Plan For Greater Baghdad - Criticism, Analysis, and Relation To Wright's Oeuvre - Cultural Significance

Cultural Significance

The plan is one of Wright's few architectural involvements with a non-Western culture; the only other example of similar prominence is his design for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. While the Iraqi government, in commissioning Western architects, was focused on rapidly developing the capital, Wright was focused on preserving the distinct history and architectural tradition of the city. While visiting Baghdad he gave a speech to a group of Iraqi engineers, in which he contrasted the “spiritual integrity” of the Eastern world with the materialistic, commerce-focused society of the West. He implored them not to let architects come to the city and “put a cliché to work,” and recommended that they connect with “what is deep in the spirit.”

Neil Levine observes that Wright's attempt to incorporate major elements of the city's history local culture stands out in comparison to the designs for Baghdad produced at about the same time by other prominent Western artists like Le Corbusier and Gropius: "the other invited Westerners proposed buildings that were in essence the same as they might have designed for their home countries, which in fact many originally were." For instance, Gropius's plan for the university included modern office towers similar to what might be found in an American or European city, and was built using the same principles his team had applied in designing American college campuses. However, Western architects attempting to build within the Islamic milieu opened themselves to criticism. Wright's familiarity with local history and culture was limited, and Nicolai Ouroussoff argues that the decorative camels, the Aladdin statue, and other such features made the plan “an embarrassing example of Western chauvinism.” Levine describes Gropius's one nod to the setting, a domed mosque, as “an Orientalizing pastiche of Saarinen's Kresge Chapel at MIT.” Though Wright evidently made an effort to consult the city's genius loci, he may have succeeded only in creating a patronizing appeal to four thousand years of tradition.