Rasem Badran. Architecture and Place
11 Apr - 29 May 2005
Contemporary Architecture in an Arabian Tradition
Rasem Badran is one of the most important contemporary architects in the Islamic world. As a renewer and reformer of Arab Islamic architecture, he has succeeded on the highest level in creating a synthesis of traditional materials and forms of building and modernism (for example in the style of Louis Kahn). Badran's architecture is distinguished by his reinterpreting and changing classical 'Islamic' building commissions – as for example mosques, of which he has built quite a number – in a modern kind of way without losing sight of their local, climatic and sustainable facets and of age-old building traditions. Rasem Badran's design is firmly rooted in the context of Islam and the Arab world and culture, and at the same time is in close touch with international contemporary architectural developments.
Artists' Family – Studies and Projects in Germany
Rasem Badrans artistic development was formed by his father Jamal. As a graphic artist and decorative painter, who worked on the restoration of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem he introduced his son to traditional and contemporary Islamic calligraphy and ornamentation as well as to Islamic architecture.
Following sojourns in Ramallah and Tripolis Rasem Badran completed his studies at the Technical University of Darmstadt from 1964 to 1970. He launched out with Utopian designs like his 'Theatre of the Future' (together with Maurizio Kagel Karl-Heinz Stockhausen), marked by a fictional expressive architectural vocabulary. Influenced by the 1960 avant-garde he supplied with suggestions for a mobile concert hall architecture. In 1970 Rasem Badran was the co-founder of the 'P.A.S. – Projektgruppe Architektur und Städtebau' (project group for architecture and urban development) in Darmstadt, together with Jochem Jourdan and Bernhard Müller. The participation in the exhibition 'Elementa 1972' enabled the P.A.S. group to realize their designs on experimental accomodation units in Bonn-Hardtberg.
Projects in the Arabian Area
In 1973, Badran returned to Amman and founded the 'Rasem Badran Architectural Office', now 'Dar Al-Omran'. His first private houses, designed during the seventies already mark a redefining of Jordan architecture. The Amman villas Hand-hal (1975) and Hatahat (1979) are characterized by a combination of a regional architecture and a modern reduced formal design, followed by early housing complexes and public commissions, i.e. the Abu Ghueillah housing complex and the King Abdulla Mosque in Amman (1979). During the eighties Rasem Badran completed major projects like the Baghdad State Mosque (1980), the Palace of Justice in Ryiadh (1984), the Mosque in Doha (1985), the Beit Al-Kamel appartment and office building in Sana'a (1987) and the Madi commercial center in Amman (1987). For the Great Mosque and the redevelopment of the old city center Quasr Al-Hokm in Riyadh Rasam Badran received the Aga Khan Award in 1995. During the nineties several important award-winning designs emerged like the National Archeological Museum of Amman (1991), the Saudi National Museum in Ryiadh (1994) and finally, in 1997, the Qatar Islamic Arts Museum in Doha. Actually the Damascus University central library and the Jabal Omar housing compound in Mekka are under construction.
The exhibition
Selected projects by Rasem Badran from different working periods will be presented during the exhibition through sketches, drafts, models and photos. These exemplary projects show the wide range of his Oeuvre: they document the various working areas and construction tasks like private houses, drafts for housing compounds and urban developmant as well as public buildings like mosques, museums and universities.
Exhibition catalogue: approximately 64 pages with several texts and numerous illustrations at a price of approximately 9 Euros.
An exhibition within the series "Worlds of Islam"
ifa-gallery Berlin
April 11 – May 29, 2005
Exhibition opening: April 10, 2005, 11 p.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 2 – 7 p.m.
Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday 2 – 7 p.m.
