Habib Ghasemi. An Urban Volcano in the Making

Resilience building in processes led An Urban building Volcano the R esilience processes led Making: A after Cartography the by women naturalof disaster by women after aa natural disaster Socio-spatial Transformation of The case of of Km. 975, Piura, Piura,Peru Peru The case Km .

975, Shahyad/Azadi Square in Iran.

Vera Flores Fernandez Habib Ghasemi Vera Flores Fernandez

Thesis to apply to the grade of Master ThesisoftoScience apply tointhe grade Settlements of Master Human of Science in Human Settlements Supervisors: Supervisor s: Angeliki Paidakaki Prof.

Hilde Heynen Angeliki Paidakaki Dr. Alessandra Gola Viviana d’Auria Viviana d’Auria Jury:

Academic year 2018–2019 2018-2019 Academic year 2018 -2019

An Urban Volcano the Resilience building in processes led Making: A after Cartography the by women a naturalofdisaster Socio-spatial Transformation The case of Km. 975, Piura, Peru Shahyad/Azadi Square in Iran.

HabibFlores Ghasemi Vera Fernandez

Thesis to apply to the grade of Master of Science in Human Settlements Supervisors: Prof.

Hilde Heynen Angeliki Paidakaki Dr. Alessandra Gola Viviana d’Auria Jury:

Academic year 2018-2019

© Copyright KU Leuven Without written permission of the thesis supervisor and the authors it is forbidden to reproduce or adapt in any form or by any means any part of this publication. Requests for obtaining the right to reproduce or utilize parts of this publication should be addressed to Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 bus 2200, B-3001 Heverlee, +32-16-321350.

A written permission of the thesis supervisor is also required to use the methods, products, schematics and programs described in this work for industrial or commercial use, and for submitting this publication in scientific contests.

Zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van zowel de promotor als de auteurs is overnemen, kopiëren, gebruiken of realiseren van deze uitgave of gedeelten ervan verboden. Voor aanvragen tot of informatie i.v.m. het overnemen en/of gebruik en/of realisatie van gedeelten uit deze publicatie, wend u tot Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 bus 2200, B-3001 Heverlee, +32-16-321350.

Voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de promotor is eveneens vereist voor het aanwenden van de in deze masterproef beschreven (originele) methoden, producten, schakelingen en programma’s voor industrieel of commercieel nut en voor de inzending van deze publicatie ter deelname aan wetenschappelijke prijzen of wedstrijden.

Abstract

This thesis studies space as it is being made and reproduced by broader forces which are referred to as a society. Instead of explaining the spatial and social constellation, the study aims to understand the procedure of the interactions. The persistence of Shahyad/ Azadi Square in its process of remaking and multiplication of meaning provides a suitable opportunity to study the interactions between space and society. Controversy Mapping as the educational version of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is used to study the complexities of tensions and track the interactions of various actors and the role that space plays.

The conclusion re-evaluates the function of Shahyad/ Azadi Square’ and re-assesses it as the focal point in the network. In this role, the building by mediating between different elements instead of merely transporting their meanings translates them to contradictory condition .

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To my family, To my brother, always supporting me even in the distance...

Preface

Completing the research would have been impossible without the support and inputs of my supervisor Prof. Hilde Heynen to whom I am indebted. I would also like to thank Dr. Alessandra Gola for her valuable advice and comments throughout the project.

I want to extend my sincerest thanks to Dr. Yahya Ghasemi for his unconditional support and useful insights. I am also thankful to Mohadaseh Mohammad Zade and Dr. Afrooz Ghasemi who helped me in retrieving the documents and the images from Iran National Archive.

I thank all my friend and colleagues at KU Leuven. It was pleasant to work in a supportive, friendly, and productive environment.

Finally, I am grateful to my family for the love and unfailing support and encouragement.

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Table of Contents

Abstract iv Preface viii PART I: INTRODUCTION

1

A Walk in the Revolutionary Path

2

Introduction to the Case Study

2

Research Objectives

5

The Magmatic Flow

7

Introduction to Theoretical Framing

7

On Controversies

9

Crafting the Photographic Gun: Methodology

11

Structure of the Thesis

14

PART II: THE TRAJECTORY

17

First Episode: The Monument

18

Exposition

18

The Agencies

20

The Ancestors: Monumental Mausoleums

20

The White & The Blue: The Formation of The Materiality

22

The Memory & The Memorial: Educating The Next Generation

24

Second Episode- The Gateway

27

Rising Actions

27

The Agencies

29

The Pedagogical Space: The Cultivation of a New Taste

29

The Unveiling & The Progress: The Formation of The Secular Sites

31

The Modern City & The Alternative Space: The Formation of The New Public Space

35

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Third Episode- The Black & The White

37

Climax 37 The Agencies

40

The Black Flag: The Ritual and The Practiced Space

40

The White Revolution: The Reforms of The Practices

45

The New Sensibility: Tradition and Technology

47

Fourth Episode- The Composition

49

Documentation 49 Agencies 52 The Formation of the Concept

52

The Modification of Desig

54

The Everydayness of the Monument

65

PART III: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

81

Revisiting Shahyad/ Azadi Square

82

On the Boundary Between Architecture/ Society

84

Heterogeneous Actors on the Stage

88

Conclusion 89 Forging the Volcano

89

Diagrams

92

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List of Figures

Figure 1- The tyrant Zahhak is nailed to the wall of Damavand, Illustrated in mid 17th century. Reprinted from UNESCO archives, Retrieved from: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ photos/showgallery.php/cat/793 , last visited: 07/08/2019.

3 Figure 2- Azadi Tower and Mount Damavand in Tehran. Reprinted from Flickr, by H.Nikkhah, 2015, Retrieved from https://www.flick .com/photos/shiz/17194525410, last visited: 04/08/2019.

