The western impact on Iranian public architecture, 19th and 20th centuries

© 2016 Dr. Faramarz Hassan PourThis study analyses the ways in which Iranian architecture has been transformed by interaction with the West over the past two centuries. The main questions are how Iranian architecture has interacted with the West during this period, and how the government has affected this process of change. The confrontation between modernity and semi-traditional Iranian society in the last two centuries resulted in the formation of Iranian modernity. The expression of Iranian westernism in architecture, which has been quite different from western architecture, has reflected the cultural and social upheavals of Iran rather than those of the West. Therefore, some theories and methodologies, which seem appropriate for describing western architecture during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, are not applicable to the same period in Iran. Use is made of archives and westerners’ travelogues. To ensure a reasonable coverage of western influenced architecture in Iran, a number of extraterritorial and government buildings are also studied as primary sources. To find out the architectural result of the direct contacts with the West, the architecture of Iranians in the West, such as Iranian exhibition pavilions and embassies, and that of westerners in their diplomatic structures in Iran are studied. To trace the influence of western architecture inside Iran, examples of government and institutional buildings are included in the discussion. The present study fills the gap in the existing literature by examining the relationship between Iranian architecture and the West in the last two centuries, utilising historical research to describe, analyse and interpret the ways in which this interaction happened. Having examined the connection of architecture and state ideology, this thesis argues that western influence was exerted through the will of the rulers, through developments in architectural education, and through the operations of western trained architects within Iran