Friday and Saturday 2 – 9 p.m.
ifa-gallery Stuttgart
June 17 – August 14, 2005
Exhibition opening: Thursday, June 16, 2005, 6 p.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesdy, Friday: 12 a.m. – 18 p.m.; Thursday 12 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
© Image by Dar Al-Omran
Palace of Justice, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), 1984-1992
Rasem Badran is one of the most important contemporary architects in the Islamic world. As a renewer and reformer of Arab Islamic architecture, he has succeeded on the highest level in creating a synthesis of traditional materials and forms of building and modernism (for example in the style of Louis Kahn). Badran's architecture is distinguished by his reinterpreting and changing classical 'Islamic' building commissions – as for example mosques, of which he has built quite a number – in a modern kind of way without losing sight of their local, climatic and sustainable facets and of age-old building traditions. Rasem Badran's design is firmly rooted in the context of Islam and the Arab world and culture, and at the same time is in close touch with international contemporary architectural developments.
Artists' Family – Studies and Projects in Germany
Rasem Badrans artistic development was formed by his father Jamal. As a graphic artist and decorative painter, who worked on the restoration of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem he introduced his son to traditional and contemporary Islamic calligraphy and ornamentation as well as to Islamic architecture.
Following sojourns in Ramallah and Tripolis Rasem Badran completed his studies at the Technical University of Darmstadt from 1964 to 1970. He launched out with Utopian designs like his 'Theatre of the Future' (together with Maurizio Kagel Karl-Heinz Stockhausen), marked by a fictional expressive architectural vocabulary. Influenced by the 1960 avant-garde he supplied with suggestions for a mobile concert hall architecture. In 1970 Rasem Badran was the co-founder of the 'P.A.S. – Projektgruppe Architektur und Städtebau' (project group for architecture and urban development) in Darmstadt, together with Jochem Jourdan and Bernhard Müller. The participation in the exhibition 'Elementa 1972' enabled the P.A.S. group to realize their designs on experimental accomodation units in Bonn-Hardtberg.
Projects in the Arabian Area
In 1973, Badran returned to Amman and founded the 'Rasem Badran Architectural Office', now 'Dar Al-Omran'. His first private houses, designed during the seventies already mark a redefining of Jordan architecture. The Amman villas Hand-hal (1975) and Hatahat (1979) are characterized by a combination of a regional architecture and a modern reduced formal design, followed by early housing complexes and public commissions, i.e. the Abu Ghueillah housing complex and the King Abdulla Mosque in Amman (1979). During the eighties Rasem Badran completed major projects like the Baghdad State Mosque (1980), the Palace of Justice in Ryiadh (1984), the Mosque in Doha (1985), the Beit Al-Kamel appartment and office building in Sana'a (1987) and the Madi commercial center in Amman (1987). For the Great Mosque and the redevelopment of the old city center Quasr Al-Hokm in Riyadh Rasam Badran received the Aga Khan Award in 1995. During the nineties several important award-winning designs emerged like the National Archeological Museum of Amman (1991), the Saudi National Museum in Ryiadh (1994) and finally, in 1997, the Qatar Islamic Arts Museum in Doha. Actually the Damascus University central library and the Jabal Omar housing compound in Mekka are under construction.
The exhibition
Selected projects by Rasem Badran from different working periods will be presented during the exhibition through sketches, drafts, models and photos. These exemplary projects show the wide range of his Oeuvre: they document the various working areas and construction tasks like private houses, drafts for housing compounds and urban developmant as well as public buildings like mosques, museums and universities.
Exhibition catalogue: approximately 64 pages with several texts and numerous illustrations at a price of approximately 9 Euros.
An exhibition within the series "Worlds of Islam"
ifa-gallery Berlin
April 11 – May 29, 2005
Exhibition opening: April 10, 2005, 11 p.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 2 – 7 p.m.
Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday 2 – 7 p.m.
Friday and Saturday 2 – 9 p.m.
ifa-gallery Stuttgart
June 17 – August 14, 2005
Exhibition opening: Thursday, June 16, 2005, 6 p.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesdy, Friday: 12 a.m. – 18 p.m.; Thursday 12 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
© Image by Dar Al-Omran
Palace of Justice, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), 1984-1992