THE NEW GENERATION AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE LAST TWO DECADES
In Iran from the late Qajarid period, i.e. the second half of the 19th century, we started to experience a kind of architecture and urbanism inspired by western industrial civilization reflect- ed in the facades of our streets, squares, royal palaces, military and governmental buildings and other public structures of our cities. This architecture still had an Iranian touch to it despite its modern tendencies. Reza Shah or the politics ascribed to him, with his hastiness in acquiring the signs of modernity and lack of a sense of historical belonging, weakened the natural and smooth path of following modernity and disrupted the gradual transition from a heritage of taste and technical skills devel- oped in a ‘structuralist and introverted’ architectural tradition to the new ‘functionalist and extroverted’ outlook. The imported and alien nature of the architectural styles coming after this stage is very clear. After the revolution until the end of eight years of Holy Defense, architecture did not find a chance to express itself. It was exactly in those years that, following the extinguishment of the flame of modernism in the 60s and the not very lively feeling of stepping into the postmodern condition in the 70s, the West entered, after making some doubtful experiments and experiences, a new era of architecture which said farewell to the 20th century and the second millennium welcoming the 21st century and the third millennium. In Iran too, under the in- fluence of international developments and with some delay, the 90s and 2000s, was a time of saying goodbye to all modern, postmodern and Iranian modern experiences. It would require another research to explain how the first talented architects of the younger post-revolution generation succeeded in regulating their thought and giving it some orien- tation in the vague conditions of their time with all those illusive news, images and quasi-theories of architecture and to design and construct their first works nearly all of which consisted of small projects and to realize their determination for cutting from an experience which they thought had lost currency in the global scene for engaging in a completely different experience. The history of Memar Award in the past eleven years shows that the new current of architecture in Iran in the past two decades following the international movement of the past thirty years, belongs to, apart from a few exceptions, the generation below fifty years of age. If we consider the Memar Award as a document registering the birth of young professional progres- sive architects and put aside the architects above 50, in eleven years from 2000 to 2011 every year four young architects in average have joined what can be called the new current of architecture. The four architects per year rate also means that the age of competition is decreasing or in other words, the
new current of architecture is receiving its vital force from the youngest. The successful architects of the second half of the 90s have been in average eight years younger than the suc- cessful architects of the first half.
They are trying to experiment and develop their abili- ties in six fields as described below: 1. Expressive and creative skills consisting of two sorts of abilities: one abstract, the other technological, in creating a concept, giving it a form and finally designing the details. In the first tendency, the form is a result of an abstract creativity and in the second it is the product of a technological creativity. The best example of the first group is Daneshmir and the second is Tehranchi. 2. Insight, which is superior to skill and guides it. Abstract skill results in the development and maturity of an abstract method for creating form and skillfulness in technological morphology. Reza Daneshmir is the first young architect who, thanks to a greater level of experience and knowledge, has found an architectural insight of his own. 3. Sources of inspiration, which are either within architec- ture (like form, structure or function) or outside it (like science, philosophy and politics). In both cases, they are either formal or not, constant or changing, Iranian or not. The inspiration of most young architects comes from a formal source. It might be said that Arash Mozaffari, Pooya Khazaeli and Arash Nasiri take their inspiration from social sources while Amin Taj, Afshin Farzin have social-scientific sources of inspiration, Tehranchi, Kalantari and Dabbagh have a technical source and Sheik- holeslam (who has done all his projects with Mohammad Reza Ghanei) is the only young architect whose source of inspiration is structural and Iranian. 4. Strategy, stemming from insight and source of inspira- tion. It can be achieved only after much experience and at the end of the process of investigation, development and maturity in style. Two strategies are more known: structuralism, in the sense of the superiority of form and structure to function and programme and the power to create structures which easily accommodate and carry function and programme. The other is functionalism, which makes use of principles of composition in the absence of the power to create form and structure. Its product is weaker than structuralist strategy. Two other polar strategies include simplicity and fluidity contrasted by complex- ity and ambiguity. Usually, the structuralist strategy achieves simpler and more fluid results while the functionalist strategy ends up in more complicate and vague results. Another pair of polar strategies is professional and amateur strategies. Most
