Baghdad Tahrir Square Development: Wikis

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The Baghdad Tahrir Square Development is the first phase in architect Hisham N. Ashkouri's proposed Baghdad Renaissance Plan. Based around an established traffic circle on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad's Central Business District, the proposed development would develop just under 150,000 square meters at a cost of approximately $860M. Included would be hotel, office, retail and residential space.

The first component is Tahrir Circle, an eight story cultural center with a theater situated in the courtyard of the building. The next part of the development is office complex A, which forms one point of a triangular configuration of office complexes, along with B and C. A forty-two-story hotel sits in the center of the triangle as the geographic and aesthetic centerpiece of the development. The hotel and office buildings rest on a three level retail, parks, and recreation concourse. The entire cost of the Tahrir Square Development is projected to be $860 million.

Economics and Financing: The Current economic conditions in Baghdad are ripe for a new infusion of development with financial resources matching that, which can be found in new developments such as the one in Dubai. The designs allow for the private sector to take the initiative to invest in new buildings to be part of the commercial and other developments, and to pay over time the cost of the land development, long-term lease and the necessary infrastructure required for their specific sites. The design projects the Baghdad Renaissance Plan total construction cost of $13-14 billion to generate a profit of 20-30% per year.

Philosophy Behind the Plan

The Baghdad Renaissance Plan is based on the premise that social and cultural stability can be bolstered with proper economic and fiscal stability. Financial hardship and desperation are as much a factor in mobilizing an insurgent movement as any political ideology, and the Baghdad Renaissance Plan addresses this by providing opportunities for employment, both during construction and afterward.

Iraqi Employment Opportunities

The Baghdad Renaissance Plan calls for International and local labor to pool together to undertake the task of construction of the buildings called for. The Plan also outlines an initial potential employment of Iraqis in the commercial centers alone of over 364,000 jobs within the next 5 to 20 year period. Employment can be defined by three activities: construction; building operations and surrounding support network of services in the area of food, transportation, lodging and other related fields. The Renaissance Plan also proposes a training program for engineers, architects and draftsmen to learn the latest methods and technologies for building construction, which can then be applied in other development projects around the region.

Renewable Energy 21st Century Technology

another key point of the Baghdad Renaissance Plan is not to impose additional loads on the electric and other utility infrastructures currently operating and serving the City of Baghdad. The Tahrir Square Development, like the rest of the Baghdad Renaissance Plan, is designed to be largely self-contained in this respect and as such will not tax the weakened infrastructure of the city unduly. It is important to use solar (using the desert environment), wind, geothermal, and fuel cell technologies to back those other conventional power plants using fossil fuels. This will help reduce pollution and environmentally sensitive by-products. The environmental pollution will be minimized once such technologies are adopted. The design will also plan for capturing oil products from vehicles and vehicle waste products.

The Baghdad Renaissance Plan also envisions new modern pedestrian bridges crossing the Tigris at critical points where the two sides of the river can become interlinked through shopping and retail malls as well as parking and new office and multi-use buildings. The Plan also envisions the reconstruction of some the bridges to allow for future growth in traffic volume and quality of environment. The new bridges will also be an extension of the high-rise developments. The new roads, pedestrian and vehicular bridges are to be a fully integrated functional system with modern signage and traffic controls.