Abstract
This paper addresses the status of ornamental practices in contemporary Iranian architecture, specifically after the Islamic revolution, using a descriptive–analytical method. In this regard, the external appearances of 92 prominent buildings constructed in Tehran between 1979–2013, were examined, and their means of visual expression were analyzed. The results indicate that half of the samples lack ornament; in the others, a noticeable increase in the ornamental element size and visual complexity, as well as a significant decrease in their semantic contents (as compared with traditional ornament) were observed. These are changes that mostly resulted from modernization and subsequent processes such as industrialization and rationalization, as well as the long-lasting influence of modernists’ arguments against such practices. The presence of ornament in architecture, however, is necessary due to its crucial role in increasing the visual coherence of the environment and fulfilling the human desire for order and beauty. Therefore, this paper suggests the replacement of the current dualistic model of thought, which is dominant in the profession and schools of architecture in Iran, with one that provides an opportunity for the coexistence of concepts such as ornament and structure, form and function, and the sensuous and the rational, hence providing a revitalization of ornament in contemporary architecture.
Highlights
Ornament has been present throughout recorded time, revealing human desires, activities, and beliefs (Abercrombie 1990; Brolin 1985; Focillon 1948; Gombrich 1979)
Several scholarly texts have been published in Western countries, in which the nature and function of ornament in contemporary architecture have been re-examined from a variety of perspectives
One could imagine a couple of reasons for this gap, including the absence of significant ornaments in contemporary architecture, and practices in which ornament status is diminished to the status of mere decoration, employed unthoughtfully for showing off the power and wealth of the building owner or the designers’ personal aesthetic tastes
Summary
Ornament has been present throughout recorded time, revealing human desires, activities, and beliefs (Abercrombie 1990; Brolin 1985; Focillon 1948; Gombrich 1979). One could imagine a couple of reasons for this gap, including the absence of significant ornaments in contemporary architecture (which is true with regard to a considerable part of Iranian market-oriented constructions in recent decades), and practices in which ornament status is diminished to the status of mere decoration, employed unthoughtfully for showing off the power and wealth of the building owner or the designers’ personal aesthetic tastes This is a process of degradation, during which ornament has “shifted from a pattern that was integrated with the structure to the role of revetment, from symbolic to commemorative, and from meaningfully designed to arbitrary” The factors that influenced ornament status quo, and some suggestions for its revitalization, will be addressed
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