Gensler designs forested district as "a beacon for the rebirth" of Baghdad

Architecture studio Gensler has released visuals of an urban district it has designed for Baghdad, Iraq, which will be set within an extensive forest with one million trees.

Named Baghdad Sustainable Forests, the masterplan is conceptualised by the studio as an "ecological and urban district" for Iraq's capital city, encompassing a 10-million-square-metre forested site.

According to Gensler, Baghdad Sustainable Forests replaces a former military campsite that has been holding more than 45 million tonnes of waste. It is being created for the developer Emkanat.

It will include landmark towers alongside residential, retail and commercial spaces, surrounded by parks, green corridors and one million trees.

"Baghdad Sustainable Forests reimagines over 10 million square metres of neglected land as a new ecological and urban district, with forests, parks, and green corridors forming the backbone of the design," said Gensler's global director of cities Ian Mulcahey.

"The vision is to restore the land, create thriving mixed-use villages, and position Baghdad as both a catalyst for local regeneration and a global model for urban resilience," he told Dezeen.

"The project will become a beacon for the rebirth of one of the most ancient cities in the world," added senior associate Glenn Wilson.

Forests and green corridors will occupy most of the expansive site and will be interspersed with a series of mixed-use "lifestyle villages".

These villages will provide 1.5 million square metres of retail and commercial infrastructure to serve as hubs for education, leisure and business.

Shaded streets and plazas will be designed to accommodate walking, cycling and e-scooters, and will carve through the site to connect the hubs.

A sequence of gateways will demarcate Baghdad Sustainable Forests, including the 260-metre-tall Al Rasheed Gateway tower and the River Gateway, which will reopen a stretch of the river Tigris to the public.

Renders of Baghdad Sustainable Forests reveal the Al Rasheed Gateway will have a curved form that tapers towards its peak, raised on a round-edged square base.

Other key landmarks will include The National Pavilion, which is set to rise 110 metres and become a "civic symbol of renewal".

There will also be a series of themed forests, including the Arts and Culture Forest, the Health and Wellness Forest, the Kids and Entertainment Forest and the Sports and Fitness Forest.

"Transforming this neglected land into a living forest district turns a symbol of environmental damage into one of renewal," Mulcahey said.

"Forests and green corridors make up the majority of the site," he continued. "Some areas will remain wild to foster biodiversity, while others will provide trails, plazas, and gardens for daily community use."

Other masterplans recently featured on Dezeen include a waterfront district designed by Snøhetta to echo the mountain landscape in Borneo and the Khalid Bin Sultan City in Sharjah by Zaha Hadid Architects.

The renders are courtesy of Gensler. 

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