The fifth annual conference of the Iranian Architects Society, titled “Architecture, Sustainability and Participation,” was held on 29–31 October 2007 (7–9 Aban 1386) at the Iranian Artists' Forum, Tehran. Sustainability — the guiding theme of the 2008 Turin UIA Congress — and participation, the inner content of the Society's first general assembly, were the two focuses of the conference.
The conference secretary Hamidreza Naser-Nasir opened by describing sustainability as an all-encompassing concept for harmony with the surrounding environment, and participation as a historic and necessary achievement for coordination and the acceptance of responsibility. After remarks by the Society's secretary, Kamran Shahinfar spoke about the founding of the Society and its board's record, and the message of the UIA secretary for World Architecture Day was read. It stated in part: “Roughly 50 percent of greenhouse gases are produced by the construction and transport sectors. The building sector alone is responsible for 50 percent of annual energy consumption. Architects must be exacting about how energy is used in every material they employ.” Cyrus Bavar then spoke on sustainable architecture and urbanism, calling sustainability dependent on flexibility and on a coordinated, cohesive society.
In one session, the architectural works of Mehdi Alizadeh were reviewed across three periods, and at the close the “Architect of the Year 1386” tribute was presented to Mehdi Alizadeh — for a lifetime of dedication to the profession — by Iraj Kalantari, the previous year's selected architect.