5 Figure 3- Marey's photographic gun and his study of a seagull. Reprinted from Give Me a Gun and I will Make All Buildings Move': An ANT's view of Architecture (pp. 104-105), by B.Latour and A.Yaneva, 2008, Explorations in architecture: Teaching, design, research. 10 Figure 4- Diagram presenting the steps of analysis. Adapted from Mapping controversies in architecture (p.91), by A. Yaneva, 2016, Routledge.

14 Figure 5- People gathering after a massive demonstration of Ashura. Reprinted from Institute of Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies, by Gh.H. Mohammadi, 10 December 1978, Retrieved from http://www.iichs.ir/s/5402, Last Visited: 24/07/2019.

18 Figure 6- Right: Ferdowsi in Tus. Left: Cyrus tomb in Persepolis.

20

Figure 7-The new Ferdowsi statue installed in 1971. Reprinted from Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture 21 in twentieth-century Iran (p,244), by T. Grigor, 2005.

Figure 8-Kamal-Al-Molk mausoleum- Architect: Houshang Seyhoun, 1963.

23

Figure 9-Shahyad Tower designed for diploma projects. Adapted from “Shahyad: A TwoFaceted Symbol� (p.478), by F. Javaherian, 2009, Iran-Nameh, 24(4).

24 Figure 10-Network of the actors described in the first section

25

Figure 11- Reza Shah in the Medical Science in the inauguration of Tehran University, January 15, 1935. Reprinted from Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture in twentieth-century Iran (p,140), by T. Grigor, 2005.

29 Figure 12- The formation of the monumental axis leading to Shahyad Square. Reproduced

by Author.

30 Figure 13- Top: the Archway of Ctesiphon (3th-6th A.D.). Middle: The Museum of Ancient Iran, designed by: Andrea Godard, 1937. Bottom: Shahyad Tower, designed by: Hossein Amanat, 1971. Reproduced by Author.

32 Figure 14- The image shows an advertisement of Iran Air in the early 70s. Shahyad and Iran Air associated with each other from the early stage of the inauguration of the tower.

Reprinted from Shahre Farhang , Retrieved from http://shahrefarang.com/en/iran-air-pre-1979 , last visited: 21/07/2019.

35 xii Urban Volcano

Figure 15-Network of the actors described in the second section

37

Figure 16- Tehran map in 1937, the plan of the new grid of streets and emergence of new institutions. Reprinted from “Tehran, the Scene of Modernity in the Pahlavi Dynasty: Modernisation and Urbanisation Processes 1925–1979” (p.110), by A. Mashayekhi, 2016, Urban Change in Iran.

38 Figure 17- Plan of Tehran in the early 20th century (Qajar era), showing the location of Takye(s). Reprinted from Building to power: architecture of Tehran 1921-1941 (p.332), by M. Marefat,1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 41 Figure 18-Sabz-i-Meidan in the bazaar of Tehran during Moharram in early Twentieth century. Reprinted from “Simulatneity of Music and Urban Space with the Emphasize on Mourning in Tehran (Qajar to Pahlavi I).”(p.38), by M.R. Sharayeli and P.Adelvand, Bagh-eNazar 41 Figure 19- Public space in a modern shopping mall as it was envisioned for the development of Tehran. Reprinted from “The Complete Specific tions of Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan” (p.33), by A. Farman-Farmaian and V. Gruen, 1970, Art and Architecture 41 Figure 20- The rapid urban expansion of Tehran and growth of the bazaar from 1950 to 1960. Adapted from Building to power: architecture of Tehran 1921-1941 (p.11), by M. Marefat,1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 43 Figure 21-Network of the actors described in the third section

49

Figure 22- The Shah flying from Persepolis to Tehran for the next stage of the celebration, one of his companions surprised him with a cake in the form of Shahyad Tower. Octoberm 1971- Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.160), by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University 50 Figure 23- Azadi Tower in Park-i-Shahr, Tehran- 1965. ُReprinted from: Mashruteh, Retrieved from: https://mashruteh.org , Last Visited: 15/07/2019 52 Figure 24- The underlying geometry of Shahyad. Reprinted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 36), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

54 Figure 25- Ribs in Vakil Mosque (left) and Shahyad Tower (center and right). Adapted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 38), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

54 Figure 26 Historical citation in Shahyad.

55

Figure 27- The Shah and government officials are visiting the model of Shahyad Square.

From right: Hoveida (the prime minister), Amanat (the architect), and the Shah. Reprinted from Iran National Archives (2925563, 340/1/2864) 56 Figure 28- The proposed design for Shahyad Square and the sunken courtyards of the museum. Adapted from Facenama, 2013, Retrieved from https://facenama.com/ post/183214667 , last visited: 23/07/2019.

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Figure 29- The interior space of Shahyad Tower- 3rd floor. Reprinted from Instagram, Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BFQHN3CqrqX , last visited: 16/07/2019 57 Figure 30- Left: Shahyad Square modified design. Right: Sheikh Lotfollah mosque and the ornaments on the interior side of the dome. (Right): Reprinted from Azadi Cultural Complex Catalogue, Iran National Archives, (4422806, 41-16695). (Left): Author.

59 Figure 31- The plan of the audio-visual gallery. Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists in the 1970s. (p. 342), by D. Kramerova, 60 2013. Umeni-Art. Figure 32- The second room of audio-visual gallery. Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists in the 1970s. (p. 343), by D. Kramerova, 2013. Umeni-Art. 61 Figure 33- Gallery setting and Teatron projection system in audio-visual hall of Shahyad.

Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists 61 in the 1970s. (pp. 344-345), by D. Kramerova, 2013. Umeni-Art. Figure 34- The plan of the 6th Bahman Museum. Adopted from Mashruteh Retrieved from: https://mashruteh.org/wiki/images/4/49/ShahyadAryamehrBuildingGuide1b.jpg , last visited: 24/07/2019.

