Idigna Renewal Islands

In ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris—known as Idigna—was the foundation of Iraq’s civilization, shaping its culture and identity for millennia. Today, rapid urbanization, pollution, and neglect have weakened this historic connection. The Regenerative Idigna Islands project reimagines Baghdad’s neglected river islands as a connected ecological network that restores biodiversity, improves water quality, and reconnects communities with the river while reviving cultural memory. Beginning with the Ajana Island pilot, the project redefines architecture beyond buildings as active ecological infrastructure.

It wasn’t the island that started the Regenerative Idigna Islands, but the river. Once the lifeblood of one of the world’s oldest civilizations, the Tigris has gradually faded from everyday life in Baghdad, now often seen only briefly from bridges between Karkh and Rusafa. This quiet disconnection between the city and its river is the starting point of the project, which asks how architecture can reconnect people to the river rather than simply build beside it.

Why are the Neglected Islands there?

There are over 20 islands in the Tigris that are located in the city of Baghdad. Although they have high ecological value, most of these islands are remote, unmaintained and cut off from the urban life of the city. Instead of seeing these islands as "wasted" real estate, the project sees them as a chance to form an interconnected ecological network that will help heal the river and create new public areas for the city. In this vision, every island is not just a piece of land to be forgotten but is a component of a greater whole that benefits biodiversity, cleanses the water, promotes climate change resiliency and attracts visitors.

Idigna Island: Starting Where the Need Is Greatest

Ecological restoration projects usually begin in less disturbed or easier-to-recover sites. This project takes the opposite approach. Idigna Island, covering 60,000 sqm, is located in one of the most heavily polluted sections of the Tigris River. Uncontrolled petroleum waste discharge, along with emissions from nearby power plants and industrial facilities, has severely degraded water quality and contributed to worsening air and environmental conditions.

The project deliberately selects one of the most degraded sites along the river, emphasizing that environmental recovery must begin where damage is greatest. Ajana Island becomes a living prototype where ecological restoration, public space, and architecture merge into a unified system for regenerating degraded landscapes. It functions as a pilot model designed to be replicated across Baghdad’s network of river islands.

Architecture Formed by the Site's Characteristic:

Instead of imposing architecture on the island, the project begins by reading its natural characteristics, allowing them to become the primary driver of design.

The island’s boundaries, wind directions, topography, and natural sedimentation all become key elements that shape the project’s organization. The island is also closer to one riverbank than the other, creating two distinct relationships with the city. The design responds to this difference by concentrating public activities on the more accessible side, while allocating the opposite side to quieter, more natural spaces that reinforce the ecological dimension.

To preserve visual continuity with the Tigris River, the architectural masses are not designed as a continuous barrier; instead, they are distributed in varying sizes and heights, allowing uninterrupted sightlines through the site toward the river. In this way, architecture does not separate the city from the water, but rather frames it and reinforces its presence.

The natural depression within the island, approximately seven meters in depth, is preserved and transformed into the ecological and cultural core of the project—demonstrating that it is the identity of the place that generates the architecture, not the other way around.

Visitor Experience:

Visitors begin their journey before reaching the island, entering through the existing bridge as the main entrance with minimal intervention to the site. A slow spiral path then guides them through the story of Mesopotamian civilization and the Tigris River down to the water level, where architecture and nature merge. Suspended walkways connect the project’s levels, providing shaded, naturally ventilated circulation above the ecological landscape without disturbing it.

Can Construction Become Part of the Restoration Process?

The project treats the island as a source of building material. Sediments from the restoration process are reused on-site: sand stabilizes riverbanks, while clay- and silt-rich soils shape the landscape and foundations. This approach reduces waste and carbon emissions, making construction a direct extension of ecological recovery.

How does the project improve the environment?

The project is based on three interconnected ecological systems. The first is the island framework, integrating floating wetlands, aquatic vegetation, timber structures, and small-scale hydro turbines. Together, these elements purify water, stabilize riverbanks, restore biodiversity, and generate renewable energy. The second system is a passive mist column that combines structural support, shading, and natural cooling through water mist. The third, the Mist Tower, serves as an ecological landmark and symbol of regeneration, improving air quality and highlighting architecture’s active role in environmental healing rather than mere adaptation.

Reviving the Sumerian Kuffa:

Environmental restoration in this project extends beyond technical systems to include cultural memory. It reinterprets the traditional Sumerian kuffa as the Idigna Kuffa, a volunteer-operated river-cleaning boat made within the project. This transforms an ancient Mesopotamian symbol into a contemporary ecological tool that encourages community participation and reconnects people with their river and history.

Beyond the First Island:

Idigna Island represents only the first phase of the project. All ecological, structural, and social systems are designed to be replicable and adaptable across Baghdad’s remaining river islands. Over time, each neglected island becomes an ecological node within an interconnected network stretching along the Tigris River. Together, these nodes form an integrated system for restoring both the river and the city, transforming fragmented landscapes into a continuous regenerative infrastructure.

Rebuilding the Relationship with the Tigris: 

The ambition of the Regenerative Idigna Islands extends beyond environmental restoration; river purification is only part of the challenge. The deeper objective is to restore the lost relationship between people and the Tigris River.