Houshang Seyhoun, Avicenna Mausoleum, Hamedan Abdolaziz Farmanfarmaeiyan Agriculture Ministry
young architects except Daneshmir, Tehranchi and Sheikhole- slam (the first is an abstract structuralist, the second a technical structuralist and the third a comparatively Iranian structuralist) need more experience in order to achieve their own strategy. 5. Character, which shows the relationship of the architect to the client but also influences the quality of the work. The main two elements of character include confidence and positive flexibility. Positive flexibility requires a high level of creativity and potentiality for using the structuralist strategy in creating different options. An architect who provides their client with only one option is an unsuccessful architect. All works of young architects and their success in winning the Memar Award and entering international festivals show their confidence and most of them have this positive flexibility. 6. Level, the resultant of experience and maturity in the five aforementioned criteria. This can be divided into three stages of experimenting, relative maturity and complete maturity. The highest level cannot be achieved easily and requires inde- pendence of thought and method as well as a transition from being under influence to the level of being influential. Maybe in five years we would be able to judge this issue better from the viewpoint of this criterion. In short, apart from Ali Sheikholeslam and Sam Tehranchi, the former being less of a structuralist than the latter while Sheikholeslam somehow enjoys an Iranian source of inspiration in contrast to Tehranchi who is more interested in technology in creating forms and who is probably the only architect who, while being young, is no amateur, the others are still experi- menting in creating forms and are searching for sources of inspiration and strategy. Sheikoleslam, in all whose works Mo- hammad Reza Ghanei, his senior designer, has a share greater than his, is the only architect among the young who, inspired by the structure of Iranian architecture and urbanism using local technical strategy instead of developed and usually imported industrial technologies has come close to an independent and different method and strategy. Reza Danesmir who is oriented
towards an structuralist strategy and abstract formalism, has the highest status according all criteria within the young architects and is the only young architect reaching professional maturity gaining his own style and method. All these young architects mentioned here exploring the world of different inspirational sources within and without archi- tecture, are at the height of their creative endeavours, and our architecture today awaits their future successes. Yet, it should be said that the three younger architects, i.e. Ramin Mehdiza- deh, 28, Pouya Khazaeli Parsa, 31, and Abbas Riyahifard, 29, with the presentation of their first works and exhibiting different talents make it more difficult for others to compete in future. It seems that as we move forward, as mentioned before, younger architects enter the field with more power and courage. The abstract formalism still dominates any other tendency. It can be predicted that functionalism will finally yield to structuralism and this should be welcomed. Riyahifard appears more creative while Khazaeli Parsa is more thoughtful but it is still too early to judge. A couple with a different approach whose work and way of thinking might be interesting and valuable from other aspects should also be mentioned here: Mohammad Reza Ghoddousi and Parsa Ardam who have managed to reach the third rank of Memar Award in the field of small cities and social projects with little budget and use of unskilled local workers who serve as a proof against those knowing no other future for contemporary architecture apart from the star system.
* Seyyed Reza Hashemi graduated in Architecture in 1970 from Tehran Univ., he started his career working on the Master Plan of Hamedan, he has been the Deputy Director for Architecture and Urbanism in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning for a period of 14 years. He was the Deputy for Urbanism also to the Mayor of Tehran in the year 2000, executive manager to many research and educational programs, such as the National Spatial Plan of Development, the drafting of the first National Building Codes and regulations, and the management of hundreds of plans and projects.
Hadi Mirmiran, Sport Center, Rafsanjan Hadi Mirmiran, Competition for Academy Mohammad Reza Ghaneie, Ali Sheikholeslam, Sadri House, Isfahan
Bahram Kalantari, Kourosh Dabbagh, Paykar Bonyan Panel Factory, Parand, 2007
Reza Daneshmir, Cathrine Spirdonof, Mellat Park Cineplex, Tehran, 2008
Pantea Eslami, Alireza Sherafati, Rambod IIlkhani, Dowlat Residential Building, Tehran, 2006
Sam Tehranchi, Telemetric and water telecontrol center, Tehran, 2005
Mohammad Majidi, Furniture Showroom & Warehouse, Tehran, 2005
Amin Tadj, Afshin Farzin,Sci-Tech Park Laboratories, Isfahan, 2009
Pouya Khazaeli Parsa, Bamboo Structure, Maz- andaran, 2010 َAlireza Taghaboni, Parisa Alimohammadi, Villa Lavasan, 2008
arash Nasiri, Ensieh Khamseh, Nor-e Mobin Cultural- Educational Institute, Semnan, 2011
Abbas Riahifard, Farinaz Razavi Nikoo, Barin Ski Residence, Tehran, 2011 Parsa Ardam, Mohammadreza Ghoddousi, Paternal INN, Khansar, 2011 Arash Mozafari, Kashanak Residential Apartment, Tehran, 2011