63 Figure 35- The defining curve, left: original form, right: final form. Reprinted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 29), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

63 Figure 36- The Laying of Shahyad’a foundation Plaque, 1969.Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.149),

by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University 65 Figure 37- Construction of Shahyad Tower. Reprinted from Mashruteh, Retrieved from https://mashruteh.org/wiki/images/f/fe/ShahyadAryamehrUC11.jpg, Last Visited: 15/07/2019

65 Figure 38- Shahyad Square inaugurated, 1971. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (3171417, 363/1/5302).

65 Figure 39- Image of Shahyad on bus tickets. Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.163), by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University 66 Figure 40- The image of Shahyad on banknote. Reprinted from Wikipedia, Retrived from https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rial_iran%C3%AD. Last Visited:16/07/2019 66 Figure 41- Shahyad in a graphic novel. Adapted from Recapturing the Glory (p.41), by E. Attanasio, 1976, Universtal Publication.

66 Figure 42- Tourists at Shahyad Tower, 1974. Reprinted from Facebook, Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/TehranParirooz/photos/a.521743908005828/521743981339154/?t xiv Urban Volcano

ype=3&theater, Last Visited: 24/07/2019

67

Figure 43- A view to Shahyad from a slum in between 1974 to 1980. Reprinted from Iran 68 National Archives (25-5878), by N. Kasraian, 1974-1980, Zendegi (Life) Collection.

Figure 44- The poster of Mysteries of the Ghost Valley movie. Reprinted from Tiwall, Retrieved from https://www.tiwall.com/p/asrar , last visited: 16/07/2019.

71 Figure 45- Demonstration in 1979. Reprinted from Iran: Islam and the struggle for socialism, Retrieved from Libcom website: http://libcom.org/library/iran-islam-struggle-socialismmohammad-jafar-azar-tabari, Last Visited: 16/07/2019.

73 Figure 46- Shahyad Square in 1971. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (25-3517).

74

Figure 47- Azadi Square in 1979. Reprinted from Institute for Iranian Contemporary History, Retrieved from: http://www.iichs.ir/Upload/Image/139507/Orginal/cb28955d_b9a4_441a_ ae1f_066fe1c3e42b.jpg , last visited: 16/07/2019.

74 Figure 48- Protesters are climbing the monument and write their slogans on the facade, 1979. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (16172).

75 Figure 50- Khomeini’s face is projected on the monument during the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Reprinted from Fars News, by A. Khara, 2018, Retrieved from https://www.812.ir/board/detail/87278/, last visited: 26/07/2019.

77 Figure 51- The newspaper reads “Azadi Tower Cracked.” The character facing the tower is saying: “I feel your pain, bro! ”, Reprinted from Payvand, by M. Neystani, 2014, Retrieved from: http://www.payvand.com/news/14/jul/1112.html , last visited: 16/07/2019.

79 Figure 52- Architecture as the instrument/ receptor. Reprinted from Mapping controversies in architecture (p. 32), by A. Yaneva, 2016, Routledge.

84 Figure 53- The modification of space. I) Composition of initial space II) The world of the memory III) Intervenes at the right moment IV) And produce modification of space.

Reproduced after The practice of everyday life, M. D. De Certeau, 1988, Berkeley : University of California press.

86

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"It is always the paradoxical presence of something at once invisible yet tangible, taken for granted yet surprising, mundane but bafflin subtely that triggers a passionate attempt to tame the wild beast of the social" (Latour, 2005 .p, 21).

"The lover of myth is in a sense a lover of wisdom for myth is composed of wonders" Aristote cited in: (Cer-

tau,1988. p, 90).

PART I

Introduction Urban Volcano 1

A Walk in the Revolutionary Path Introduction to the Case Study Approaching the Mehrabad airport in Tehran; the flight crew asks for opening the shades.

A mountain peak sticking out of a sea of clouds fills the oval window. The mountain, Damavand, is the highest potentially active volcano in Asia and the apex in Iran. The volcano has a prominent place in Iranians collective memory. It is often conceived as an imaginary site to fight oppressor and foreigners. Ferdowsi (940-1020 A.D.) in his masterpiece Shahnameh (in English: The Book of the Kings), narrates the story of the tyrant Zahhak1. He had lured into subjugating Iran and was eventually chained in Damavand by an ordinary man who led the people’s revolt (Figure 1).

This natural monument attached with its legend is not confined to the realm of the mythology but also occupies a prominent place in contemporary history2. Besides, it is present in everyday life due to the folk belief that seeing the volcano from a distance is a sign of “a good day.” Once the passengers leave the airport in such "a good day," another monument appears in the distance with a big vault in the middle that frames Damavand 1 -He was kissed on his shoulders by the Evil. Which caused two snakes to grow on his shoulders that had to be fed with the brains of youngsters. In contemporary readings, it has been interpreted as a totalitarian regime that prevents new ideas (youngster's brain) to grow. See: Rezagholi, Ali. ‫شناختی ضحاک ماردوش‬ ‫تحلیل جامعه‬ :‫ناسیخودکامگی‬ ‫جامعه ش‬- (the Sociology of the Autocracy: Analyzing the Sociology of Zahhak). Tehran: Nashr-e-Nei. 2-It is widely used as a symbol of resistance against despotism during Iran constitutional revolution in 1906 that conditioned the monarchy. In the late 1920s, the legend and the mountain contributed to the development of the nationalism that was used to oppose the legibility of Qajar dynasty. Currently, the mountain is depicted at the back of the Iranian 10,000 Rial banknote, which was reprinted after the Islamic revolution ended the monarchy in Iran.

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Figure 1- The tyrant Zahhak is nailed to the wall of Damavand, Illustrated in mid 17th century. Reprinted from UNESCO archives, Retrieved from: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showgallery.php/cat/793 , last visited: 07/08/2019.

