New project in Bagdad, Iraq: Shatt Al-Arab House

In many cases, it is the constraints themselves that shape the project almost unintentionally. The site was located at street level on one of the busiest avenues in the city of Baghdad, with a specific geometry defined by the urban fabric. The proposal envisions the construction of a dwelling that brings together a daytime living area, two nighttime rooms, and a space for physical exercise.

Given the very limited size of the plot, the most immediate decision would have been to build vertically in order to free up space for a garden. However, the chosen approach was to occupy the entire plot with an extensive single-storey volume, connected to the exterior in two distinct ways, through two outdoor spaces of different character. On one hand, a perimeter garden acts as a filter or boundary between the house and the avenue and surrounding streets.

On the other, a central circular courtyard becomes the main outdoor space of the house, organizing the entire program around it. In one direction, this courtyard gathers the more public and open areas of the house, creating a sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces that begins and ends in the perimeter garden. This sequence is materialized through four glass boundaries that can be fully retracted along the side walls. This operation allows for the perception of a hybrid space that spans from one end of the plot to the other, ultimately becoming the largest open space achievable on the property, not only visually but also physically.

In the opposite direction, and this time only open to the perimeter, the two main nighttime rooms of the house are located. At the four corners, between the open spaces, four enclosed cores are placed, concentrating the service areas. The roof becomes the final space that completes the overall composition. It is accessed via an internal staircase and is conceived as a kind of oasis defined by a series of boundaries.

On its outer edge, the vegetation of the garden provides privacy. On its inner edge, a sheet of water crowns the circular courtyard, featuring a deeper area on one side to allow for bathing.