For the past six decades Mehdi Alizadeh has been present on the scene of Iranian contemporary architecture. He is a curi- ous figure whose buildings have in many instances turned into prominent icons of Iranian contemporary architecture and have been fortunate enough to be registered in the National Heritage Index of the country. Unfortunately, not all of his construc- tions have had such a fate and many are replaced with newly strange buildings. We realised this while searching for them. The influence of Alizadeh’s architecture on modern Iranian architectural movement and on its architects cannot be denied. We know him as an architecture who has developed his own ideas in architecture without much ado and built his build- ings through persisting upon and having faith in those ideas. From Pakaneh House, his first building, up to his last works, the buildings at Pardis Technology Park, he has always began his work by respecting the environment. He bases one design upon a small well leading to a qanat and defines the whole project on that basis. In another project, he pays attention to the height and slope of the site and constructs the building in relation to that slope similar to rural mountain constructions. In education too, Alizadeh has had his own ideas. He ex- tends the environment of the school to that of the whole society and does not think of learning as being confined to academic environments. In education, he lays much weight on social rela- tions and respects professional skills gained outside academy. In early 80s Alizadeh made an extensive attempt to develop a scheme for revolutionising the educational system and basing it both on education and practice. This is perhaps why he was also involved in the basic idea behind KAD scheme (Work and Knowledge) at high schools during those years: an idea that was never realised up to his expectation. We find the roots of the same idea in the interview with the architect. It stems from a deep dissatisfaction he experienced at the university forcing him to train himself outside the academy and to learn through hard work what he had not been taught. He speaks of his deep belief in the development of engineering knowledge in Iran during two important industrial phases in the country: the first one happening through the formation and rapid development of the oil industry, and in later decades, through the establish- ment and elaboration of the automotive industry, both of which resulted in the expansion of different layers of technical and engineering knowledge within society. If you ask Mehdi Alizadeh himself regarding his status in Iranian architecture he would describe himself as the following: documenter. He says he was an architect attentive to the devel- opments of time and place trying to document such changes in his works. Through constructing buildings that respond to the changes and consequent demands, he tried to represent in his architecture the formation of a transformed society and show and respond to the transformation of people’s social life style; people who once lived in houses where genies resided on their shelves but now live in a very different type of housing. Such point of view stems from his reflections upon and sensitivity towards social relations within society and has resulted in the
construction of some of the best examples of residential build- ings of the past 50 years. In addition to his excellent houses, he has also applied the same view in his larger scale projects. In the design for the reorganisation of Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, in his design for Farabi University Campus in Azimi- yyeh district in Karaj and in designing technology parks we wit- ness the synergy of architectural outlook and social concerns of the architect. During the six decades of his career, Mehdi Alizadeh also experienced working outside the country. The activities of the Dubai branch of his office in the years before the revolution and his cooperation with distinguished European companies in those years have shaped another side of his architectural perspective; an outlook which later resulted in the formation of buildings such as Milad Hall at Tehran International Exhibition Center or the administrative buildings of Pardis Technology Park. This is the same path mentioned before: one that begins with Pakaneh and extends to Pardis Technology Park. It is many years now that Mehdi Alizadeh has accompanied Memar Magazine and the family of Memar, or even before that, the Abadi Magazine: his contributions were at the beginning through his works, later as a member of the editorial board of Memar Magazine as well as a contributor to Shahr magazine. Apart from the magazine, he has also helped the organisers of the Memar Award, as a jury member, critic, consultant and supporter. After all these years of acquaintance, we confess we have not yet fully discovered Mehdi Alizadeh. We have not known all his facets: he can still surprise us in any interview and the diversity of his buildings still astonishes us.