Blending Cultures

by John Comer

What may be the most outstanding piece of architecture in the entire state of Arizona, ASU’s Grady Gammage Auditorium, began its life on the drawing board as the Baghdad Opera House. Its concept was transferred from the banks of the Tigris River in Iraq, its intended home, to the campus of ASU, situated alongside Arizona’s Salt River.

Back in the 1950s, noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design, in his words, “a cultural center for the place where civilization began.” By this he meant Iraq, whose geography pretty well encompasses old Mesopotamia, the Land between the Rivers, a key part of the Fertile Crescent, that sliver-of-the-moon-shaped area considered to be the cradle of civilization. But when the then king of Iraq was murdered during a military revolution in 1958, Wright’s plans were canceled.

Designs for Wright’s Iraqi buildings depended heavily on ancient Mesopotamian architecture, including ziggurat towers, which call to mind the ill-fated tower of Babel. When called upon to produce a performing arts auditorium for ASU, Wright adapted his Baghdad Opera House concept to fit this American university campus.

Baghdad is known as the City of the Arabian Nights, and original plans for the opera house called for a series of arches, each containing a sculpture representing some Arabian Nights character (such as Sinbad the Sailor, and no doubt others even saltier than he). Fifty tall columns separated by graceful arches, none of them containing Arabian Nights characters, support the redesigned building with its round roof. The circular walkway leading up to the auditorium’s entrance recalls the spiral construction of Mesopotamia’s ziggurat temples. As I’ve walked up it, I’ve wondered if such an ascending spiral is not exactly the kind of path Babel’s planners planned to take to heaven.

Modern buildings echoing ancient architectural themes can produce lovely structures, as seen on the ASU campus. Babel’s spirals translate as graceful designs that will always be beautiful. But Babel’s rebellious spirit flouting God is another matter. There’s nothing pretty about opposing God. For the most part, Mesopotamian civilizations degenerated into paganism, a crude and ugly business. There will always be a blending of cultures. We’re surrounded by choices—some new, some very old, some good, some bad. We just need to be careful which influences we imitate and adopt.