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CNN Live Saturday
Frank Lloyd Wright's Vision For A New Baghdad
Aired August 02, 2003 - 18:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: From the American prairie to the plains of Iraq, Kathleen Koch has discovered a link between an American original, Frank Lloyd Wright, and a grand plan for rebuilding the city of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could call it the forgotten finale. An elaborate design for a new Baghdad, drawn by one of America's legendary architects, just two years before his death.
Library of Congress scholar Mina Marefat says Frank Lloyd Wright's plans resonate with new meaning today, as the U.S. struggles to rebuild Iraq.
MINA MAREFAT, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: The key element in what Wright has done is that he shows that he's not interested in erasing the Islamic tradition, but in fact wants to celebrate it and pay homage to it.
KOCH: Wright's designs were commissioned in 1957. The newly oil-rich country bent on turning its capital into a modern metropolis. Islamic symbols and imagery permeate Wright's plans for an opera house, art museums, university and more. There are crescents and elaborate spirals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very ancient in form. The Ilamates (ph) used it. The Sumarians (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KOCH: Domes and spires echo the shape of mosques. There is even a monument to Harun Al-Rashid, the hero of one of Wright's favorite boyhood books, "The Arabian Nights."
(on camera): So he was enamored with this culture even as a boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very much so.
KOCH (voice-over): But Iraqis were put off by Wright's vision for Baghdad.
MAREFAT: They were not so much interested in their own past as they were in getting something modern and looking just like the West.
KOCH: And a 1958 coup ended that Iraqi regime, and along with it, the future of Wright's grand plans. Only one of his Baghdad designs was ever built, this gallery at Arizona State University. Marefat wants the sketches exhibited, and for U.S. planners to take a cue from Wright's work.
MAREFAT: We have to be very respectful of that culture, we have to incorporate the history and the cultural tradition that is so much part of this area.
KOCH: Those leading the reconstruction want Iraqis to see the Wright plans too.
KEVIN MURPHY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: The key would really be to get it to the governing council, to get it to these folks, to take a look to see what has been done. These are extraordinary pieces.
KOCH: An unfulfilled vision from the past, for a city again grappling with its future.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 2, 2003 - 18:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: From the American prairie to the plains of Iraq, Kathleen Koch has discovered a link between an American original, Frank Lloyd Wright, and a grand plan for rebuilding the city of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could call it the forgotten finale. An elaborate design for a new Baghdad, drawn by one of America's legendary architects, just two years before his death.
Library of Congress scholar Mina Marefat says Frank Lloyd Wright's plans resonate with new meaning today, as the U.S. struggles to rebuild Iraq.
MINA MAREFAT, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: The key element in what Wright has done is that he shows that he's not interested in erasing the Islamic tradition, but in fact wants to celebrate it and pay homage to it.
KOCH: Wright's designs were commissioned in 1957. The newly oil-rich country bent on turning its capital into a modern metropolis. Islamic symbols and imagery permeate Wright's plans for an opera house, art museums, university and more. There are crescents and elaborate spirals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very ancient in form. The Ilamates (ph) used it. The Sumarians (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KOCH: Domes and spires echo the shape of mosques. There is even a monument to Harun Al-Rashid, the hero of one of Wright's favorite boyhood books, "The Arabian Nights."
(on camera): So he was enamored with this culture even as a boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very much so.
KOCH (voice-over): But Iraqis were put off by Wright's vision for Baghdad.
MAREFAT: They were not so much interested in their own past as they were in getting something modern and looking just like the West.
KOCH: And a 1958 coup ended that Iraqi regime, and along with it, the future of Wright's grand plans. Only one of his Baghdad designs was ever built, this gallery at Arizona State University. Marefat wants the sketches exhibited, and for U.S. planners to take a cue from Wright's work.
MAREFAT: We have to be very respectful of that culture, we have to incorporate the history and the cultural tradition that is so much part of this area.
KOCH: Those leading the reconstruction want Iraqis to see the Wright plans too.
KEVIN MURPHY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: The key would really be to get it to the governing council, to get it to these folks, to take a look to see what has been done. These are extraordinary pieces.
KOCH: An unfulfilled vision from the past, for a city again grappling with its future.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