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(Figure 2). “What was the purpose of the beautiful monument?� President Carter asked the last Shah of Iran during his visit in 1977 (Carter, 1977, Dec 31). President Carter referred to

Shahyad (in English: The Remembrance of The King) Tower that was built in the middle of a vast square as the commemoration of the 2500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy in 1971. It marks the entrance to the capital city and deliberately oriented toward the newly refurbished international airport to showcase the achievement of modern Iran under Pahlavi dynasty, specifically to the foreigners visiting the cit .

Hossein Amanat won the competition for designing the premises in 1966. The proposal skillfully captured both agendas. The design combines various elements from different historical periods and presents it in a modern form. The historical citations range from Persepolis founded in 6th century BC to Toghrol Tower constructed in the18th century.

Hence, the concept covers the line of 2500 years of history. The building was built with the latest technology of the time with cut marbles as the main material. The progressive technology and architecture connect the monument to modern days. The structure is supposed to demonstrate the greatness of the past alongside the achievements of the nation under the reigning monarch. This progressive movement is also inscribed in the rising form of the tower. While the triumph vault in the middle of the structure was meant to mark the victory of this historic march. If these symbols were not readable enough to the general audiences, a museum underneath the monument would project all the narration in its audio-visual galleries. The site of the monument was also carefully set. After passing the gateway on the west end of the city, the street led to the chain of squares hosting a variety of monuments and statues of famous characters as it travels to the east. The first square was the home of a sculpture of Reza Shah, who after taking power in 1925 founded Pahlavi dynasty and launched the vast socio-political reforms. The second sculpture is Ferdowsi while Damavand on the east end of the street overlooking the chain of the squares.

One year after Carter's visit, the same site turned to the epicenter of the revolution that toppled down the Shah. People marched towards Shahyad. The gateway became the destination, and all the meanings that defined the building vanished. The monument now marks the capital of the Islamic Republic and was renamed from Shahyad to Azadi (in English: Liberation). Despite this dramatic shift to what the monument is presenting, to the architect of the tower, the building inherently projects a stable image that cannot be manipulated. As he explains, the structure remains intact as it captures the cultural essence that can relate to all Iranians' experience in all the conditions (Amanat, 2016, 2018).

Although his opinion sounds pleasing to designers' ears; it may not completely capture the situation. The cultural essence which he refers to as the shared history is not shared between different groups and is under negotiations through the monument. In the officia website of the tower, the monument is called Azadi and described as the combination of pre-Islamic and Islamic architecture. With no mention of Shah or the ex-royal family ("Azadi Tower," n.d.). Nonetheless, in the website of the exiled Queen- although she was engaged in the construction of many iconic contemporary buildings- the tower is referred to as Shahyad, "which combines elements of Sassanid and IRANIAN [originally in capital letters] architecture" ("Shahyad Tower ", n.d.).

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Figure 2- Azadi Tower and Mount Damavand in Tehran. Reprinted from Flickr, by H.Nikkhah, 2015, Retrieved from https://www.flick .com/photos/shiz/17194525410, last visited: 04/08/2019.

Research Objectives As the controversy extended, different groups are fighting over the name of the monument and what it should represent. Calling the monument with a specific name is equal to taking a side with a specific group. In academic literature, such as current thesis, the monument is referred to with a combination of names which reflects the uncertainty about how the building should be named. Shahyad/ Azadi Square, like the title, becomes a perfect metaphor for the many cultural paradoxes that are rapidly changing the context.

The validity of facts that are inscribed in the design is overwritten and multiplied as the structure moves in between different readings, needs, values, usages, and frames.

Latour defines these processes by using the term ‘matter of concern.’ The term attracts and organizes the interpreting values that transform and multiply a fact (Latour, 2004).

In other words, ‘matter of concern’ is the plural of ‘matter of fact.’ A fact exists in a disconnected world while the entanglement of various narratives generates the plurality of concern (Stephan, 2015).

Looking at the social and spatial constellations inevitably makes space a matter of concerns. Space moves in various associations, and as displaces more between them, it is transformed and adapted to fit within the values and readings of each of the assemblies. The transformation of space by other interested parties and stakeholders in the design process is a clear example of the dynamic, as mentioned earlier. These intersections of viewpoints and insights resulted in the production of alternative solutions that try to address their concern. Thus, the plurality of meanings results in a multiplicity of materiality. Although, Urban Volcano 5

this is a graspable statement in the design process when space becomes a reality the process in which it can transform is challenging to perceive, while a constructed building or space is exposed to wider concerns and readings. Not surprisingly, a technical description of the architecture, as it was presented for Shahyad/ Azadi Square, by focusing on facts is not capable of realizing this variation of materiality. Space or a building should be studied in a broader context and between various narrations to capture it as a matter of concern.

This broader context is referred to as society but with two significant differences. First, it is not only constituted of humans; instead, society refers to an assembly of heterogeneous elements that gather together as a collection. Second, this collection, despite being a construct, is not a pre-existing structure that the architecture can be associated with it.

Rather, it has to be reconstructed with the architecture as a part of it. With every change in the social, spatial entities- like other constituting elements- have to dismantle or make associations. This forms a social and spatial constellation in which building is a much more complex than a symbolizing regime implies. More than a form and stable materiality it is a changing fabric and traces of all the transformation a building or space goes through.

Hence, merely by meticulously studying the specific way in which buildings are working, “the world they generate and the world that see them to work,” they can be understood (Yaneva, 2016, p. 23).

The current thesis by studying Shahyad/ Azadi Square discusses the relationship of design to social change. It tries to trace the transformation of space as it is being made and reproduces, when the redistribution of the entities become possible. Accordingly, Shahyad/ Azadi Square is described in its multiple processes of (re)making or trajectory.

