The Grand Memar Award, founded in 2001 by Memar Architecture Magazine, was established with the aim of introducing and documenting contemporary architecture in Iran. The Grand Memar Award, the only major architecture prize in Iran in the contemporary era, continues its activity in its third edition.
The prizes are awarded in two main categories: Public Buildings and Residential Buildings. The number of projects registered in the third edition exceeded 339 — of which, in the Public Buildings category, 33 projects, and in the Residential Buildings category, 48 projects, advanced to the semifinal stage. In the third edition, the jury of renowned Iranian and international architects has brought the projects through to two separate final categories.
Members of the Third Edition Jury
- Master Mohsen Foroughi
- Master Mehrdad Iravanian
- Howard Burns (architectural historian from Cambridge and Harvard)
- Karl-Otto Ellefsen (Director of the Oslo School of Architecture)
- Mokulhari Massie (Harvard graduate, New York architect)
- Malouf Lakhpanvar (Iranian architecture specialist)
- Jamal Lakhpanvar
Winners of the Third Grand Memar Award
Public Buildings Category
- 1st Place: Tehran Bar Association — Naghshe Jahan Pars Consulting Engineers (architects: S. Hadi Mirmiran, Farhad Atefi)
- Semifinalist projects: Selected by the jury
Residential Buildings Category
Selected projects in this category emphasised responsive design to social needs and the preservation of Iranian identity.
The complete report of the jury sessions, the specifications of the final projects and the interview with the jury are presented in the following pages of this issue (pages 32–59).
