NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2012 — (PRNewswire) —  The Center for Architecture announces the opening of two concurrent exhibitions on architecture in the Middle East. City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982, in its U.S. debut, presents built and unbuilt work by 11 architects, including Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown. The second show, CHANGE: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present surveys more than 120 contemporary works in 20 countries and territories.

Taken together, the two shows demonstrate the diversity of approaches to design in the Middle East and examine the forces of modernization and colonialism shaping the region's cities.

"These two exhibitions further the Center for Architecture's commitment to global dialogue," said Joseph J. Aliotta, AIA, LEED AP, President of the AIA New York Chapter. "Over the past two years, the Center's exhibitions have grappled with recent international developments in the built environment, such as the rapid growth of Chinese cities and informal urban strategies in India. CHANGE and City of Mirages document and present the ongoing transformations of cities around the world."

The exhibitions will both open at the Center on February 22, 2012, with a reception from 6:00-9:00pm; the opening is free to the public.

"The Middle East is undergoing 'change,'" said Hassan Radoine, Ph.D., curator of the exhibition CHANGE. "Building on centuries of rich architectural and urban heritage, contemporary architecture and engineering in the region are shaping new social and economic realities."

City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982, curated by Pedro Azara, describes an era in which Baghdad was a thriving, cosmopolitan city with an ambitious program of modernization led by international architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Jose Luis Sert, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Gio Ponti, Alison and Peter Smithson, and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. The exhibition comprises 16 models of various scales representing both built and unbuilt works by these distinguished architects.

The exhibitions are on view from February 22 until May 5 (City of Mirages) and June 23 (CHANGE). 

SOURCE The Center for Architecture