2013

Esmaeil Talaei, born in 1945 in Tehran, completed his architectural education in Italy and taught for a period at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence. He began his professional career in Iran in 1990 (1369 SH). Since 1994 he has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Art and Architecture at Azad University while simultaneously leading the Talaei Architecture and Urbanism Group. His practice has focused primarily on public buildings including clubs, cinema-theaters, sport and cultural complexes, and residential villas. Notable works include the Zaferanieh Multi-Purpose Club, Baharan Cinema-Theater Complex, Lavasan Residential Villas, Zarafshan Cultural-Sport Complex, Vanak Cultural-Sport Complex, and the renovation of the Iran-Bastan Museum. His collaborative work with Shahrivar Izadi during 1990-1993 produced several significant public buildings in Tehran.

Iraj Kalantari Taleghani (b. 1938, Tehran) is a renowned contemporary Iranian architect. He graduated with an MA in Architecture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran in 1964. In 1974 he founded Bavand Consultants, where he still holds the position of chairman of the board. With over 20 years of teaching experience at the University of Tehran, Azad University, and the University of Science & Technology. In 2005 he was selected as Architect of the Year by the Society of Iranian Architects.

Mehrdad Yazdani has practiced at the intersection of the large office and the small studio. He has succeeded in bringing a design sensibility characteristic of boutique firms to a broad portfolio of significant landmark buildings. With over 25 years of design experience, as Design Director of the Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design Mehrdad is a respected member of the international design community. His award-winning designs are noted as groundbreaking and transformative for some of the world’s top corporations, institutions and governments. Mehrdad continually shapes the boundaries of art and design regularly exhibiting his work in galleries throughout the U.S. His artwork is part of the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art and Albright-Knox Art Gallery in New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art garnering numerous

Mohammad Majidi is an Iranian architect born in Tehran in 1967. He graduated with a Master's degree in Architecture from Shahid Beheshti University in 2002 and founded Bonsar Architects in 1996. Under his leadership, the studio has completed over 100 projects and received numerous national and international awards. Notable works include the Charsou Bazaar commercial center in Tehran (2012-2015, 67,150 sqm), the Chizari Residential Apartment, and the Mottahari Office Building. He served as a jury member for the 13th Memar Award in 2013 and is a frequent speaker at design critique sessions and architectural conferences.

Sirous (Cyrus) Bavar (born 1934, Shiraz) is an Iranian architect, urban planner, and architectural educator. He graduated in architecture from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran and earned his PhD in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence, Italy. He served as head of the Architecture Department and Urban Planning Department, was a faculty member at the University of Tehran (1971-79), a member of the Urban Master Plan Review Council at the Ministry of Housing, a founding board member of the first Tehran Architecture Organization (1977), and director and designer of the master plans for Shiraz, Yazd, and the Industrial City of Saveh.