Architects and ‘Architecture without Architects’: Modernization of Iranian housing and the birth of a new urban form Narmak (Tehran, 1952)

Abstract

This essay investigates the Iranian encounter with and influence on the international modernist movement. The reception of international modernist discourses and their weaving into Iranian housing- and city-building practices contributed to the formation of a peculiar, alternative, and indigenous version of modernism that took hold in the 1950s. While such practices were clearly part of the international modern movement, they were simultaneously definable as uniquely Iranian. By analyzing the Narmak quarter in Tehran, this paper explores how the production of a middle-class neighborhood became part of a nation-building strategy. Through processes of moderation and appropriation, the idealistic modernist version was made more practical based on pre-existing socio-cultural characteristics and typological elements. Ultimately, this local version of modernism led to the acceptance of modernism, provoked an urban reaction and produced some unexpected social consequences.