Infinity
Its meaning was born on this land
Mesopotamia provided history with the first definition of infinity
In the coming minutes, I will tell you the story of a journey
A journey back to the roots
A journey to a very old civilization, a civilization that goes back thousands of years
The aim of this journey was to search for something
something from the past and bring it to the present
This journey started with our participation in an international competition
for the design of the compound for the General Secretariat for the Iraqi Council of Ministers
The first step involved comprehensive research into Mesopotamian civilization
I would like to thank my friend Muwaffaq Abdullah for his substantial role in this research
In effect, we came across a large number of architectural types and styles
We proceeded to exclude styles that appeared in other civilizations
The aim of this was to preserve the purity of the forms and their authenticity
Then we kept the forms that possess a "potential existence"
and these were used as the basis for our inspiration
They were wonderful, innovative, and unique forms
For a moment I stopped and recalled two things
The first thing was that I had to portray a picture that qualifies my building as unique
The second thing was that
the design was to be evaluated by a panel of highly qualified intellectuals and engineers
One of them is my teacher, Ihsan Fethi, who is one of the speakers today
I also realized that I am going to compete with Zuha Hadeed
Zuha Hadeed is one of the most renowned architects in the world
So I decided to proceed to a greater depth
deeper than architecture... it was art
A beauty beyond the forms
It is a beauty of the essence and intellectual structure that underlies these forms
A beauty that you cannot help but fall in love with, and herein lies a problem
I lost the courage to manipulate these forms or to even obtain inspiration from them
I felt that no matter how creative I would be in transforming these forms
into an architectural design, I would distort them
I felt I was too insignificant to have the right
to manipulate these incredible creations
So I decided to move a level deeper
Deeper than the shapes and forms
on to the level of meanings and symbols
Here, the quintessence of the civilization started to emerge
I discovered a treasure of essences and highly developed structures
Within this treasure I discovered a symbol I had always admired
Actually, I thought this symbol was a product
of far east civilizations and ancient eastern civilizations
I personally did not know this was, in fact, a conception of Mesopotamian civilization
Here the journey ended
because I finally found the element
that I would try to pull from the past and bring to the present
But then I faced a difficult challenge
because what I found was an intellectual structure of two dimensions
How can I transform this symbol into a building?
Everything has a manifestation and an essence
If we can analyze the outward manifestation
then we may get to the essence of the structure
If we can get to the essence
we can give it a different manifestation in different dimensions
That is
the symbol of infinity
When I analyzed its outward appearance
I discovered
how its movement has no end, there is continuity of movement
It is the structure of the symbol of infinity
So I thought I reached the essence of this symbol
After we reached the essence of the symbol
the next step was to give this essence another manifestation
a three-dimensional one
This process would use
the "metamorphosing of forms" method
The aim is to reach a form that has
three characteristics
Infinite, Free,
and Belonging to Mesopotamia
The first characteristic is Infinite
This is the two-dimensional symbol of infinity
Suspending the movement of the symbol
including the third dimension
then resuming its movement
now makes this a three-dimensional symbol of infinity
The second characteristic is Free
These statements refer to the fact that growth fosters creativity
and that the incomplete fosters growth
for something that is perfect and complete has no room to grow
Therefore, creativity
is to allow the viewer to complete the picture
rather than presenting the picture in its entirety
For this reason,
I tried to avoid making the form a block of concrete
giving it an obvious presence in an empty space of Baghdad
Rather, I tried to give the form an existence yet with no presence
You, as a viewer, will give it presence
How is this possible?
This form is absent
it has no presence
This means that this form is space and not a block
This means that the form is a void and not a solid
In order to define this void, I had to surround it with a solid
This solid structure defines the borders of the void
and allows one to perceive the form
So I chose the cube to be this solid
The cube is a platonic form
a form that is recognized
It is known as a "preconceived image."
