Books Published by Memar Publishing Institute
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Issue 131 of Memar Magazine is dedicated to the introduction of Cyrus Bavar. As an influential figure in contemporary Iranian architecture, we have endeavored to survey his thinking, personality, and experiences in architecture and urban planning. Through the works he has built over more than half a century, through his writings, and through what he has taught during this same period. The first time, in 1383 (2004), in issue 27 of Memar Magazine, Shahab Katouzian introduced and critiqued his works in a conversation with him, and today, seventeen years later, we present a fairly comprehensive dossier of Cyrus Bavar and all he has accomplished. Bavar offers a fascinating description of himself and his professional standing. He says: "In my youth I was a hunter, and later, distancing myself from hunting, I took up professional mountaineering and nature trekking." He has experienced several journeys to the north of the country through the mountainous paths of the Alborz on foot. "Throughout my life I have been a skilled tennis player, with a record of runner-up in the national university competitions, and until a year or two ago I was a regular on the tennis courts. I have also participated several times in national rally car racing competitions. And of course, alongside all of this, I am also an architect." He taught architecture for years at the National University (today Shahid Beheshti University) and the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran, and later at other universities. After returning from Italy in the 1960s, he joined the National Iranian Oil Company and then, without receiving a salary, began teaching at the National University, later joining the University of Tehran, where from 1350 to 1352 (1971-1973) he served as professor and head of the architecture department. Bavar has also practiced architecture and has experience working in several countries, including Italy and Brazil. He still maintains his attachment to modern architecture with firm conviction, and everything he has done throughout his professional career has followed this discipline. As an architect, he holds distinct ideas and social commitments that occupy a special place in his architectural and urban planning outlook. Cyrus Bavar is also an urban planner. He was among the first professors to teach the history of modern urban planning in Iranian universities, and from 1356 to 1357 (1977-1978) he also served as head of the urban planning department at the University of Tehran, carrying out noteworthy urban planning projects such as the Shiraz Master Plan, the Yazd Master Plan, the Saveh Industrial Township Plan, and the development plan for the Imam Reza Shrine. In continuing to acquaint ourselves with the facets of Cyrus Bavar personality, one can find a fascinating characteristic in him: a delicate potential for rebellion against what he considers not as it should be. In the 1330s (1950s), during his student years at the Faculty of Fine Arts, in Foroughi atelier, this very rebellion compelled him to forsake his diploma rather than submit to the unattainable judgment of the head, Seyhoun, and to seek an architectural knowledge different from what he had acquired at the Faculty of Fine Arts, traveling to Italy and the University of Florence. After completing his studies and returning to Iran, with this same spirit of rebellion and dissatisfaction with what he had learned at Fine Arts, he was drawn to the National University
and began teaching architecture in the manner he believed it should be taught, not in the way it was taught at Fine Arts. It was not long before he encountered difficulties there as well and realized he could not bring about the change he was seeking. So he went to the University of Tehran and Fine Arts, where his friend and colleague Mirfendereski was now the department head and with whom he shared great intellectual affinity, and pursued his new ideas in teaching architecture there. Later, in order to have books and resources for his students, he also turned to translation. Perhaps for five decades, the first acquaintance of architecture students with Cyrus Bavar traces back to his translation of Leonardo Benevolo History of Modern Architecture, which was published in 1353 (1974). It was one of the first resources in the Persian language on modern architecture, made available to architects and architecture students through his efforts. Before the translation of this book, no Persian-language resource for familiarization with world modern architecture existed. His next book, this time written by himself and the product of extensive research to compile a collection of modern architectural works in Iran from the 1330s to the 1370s (1950s-1990s) and the conditions of architecture during this period, was published in 1389 (2010) under the title A Look at the Emergence of New Architecture in Iran. His latest book, titled The Book of Oil, which is an extensive dossier on the role of oil, the British, and the nationalization of the oil industry in the culture of industrialization and education, is also in the process of being published. Bavar possesses a fluid pen and a commendable skill in writing to express what is on his mind, which is evident in the numerous articles he has authored. During the preparation of this issue, at our first visit to his home, he surprised us once again. We encountered an extensive collection of his designs, paintings, and architectural sketches, as well as those of his brother Farrokh Bavar, which demonstrated the skill and aesthetic understanding of these two brothers in painting and drawing. His hand drawings related to each project he spoke about evoked a forgotten feeling.