Mohamed Makiya

[3] At the Baghdad Central Secondary School, he excelled in mathematics and showed sufficient promise to be selected as one of 50 students to be awarded a scholarship to study in England.

[7] In 1941, while undertaking post-graduate studies in England, he met his future wife, English-born, Margaret Crawford, who later travelled to Baghdad to marry him, in spite of some resistance from her family.

[11] However, by the mid-20th century, Iraq was undergoing a period of 'modernisation' and many traditional houses were being demolished, paving the way for contemporary designs.

[12] The challenge for contemporary architects was how to incorporate traditional design elements while using modern materials and techniques.

[13] Mohamed Makiya, along with local architects, who had been trained in Europe, including, Makkiyya al-Jadiri, Mazlum, Qatan Adani and Rifat Chadirji took up this challenge, and in so doing, were pivotal to the development of a distinctly national style of architecture.

[27] Mohamed Makiya spent his final years, in exile, living in London's Bayswater,[28] where his wife died in 2013.

His son, Kanan Makiya, had also trained as an architect, but left the family business to become an academic in the United States.

[30] He also built numerous commercial buildings, including banks, libraries, government offices and private residences.

[31] In addition, he won competitions for designs for public projects, such as the Baghdad State Mosque and the Tikrit Ceremonial Parade Grounds, that never came to fruition.

[42] In 2016, Iraq honored two of its most celebrated architects, Mohammed Makiya and Zaha Hadid, with postage stamps.