research adopts the method of standard shape grammars concerned with the structural and formal relationships of the façades compositions and their differences regardless the different criteria and dimensions associated with each facade.

The research aim was achieved by the conclusion of the shape rules through which the facades of Al-Chaderchi have been composed.

Then, the concluded rules were applied firstly, to derive those facades and secondly, to derive new facades that carry the same formal and elemental structure to test their application potentialities.