This means that when anyone sees even only part of a cube
his or her consciousness will complete the picture of the cube
For this reason, I chose the cube
I then carved out
the three-dimensional form of the infinity symbol from this cube
The purpose of this was to
control the viewer's consciousness in three stages
The first stage is to capture the consciousness
The second stage is to compel the viewer
to maintain silence
in order to be able to take him or her to the third stage
The third stage is
listening.. to the architecture
the architecture of Mesopotamia
So.. this is the form
Using this carved out structure, I can keep going back to
the viewer's consciousness
until he or she formulates the original symbol of infinity
This form will not have a physical existence
but will be present only in the viewer's consciousness
This is how I gave the structure the characteristic of freedom
How do I give it the characteristic of belonging to Mesopotamia?
In truth, I did not find any symbol more beautiful and grand
than this to signify Mesopotamia
Now that I have created
this three-dimensional form representing
the structure of infinity
the next step is to relate this form to its site
To achieve this, I borrowed
an idea
that existed in Mesopotamia and that is the idea of the seal
So I studied some of the codes that symbolize Mesopotamia
We developed these codes
and created a seal that is unique to the Iraqi civilization and unique to our era
This is that symbol
that I will try to apply to the site
This is the space of the site
Here I placed the seal on the site
Here I provided
the functional requirements of the building
then applied the cube to the architectural composition
created the space
and finally integrated the composition with the context
This is
the building of
the General Secretariat for the Iraqi Council of Ministers
and the project is expected to be started in a few months from now
One of the pioneers I do not recall which
maybe Le Corbusier or Mies van der Rohe
whenever he would create a new building
he described its components and then would go on to say
"I think this is reason enough for what I have created."
I, on the other hand, will share with you the real reason for what I have created.
Now I would like to
tell you why I chose the symbol of infinity
among all the symbols found in Mesopotamian civilization
In all honesty, I faced some fears and concerns
when I started the design phase
and I suspect that all of you share those fears with me
or those of you that love this country
Sometimes I wonder
are we the broken link in the chain
of this great civilization ?
the civilization of Mesopotamia
Sometimes when I see my son abroad playing
far away from his grandfather's house
I wonder..
if he will hold me accountable when he grows up
My father, God bless his soul, delivered to me a unified Iraq
a great country
In turn, will I deliver to my son what I received from my father?
Will I be able to do that?
Will our generation..
will be able to pass on the
message of civilization to the following generations?
In a time when civilizations compete with each other
to pass along their message from one generation to the next,
will we be able to pass along ours?
This journey gave me the answer.
Or it did not give the answer but
it showed how naīve those questions were
and how naīve those fears were
that came from a person who does not know what Iraq truly is
A civilization..
that has such depth cannot end
because its destiny is infinity!
And we do not have the option..
of whether to deliver this message or not
because God Almighty wants this message to be delivered
Even if we all tried to prevent the delivery of this message
it will be delivered
This realization, which I reached after in-depth intellectual research
was similarly reached by a six-year-old girl
by virtue of her instinct
This girl does not belong to this civilization
she is the daughter of one of my Italian friends who is an architect
This girl does not know Iraq
but she adores a civilization called Mesopotamia
She could not believe that her father's friend
belonged to this civilization
When I used to go to Italy
she would always ask me
about the wheel and about writing as if I had invented them
Once, upon my arrival in Milan
I received news of a series of bombings in Baghdad
I was very disheartened and in pain
so her father asked her not to disturb me
But she came to me and said
"Don't worry, you will recover."
I was astonished at the confidence with which she spoke
as if she saw a truth in front of her
She said: (Don't Worry, You Will Recover)
She continued, and though she used simple statements
what she said carries an incredible message
I would like to convey to you this message
She explained, "Because Mesopotamia is five thousand years old."
Means that..
Because Mesopotamia is five thousand years old
The message that I received...
is that Iraq...
Iraq is far too great for us to fear for it
and a civilization that has continued..
and a civilization that has continued for five thousand years..
cannot end because its destiny is infinity
Thank you