The aim is to understand: How the wider spatial forces engage with architectural intelligence to (re) produce space?

How design characters and building processes can explain features of what makes some association to endure or construct broader connections?

The situations of volatilities, when the interaction of space and society is most visible, are so rarely investigated. Considering architecture as a social product although can be considered as an understanding that takes the production of space from the clutches of professionals and put it in a much broader context (Awan, Schneider, & Till, 2013) , but focusing on the result reduces the processes of the making to a cycle that links the beginning to the endpoint. Through this lens defining what building or space is becomes possible, instead what space does concerning other elements that contribute to its production, cannot be framed. In other words, the social comes as a solution for explanation and not part of the puzzle of the interaction with space. Hence, the built environment disassociates from all the transformations. The causes of the alternations are merely attributed to subjective readings. The results illustrate space in a static state, neglects other elements that may not pose a subjective understanding. This makes a yawning gap about how spaces work and transform in their interaction with the collective. The moments of instability when architecture alongside with many other entities are colliding and mutually being made are not accessible as they fail to provide a pragmatic understanding of the built environment in these interactions.

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The persistence of Shahyad/ Azadi Square in its process of remaking and multiplication of meaning provides a suitable opportunity to study the interactions between space and society. Several studies focus on the different and various elements related to the tower and its surrounding square. However, the agencies of these varied actors are not delivered. They are either neglected (Eimen, 2006; Hemmati, 2015; Javaherian, 2009) or reduced to symbolism and hidden forces (Talin Grigor, 1998; Talinn Grigor, 2003; Soltani, 2011). Spatial agencies are negotiators that try to bring change into the state of affairs. Agents practice the impact by encouraging other actors to act otherwise, hence, allowing them to engage with the spatial environment in ways previously unknown or inaccessible to them. These new potentials cause the reconfiguration of social space (Awan, Schneider, & Till, 2013).

Agency is a sort of figure for collective action that results in transformation. Thus, it allows social and spatial elements to be portrayed in mutual connections that act simultaneously.

In this thesis, space is followed while being mobile and immutable, as it always is. The primary focus of the thesis is put on well-observing the trajectory or flow of Shahyad/ Azadi Square. However, while it is looking at historical records, it is not an attempt to study the history of Iran’s contemporary architecture nor its architects. Besides, this thesis is not even close to record the socio-political history of Iran. The thesis tries to map and understand the movement of social space, which requires to expand the contributing elements in the making to study them in unstable moments when the social interactions are in their most dynamic form.

The problem that arises is that the complexity of mixing space with other entities can silence or disrupt concern on space. A mixture of elements and concerns requires a method that provides access to this mesh and map space as one of the elements in the collection.

Actor-Network Theory (hereafter ANT) specifically was introduced to follow collective phenomena without untying interactions from structures (Venturini, 2012). ANT focuses on the associations that various elements make in a collection and provides the accessibility to agencies and their composing entities. As the tower moves in between different agencies, it transforms based on the association it makes. ANT helps to map the process. First, the associations that make the object are attended. Next, how it has renewed the repertoire of social ties is reviewed. From ANT perspective, the thesis discusses that objects have no intrinsic properties. Hence, the passion they initiate must also derive from some other sources that can stand for the strong interests invested in Shahyad/ Azadi Square. The intention is to erase bifurcations and let the material and symbolic meet with each other.

The Magmatic Flow Introduction to Theoretical Framing Zygmunt Bauman argues that we live in a liquid time (Bauman, 2000). If for Berman what is outside the solid belongs to nothingness (Berman, 1983), for Bauman not being in the state of solid is the sound of existence. He considers flow as the source of uncertainty and ongoing transformation, which is inscribed in it. Whatever is touched by the current of liquid changes; even solids get moist or drenched. The fluid is in the ceaseless process of movement, which does not occupy a specific space but rather embeds the time. This is in contrast with solids that have fixed space and neutralize the impact of time. Solids Urban Volcano 7

cancel time while liquids are the matter of it. Flow is ongoing, and when it is linked to transformation in time, and it captures the process of becoming. Likewise, time is considered as the cradle for the complex movements of space that keeps it inflow (Yaneva, 2016). Hence, to reach a well-rounded understanding of space dynamism, the discourse should also frame time.

Everybody knows that space is mobile in time. Nonetheless, what paralyzes architecture is that the causes of this mobility are convinced outside it. The separation of content with context foregrounds an unsolvable riddle. How can a desire (a mental event), cause a movement in an arm (a physical action)? The explanation for the solution lies in reconnecting what should not have been disconnected in the first place. As the physical object renders static, the causes are attributed to the events outside it, such as power. That is to say, the transformation of the object is attributed to hidden overarching forces that overwrite all the influence and impacts of different elements in various condition, namely the object itself. Nonetheless, flow implies that all the producers of space are enmeshed in the intertwining and restless arms of various networks (Bauman, 2000). As the redistribution of all elements in one entity becomes possible, whatever constitutes architecture and society could be seen mutually redefining and contributing in redefinitions The interaction between social and architecture, however, is considered to remain invisible in both solidification and liquefaction. In the former, this is because of the lack of the ability to make connection outside its firm boundary. In the latter, the social vanishes as it fully enmeshes with other entities. Nonetheless, in fluid, the social flashes only momentary; when it is being modified. The modification comes with continuous movement, which lets the perception to take place (Latour, 2005). More modifications bring more visibility.

