Cultural centers could be categorized as enclosed urban spaces which accommodate different functions of commercial, cultural, educational, as well as recreational activities. They are places for leisure, recreation, and social interaction, and they provide a suitable context for dynamic interaction between the city and its citizens. That is why they supersede other single-purpose and somewhat passive cultural functions like the museum and gallery.
Public attention to the cultural centers of Tehran, though with delay relative to other countries, is indicative of their success in attracting the broadest sectors of society. Following is a critique of Khavaran Cultural Center, which is located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tehran.
Urban Context
The area around Khavaran features retail shops, traditional bazaars, and large-scale commercial centers at various urban, district, and neighborhood levels, as well as administrative, health, service, and educational facilities forming a relatively complete ensemble. The sharp colors of modernity are less visible in the local fabric, and more traditional forms have been preserved. Cinema, theater, and art institutions are absent. Valuable roots of popular resilience exist behind this low level of urban life.
It took a long time for new social institutions to take shape and draw upon urban functions. The research of the 1990s and 2000s, all conducted amid crises, and thirty-five years of organizational cultural governance, reveal that the main cause of this crisis has been the exclusion and specialization of scientific and technological activities for advanced thinkers, failing to meet the needs of ordinary people.
These reflections on new modes of cultural space-making, which undertook to create changes in Tehran's southern districts, were the product of a reconsideration of institutional approaches to these types of spaces. In practice, they proved that Tehran's broad reception of cultural centers—built with considerable delay relative to other countries but at a remarkable pace—demonstrated that cultural centers are the beloved spaces of Tehran's citizens.
Program and Functions
The internal functions include a commercial bazaar and various rental shops, a cultural-educational section, a recreational section, a library, a religious space and prayer hall, an amphitheater tower, porticos, and open courtyards. These services are well provided in two shifts, morning and afternoon. A cultural center is fundamentally a means of organizing educational and artistic activities and creating social connection. Many cultural center buildings respond to the requirements of cultural center services. The bazaar and shops constitute an essential part of the cultural center's space.
The facade at the entrance comprises a collection of somewhat elaborate buildings with stone and colored surfaces, signs of constructional luxury, and the use of Iranian architectural elements—arches, columns, and windows inspired by decorative motifs mainly related to tilework and historical forms. The first examples of this approach in Tehran have been relatively successful.
Assessment
The success of the refinery-like ideas in the physical reality of the cultural center—including the mosque, commercial spaces, social behavior patterns across upper and lower levels and gardens, cinema, exhibitions, and artistic games—means that Tehran's cultural centers remain the most popular urban complexes. The bazaar plays the worthiest cultural center role.
Khavaran's building complex is arranged from elements and building groups, with the gallery, amphitheater, and buildings at district and neighborhood scales. The functional organization can be observed as follows: the central building for local and regional significance; the amphitheater for functional integration; the grand central bazaar and local ceremonial halls; and the division into southern and eastern sections.
Despite its ambitions, the combination of architectural elements and materials at Khavaran raises questions about coherence. The exaggerated entrance and symmetrical organization of the building, the inconsistent metal benches, and the peculiar combination of traditional and modern window treatments reveal the tensions inherent in attempting to create a culturally meaningful space within the constraints of rapid development in Tehran's underserved neighborhoods.