Semifinalists — Public Buildings
The Editor

Ali Kermanian is an Iranian architect and urban designer. He served as Managing Director of Ali Kermanian & Associates from 1990 to 2008, overseeing nearly 160 architectural design and development projects in Tehran. He earned a Grade 1 professional architect status in 2000 and became a member of the Iranian Architects' Association in 2004. In 2005, he was one of four Iranian representatives in the Union of International Architects (UIA). He previously worked at Price & Dusek architects in London (1988-1990) and served as Head of the Faculty of Architecture at Central Azad University in Tehran (1993-1995).

Hossein Sheikh Zeineddin, the managing director of Bavand Consultant, received his Master in Architecture from the School of Fine Arts of Tehran University, in 1967. He joined Bavand in 1974, and became a member of Bavand's Board of Directors in 1982. Throughout his design career at Bavand, he has been responsible for many award winning

Rambod Eilkhani is an Iranian architect who holds a Master of Architecture from Shahid Beheshti University. From 2002 to 2012, he was a partner at Arsh Design Studio in Tehran, and in 2012 co-founded Shift Process Practice with Nashid Nabian. Eilkhani is recognized as a pioneer of his generation in Iranian architecture, having won multiple Memar Awards — his studio has received seven in total. His notable projects include the Dowlat Residential Complex and the Shahinshahr Bus Terminal in Isfahan.
The 17th Memar Award competition received 311 submissions across four categories: Individual Dwellings, Apartment Buildings, Renovation, and Public Buildings. In the first round, 134 projects advanced to the semifinal stage and were asked to submit their full documentation. The second-round judging took place on October 7-8, 2017 (Mehr 15-16, 1396) with a jury panel comprising Hossein Sheikh Zeineddin, Reza Daneshmir, Ali Kermanian, Rambod Eilkhani, and Zhi Wenjun from China. On the first day, the jury narrowed the 134 semifinalists down to finalists through a process of elimination using individual negative votes. On the second day, each juror selected their top choices, and then individually ranked their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place preferences with scores of 3, 2, and 1 points respectively. Tehran Book Garden won unanimously in the Public Buildings category with a perfect score of 15 points.
The judging process followed a three-step methodology: (1) Each juror was given individual colored stickers to cast negative votes, eliminating projects from the semifinal pool — remaining projects became finalists. (2) From the finalists, each juror selected their preferred projects with positive votes (colored stickers). Projects receiving no positive votes were eliminated. (3) Each juror individually ranked their top three choices: 3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, 1 point for 3rd place. Final rankings were determined by aggregate scores. Jurors could also nominate projects for special commendation.