The lightness of the flo , as Bauman mentions, heats up and turns to the volcanic lava as it enters in a fast continues process of modifications (Bauman, 2000). Venturini (2010, 2012) also refers to the metaphor of magma to illustrate the ceaseless process of modifications, but also to specifically focus on the bubbling effect of controversies. Controversies ease modifications. The transformation follows as the redistributions become possible in these moments of instability. Venturini describes it in a double movement of solidification and liquefaction: "As the rock in magma the social in con­troversies is both liquid and solid at the same time. But there’s more to this metaphor: in magma solid and liquid states exist in a cease­less mutual transformation; while, at the mar­gins of the flo , the lava cools down and crys­tallizes, some other solid rock touched by the heat of the flow melts and becomes part of the stream. The same fluctuation between diffe ­ent states of solidity can be observed in con­troversies. Through this dynamic the social is unremittingly constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed. This is the social in action and that’s why we have no other choice than diving in magma"(Venturini, 2010, p. 264).

Flow moves in-between other elements and hence is an association between various elements that extend over humans. The flow of light in a plant initiates a process of making which happens outside the human world (Dovey, 2009). If the desire becomes a flo , then the moving hand is just one more element in the association that fulfills it. Accordingly, to 8 Urban Volcano

access architecture in their fluid form, a plethora of materials and consideration should be traced. This includes every actor, every place they visit, every difficult they encounter, every single concern, every statement, every alliance, every friction and the shaping of every new association (Yaneva, 2016). Mapping controversies can address the issue as everything which can do something influential in the state of affairs could be traced On Controversies A Controversy is defined as “disagreement or argument about something, usually because it affect or is important to many people” ("Controversy," 2019). Venturini (2010) also explains controversies as a momentary incident where the conflicting sides cannot go on ignoring each other, or recognize their disagreement, to the point that they manage to find a conciliation to live together. However, to him, and also to Latour (2005), these opposite sides are not limited to humans. Instead, they could be extended to all entities, dead or alive, object or subject, that can have an impact on the debate. Therefore, the entities with a voice in the dispute, which are referred to as actors, could also be nonhuman. Accordingly, he defines controversies as the most complex phenomenon that can be observed in collective life. Yaneva (2016) refers to this complexity and considers controversy mapping as a prominent methodological tool to address it. Following controversies allows copping with different hybridization of the actors and enables keeping up with them as they cut across disciplinary boundaries in their disputes. As a result, it reveals the underlying dynamics and their relations with the wider society. It can provide understanding into key processes, which usually stay invisible within the science.

Similarly, Yaneva (2016) states that architecture consists of actors’ disputes, various concerns, dramas, and the extensive map of their displacement. Thus, looking at controversies surrounding space, or a building links the understanding of them into successive developing phases, including successive trades. She believes that this approach sets architectural theory free from either only explaining it ethnographically or revealing invisible meaning behind architecture. Instead, controversies provide more adequate descriptions based on the series of situation considered, which is in accordance with the actors’ dynamics and space and time they create. Hence, through this method, the building is exposed and opened up to continuous flows of events. Yaneva concludes that following controversies depart from studying the link between architecture and society in the solid-state, as traditionally is explored, and instead, witness the constellation in “a non-stabilized state where all has melted” (see p.87) (Yaneva, 2016, p. 81).

Venturini states that controversies evolve by this melting, which he compares to magmatic movement. Controversies, like the ceaseless transformation of solid and liquid in magma, are constantly involved in tying and untying relations, revealing the fabric of collective existence. However, he mentions that this evolution like magmatic eruptions is not uniform. “sometimes controversies remain dormant for years or decades and then burst into a sudden cascade of quarrels”(Venturini, 2012, p. 807). Accordingly, he mentions that controversies should be studied in time to capture this transformation (Venturini, 2012).

Latour and Yaneva explain a theory like an artificial device, a reserve of Etienne-Jules Marey's photographic gun is needed to capture this process. Marey made the gun to study the birds' flight and horses' gaits. His invention was capable of changing the static view Urban Volcano 9

Figure 3- Marey's photographic gun and his study of a seagull. Reprinted from Give Me a Gun and I will Make All Buildings Move': An ANT's view of Architecture (pp. 104-105), by B.Latour and A.Yaneva, 2008, Explorations in architecture: Teaching, design, research.

into successive freeze-frames to capture the dynamism of the motion (Latour & Yaneva, 2008, Figure 3). In the same way, Latour and Yaneva argue for developing an approach to capture the continues productive force in architecture: "... we should finally be able to picture a building as a moving modulator regulating different intensities of engagement‌ concentrating flows of actors and distributing them so as to compose a productive force in time-space. Rather than peacefully occupying a distinct analogical space, a building-on-the-move leaves behind the spaces labeled and conceptualized as enclosed, to navigate easily in open circuits" (Latour & Yaneva, 2008, p. 109).

As it is mentioned, the flow moves in-between other elements and hence refers to associations between various elements that extend over humans. Grappling with the phenomenon of architecture in the making, or in Latour words, to see it through a photographic gun can only be gained if the associations of actors involved in this process can be traced, which implies that the selected method should be able to seize architecture 10 Urban Volcano

as a ‘thick’ mesh of entanglements.

Crafting the Photographic Gun: Methodology Yaneva, in her book Mapping Controversies in Architecture thoughtfully offers to understand the social through the field of Science and Technology Studies. What she borrowed from their toolbox is the method of Actor-Network Theory (Yaneva, 2016). In Latour’s definition of Actor-Network theory, all the terms, Actor, Network and Theory deviate from their routine meaning. Actor refers to everything that could make things do. Therefore, the definiti n of an actor extends over human. But also, it implies that the source of action departs from the actor. The qualificat on of the ability to make others act is transcribed in the network. Hence, the network is more than its conventional shape of interconnected point.

Moreover, the argument of ANT is negative. That is, it does not define what something is but rather explain what it is not. ANT rejects any theory or holistic view that rush for finding an existing structure while undermining other actors' impact. Thus, it cannot apply to anything (Latour, 2005). What may preserve its meaning the best is the hyphen which usually not receives enough attention. The hyphen is the association between different actors in the network that is the perfect illustration of controversies (Venturini, 2010). These contradictory associations are the source of actions that are trying to make changes in the state of affairs, what Latour calls agencies (Latour, 2005).

