Infilling and Architectural Addition and Its Effect on the Integration of the Contemporary City Townscape

The concept of urban infill has been associated with urban renewal policies and crystallized in many themes. Therefore it is considered part of an inclusive vision. The urban infill has been introduced by several researchers with different attitudes, such as (new substances, Interpolation, Urban Intervention, Urban Addition, and Architectural Addition). As a result of the erosion and tattering to which most of the heritage buildings have been exposed, besides, the need to a re-integration in the relations between additions to contemporary products and the extent of their impact on the old building and the traditional context as a whole, The Research Problem emerged through the separation of the urban Townscape of the traditional entity due to developmental interventions and recent additions to the building and the historical context. Consequently, The Research Objectives emerged in order to find out the appropriate mechanisms for infilling and architectural addition when dealing with a traditional building so that we can achieve integration in the urban context between old and new within the contemporary city Townscape. To conduct the research problem, a theoretical framework has been established for the concept of infilling and architectural addition, in addition to emphasizing the relationship between the old and the new buildings to create a continuous architecture with content that reflects its present and belongs to its past. Accordingly, The Research Hypothesis introduced that the success of the mechanisms in creating urban integration between the old and the new, depends on achieving appropriate infill and architecture addition, and on choosing the integrative element (As Bond) between them; the research sample was tested on choosing the location of the Mutassarifiah Building in Baghdad within the new district of Hassan Pasha (Al-Rusafa) in Baghdad Center Design Competition (Rifa'a Al-Jadrji Award for Architecture, 2018) for the proposed winning design projects. The research adopted the analytical scientific method and concluded that the urban infill and the new addition should take into account the existing original form and context to create a balance between them appropriately, and provide an intellectual displacement that reflects the elements of the new era, but without confusion and disturbance.