Seldom will you find an inhabitant of Tehran or even a foreign visitor whose attention is not attracted to the numerous new projects being built in every street and alley: Tehran has turned into a large construc- tion site. If you ask our fellow architects abroad, they would confess that they envy this huge demand for construction in Tehran, and in terms of the number of construction projects, they find Tehran a heaven for architecture. According to the statistics presented by Atlas of Tehran Metropolis website, 168’000 residential units received construction permits in 2001. Construction, at its lowest, was around 64 thousand units in 2005. In Tehran, the share of the residential sector in overall construc- tion (including offices, commercial and industrial buildings) is around 90 per cent, that is to say, this sector also plays an important role in the making the urban façade of the city, a façade in the construction of which, according to observers, it is impossible that architects and professional architects have played the smallest role. The critiques of architects and designers, which are no more influential in this process than the observers, appear in everyday conversations and in different journals. The major policies of the organizations in charge of the city, including municipalities and city councils, not only have had no desirable essential effect on construction but have rather guided the projects towards becoming capitalist commodities. In these policies, housing is no longer considered a place for the life and comfort of the inhabitants, but rather their capital. In developed countries such as the UK and northern American countries with a high rate of home ownership, which seem to have been our models, the process of defining and starting projects is the duty of particular experienced institution and happens through finan- cial bank investments. There, the investment for most of the projects is done completely or to a great extent by banks and reliable credit institutions. The reputation of the construction teams and their profes- sional background can influence the amount of investment and the
ease with which it is paid back. In this process, the construction team, whether a large group or a personal builder, must observe all quantita- tive and qualitative standards and regulations and are obliged to hire experienced managers and professional teams for designing and constructing the project. When the project is finished, the buyers can occupy the building by paying 10 to 25 per cent of the total price of the property. In our country, the same way a builder builds the project by his own money in cash, the buyer should also pay him the total amount, which is huge sum for a normal family. This is so common in Iran that its peculiarity and nonsensicality is no longer noticed. In the developed countries, in addition to such procedures, compli- mentary tax regulations (including heavy taxation on multiple dealings of the same property in a short period of time without using them) and tax exemptions (including construction with proper funding methods) prevent shelters from turning into sheer commodities. All these factors provides with much power the amateur yet capitalist client who considers housing his own realm and turns him into an authority in all matters of construction quantity and quality and restricts the role of architects and engineers, as professionals of the field, to a minimum. Considering the high number of permits issued by the municipality for projects in different districts of the city, one can say that the projects done by professional architects and specialists (namely proper construction) hardly reaches two per cent of the whole construction. It is a fact that Tehran resembles a huge construction site and considering the short life-time of these buildings and the huge demand thereof, it is more than natural that it is so. However, we can legiti- mately doubt in this situation being a ‘heaven for architects’! From afar, Tehran is a feast of builders. A huge banquet held without archi- tects being invited: much ado about nothing. An enormous amount of money and capital is spent without any acceptable results. This proc- ess will continue until macro organizational, political and economic infrastructures are accurately defined and organized.
، از كتاب شب ها و سايه ها90x120 ،، رنگ روغن روي بوم1374 نقاشي از ثميلا اميرابراهيمي، تهران؛Painting by Samila Amirebrahimi, from the book Night and Shadow, 90x120 cm, Tehran, 1995
Painting by Pantea Rahmani, 156x514