ANT concentrates on associations between entities. Conflicts and contradictions bring the volatile moments in which as the new connections form and the old ones dismantle. Thus, they become more dynamic and more visible. ANT offers the possibility of mapping the contributing actors, the resulted new shapes of agency, and the dynamism between the complexity of actions. Here, space retains its evolving nature and is treated as a part of a dynamic context of networks. Therefore, space remains open to the experience, and to the course of events that make and consume architecture. This allows grasping the capacity of buildings and design project to elaborate their time and space, in addition to the collections of interested parties. Thus, as Yaneva (2016) mentions, through this mapping, a building is an animated collection of crisscrossing trajectories of unstable definition and expertise Being able to see “the context in flight” is the common point between ANT and the photographic gun that Marey made to study the birds as they fl . Latour also mentions that ANT is precisely needed when things are changing fast or “when boundaries are so terribly fuzzy” and other social theories fail (Latour, 2005, p. 142). Shahyad/ Azadi Square presents the same character as it has been the site of conflict and controversies even before its construction. Based on this assumption that ANT can reveal the underlying dynamics of space and its relations with broader society in the moment of instability, it is used to map the movement of space in the social process. The controversy mapping, as the educational version of ANT, avoids the conceptual complications and therefore, is more accessible and feasible.

It should be noted that controversy studies should not constrain to a single methodology or theory. Instead, the phenomenon should be observed from as many perspectives as Urban Volcano 11

possible, more than the researcher’s initial approach (Yaneva, 2016). Accordingly, the number of actors that consult in these prepositions should not be simplified. However, as Latour (2005) mentions, objects such as buildings tend to fade in the background while still carrying their effect. The problem with buildings is that they seem desperately static and are counted for the whole or nothing. (Latour & Yaneva, 2008). That is to say, that buildings either makes the whole subject of the discussion or entirely left outside it. Moreover, Latour (2005) notes that objects with greater importance favor to disappear faster. Hence, the object associating to other entities in the collection only appears momentarily.

Accordingly, he points to occasions in which this moment of visibility is extended.

The first solution to make buildings visible in controversies is to study innovations in the artisan’s workshop. Objects go in complex processes and gain multiple lives through meetings, drafts, sketches, drawings, plans, regulations, and trials. In each of these phases, objects appear in a mixture with other social agencies. The second solution is to see the building by distance. Latour mentions that even the most routine and silent implements stop being quiet when they are approached by distance. The distance can be translated in time as in archaeology, or space in ethnology, or distance in skills as in learning.

Accidents, upheavals, strikes, and alike offer the third resolution. On these occasions, even objects that a minute before were rendered as autonomous, and devoid of human agents, turn to host crowds of anxiously moving humans. In the fourth solution, which is the most challenging one, the case is cold and entirely withdrew into the background.

However, it is always possible to bring them back to focus by using archives, memoirs, museum collections, documents, etc. Through these historical accounts, the state of crisis in which the object was born and operated could artificially reproduce. Finally, when everything else has failed, the fiction by using counter-factual history, and experiments, can bring the object into the more dynamic state where their connection with humans may make sense (Latour, 2005).

The key here is not to develop a holistic view but to look for multiplying interferences and contaminations, which requires to move in between several layers and scales. The method of inquiry, as Latour (2005) insists, should stop fantasizing that actors have only a language while the analyst owns the metalanguage in which the first is implanted. Instead, merely by accumulating interviews, notes, narrative, documents, commentary, surveys, archives, statics, and syllabus, the richness of collective life and the process of any course of action could be preserved (Latour, 2005; Latour & Yaneva, 2008; Venturini, 2010). However, while dealing with broader spatial forces is essential, at the same time, it presents new challenges. Any simplific tion in the process should be avoided, and this is in contrast with the usual way of dealing with problems in architecture that strives for simplification.

ANT adds to the complexity of a profession which is already complex enough (Awan et al., 2013). Venturini assimilates controversy mapping to diving into the magma and proposes that cartographer should be well-equipped to survive the difficultie (Venturini, 2010).

Venturini suggests the concept of interchangeable lenses that could coordinate the observations and facilitates moving between scales. The first lens, ‘From Statements to Literatures’ focuses at the statements that circulate the debate to build the disperse but the thick-woven web of references in literature. Other than academic resources, this may 12 Urban Volcano

include images, patents, academic syllabi, etc. The second lens, ‘From Literatures to Actors’ looks beyond the textual world and stretches the connections out of it. Actor refers to anything capable of doing something in controversy. Actors can be individuals, collectives, visual presentation, and non-figurative presentations. Third, ‘From Actors to Networks’ maps the interaction between actors. Through this lens, the unceasing work of tying and untying connections becomes visible, and movements, flows, and the changes can be stressed. The fourth one, ‘From Networks to Cosmos,’ extends the observations to the meanings and ideologies which actors are attributed to them. And finall , ’From Cosmos to Cosmopolitan’ gathers different ideologist in one common world (Venturini, 2010).

No matter how equipped the cartographer is the formation of the ‘thick’ web of references forms in a slow and tedious process. Speeding the process by assigning a presumed structure to interactions ignores the inquiry about the very production of space. Latour also mentions that walking like an ANT is agonizingly slow and the movement will be constantly interrupted, interfered with, disrupted and dislocated by the nature of the groups, activities, agencies and ongoing social disputes (Latour, 2005). As the broader web of references is forming, the controversy in discussion extends and connects to the other controversies. Naturally, following associations lead to places that were not anticipated in the beginning. Finding these surprising links is one of the goals of ANT as it gathers all the heterogeneous elements in the collection. Nonetheless, each part claims to be an exception, and the sum of the parts suddenly overweight the whole. The reflection of this complexity in the description of architecture and social interaction makes the description useless in understanding spatial and social constellation. Mapping refers to the ‘art of describing.’ The Map merely provides the required tool to track the movement of the actors and then describe it proportionally.

