From Masonry Design to Social Agency: Shifting Contemporary Urban Landscape of Post-war Iran

Stretched along the northern mountains of Tehran, Ferdowsi Garden (30 acres) —the recipient of a 2001 Aga Khan Architecture Award—represents a synchronized rendition of a “nature-urban” public landscape at both the micro and macro scales. Initially conceived with the goal of limiting the urban sprawl that was leading to the destruction of many private and public gardens that once graced the city, the design and craft of the Ferdowsi Garden has exceeded that objective at many levels. Commissioned by the (former) reformist Mayor of Tehran for an “innovative approach to environmental design, which limits urban development and promotes an awareness of conservation and nature amongst the urban population of Tehran,” the design successfully achieved environmental, sociocultural, and political aspects. In Postwar Iran and at a time of societal shifts in the nation, the design of Ferdowsi Garden responded to the needs and aspirations of a diverse and divided society. The design in part satisfied the formal view of a conservative state, and partly fulfilled the informal aspirations of the society, two perspectives with minimal overlap. This paper examines the underpinnings of design thinking and process associated with Ferdowsi Garden through the following lenses: environmental, material, and sociocultural, attributes. This paper also examines the inherent connection between each of these categories. How informed and playful use of material can draw from larger cultural and environmental contexts and grant a social identity to placemaking? How meticulous masonry design can relate to suppressed aspirations of a city (both environmentally and culturally) and its inhabitants? And how these can be as social agencies in terms of designed spaces. The study draws on field studies conducted by the author, existing literature, and most importantly, original drawings, notes, construction photographs, and interview with the project designer.

Volume Editors
David Ruy & Lola Sheppard

ISBN
978-0-935502-95-4