Venturini mentions that being proportional in mapping means giving visibility to different viewpoints in accordance to their representativeness, influence, and interests.

Representativeness refers to what Latour refers to as spokesperson. It claims to speak by the name of many others, thus, forms a focal point in a network. As more influential actors subscribe to the spokesperson what it represents should become more visible. It is more matter of weighting than counting. Influence refers to the fact that not all the actors have the same position in a controversy. The interest is to avoid limiting the content to majority reports but also gives visibility to the noises that the minority makes. These noises interrupt the steady voice of the majority and are essential in the formation of controversies. The decision on distribution of the importance and weight among these factors is on the researcher as long as it could be justified (Venturini, 2010). Thus, it does not provide results but rather is only a tool for making the description possible.

Controversy mapping is used to witness and describe the modes of existence of an architectural object. In this sense, empiricism is realized as it is faithful to what is given to experience and numerous connections that revel in it (Yaneva, 2016). Therefore, different mapping of the same controversy results in a different description, and like other experimental practices are prone to fail. The risk, however, worth taking. Since controversy mapping enables the observation of various elements that gathers together Urban Volcano 13

Codification of actors and concerns

Media Analysis

Data Assemblage Incorporation into scripts for rendering

Incorporation into scripts for rendering

Visualization

Figure 4- Diagram presenting the steps of analysis. Adapted from Mapping controversies in architecture (p.91), by A. Yaneva, 2016, Routledge.

and form a building, hence, provides remarkable access to the architectural process. In other words, it re-establishes the network of architecture that runs between heterogeneous elements (Yaneva, 2016). It captures the built environment as a flo . Thus, it can answer the question of this research. As Yaneva states: “The Situation in which the networks have neither the complete status of an object nor of a subject. The redistributions are to be made. The story of the process, of design in the making is, by the same token, a story of the making of the social�(Yaneva, 2016, p. 3).

Structure of the Thesis Part I discusses controversy mapping as the methodology of the thesis . Public buildings trigger debates overs appropriateness of their design. In the case of Shahyad/Azadi Square, both technologies and human interpretations are distinctively present. The theoretical foundation of the research is briefly mentioned in this part to provide the required insight.

Before explaining the design of the Shahyad/ Azadi Square in terms of the static categories of class, elitism, politics and avant-garde aesthetics, the thesis slows down its inquiry into the controversy. In Part II, the thesis continues by deviating from any social theory instead merely describing the trajectory of the space. Forgetting about all forms of the divides suggested by theories and alike, it follows and documents the controversy as it unfolded. It reports on what has happened in, around, and related to the building over the course of design and construction. The intention is to follow the actors, their statements, their interpretations of the world, and the network that they trace. Accordingly, this part constitutes the main body of the thesis and is the longest part.

Part II rewinds the events and goes back to the flow of the making of Shahyad/ Azadi Square by collecting and analyzing the images, architectural drawings, officia papers, fictions, press clippings, interviews, statements, movies, memos, pedagogy syllabus, and telegraphs from the archives and web pages. By compiling a research dossier, the dynamics of the controversy is followed and documented. As controversies unfold with various speeds and in different locations, the webs of the references in controversies are chaotically woven and extended in the various periods. Although they were studied indepth, a more explicit representation of the flow is needed. The description which is based on a timeline keeps the complexity of the broader web of reference, which could not provide a useful account. Alternatively, the description is confined to their immediate influence on the current of the affairs. By following the map of controversies, each section focuses on the agencies in the process of making. The associations that actors make are recorded by using algorithms using the tools that Medialab developed to study networks.

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Part II is divided into four sections, where at the end of each section, the maps of the network are presented. The nodes correspond to the main actors in a network and their size correspond to their importance.

Part III extends the theoretical discussions. This part starts by revisiting Shayad/ Azadi Square and then reviews the position of the building trajectory in discourse. This chapter looks at space as the collective entity of heterogeneous actors, which is in continues process of making. The last chapter represents the chronological development of disputes surrounding the process of Azadi/ Shahyad Square. Here, all the agencies which are described in Part II are visualized in simple maps. This part helps to capture the dynamics and the chronology of the controversies and position architecture agencies within them.

In general, the thesis structure tries to resurface the forgotten connections and moves from simplicity to complexity (Figure 4).

The study is based on inspiration from Heynen (2013) and Latour (2005) on the interaction between space and society. Exemplary studies that look at the transition of space and the social that and influenced this work are Bauman (2000); Berman (1983); De Certeau (1988); Dovey (2009); Latour and Yaneva (2008). Methodologically, the works of Latour (2005, 2008); Latour and Yaneva (2008); Venturini (2010, 2012); Yaneva (2016) are important precedents. For the historical facts on Iran, the study mainly relies on Abrahamian (1982); Akhavi (1980). Exemplary works that contribute to the background review of Shahyad/ Azadi square are Talin Grigor (1998); Talinn Grigor (2003, 2005); Hemmati (2015); Milani (2012). The studies of Marefat (1988); Mashayekhi (2016, 2018) are also consulted to record the transformation of the urban context.

The archives are also consulted in this study. Most of photographs and documents are retrieved from Iran National Archive, Institute of Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies, and Political Studies and Research Institutes. The study also feeds from conflicts as the opposition groups share part of the archives through publication or on social media.

The royalist website of mashruteh.org and The celebration in the documents of the courtvol.2, & 3 are the most important ones. The fieldwork is done on multiple occasions from April to June. The study follows the actors and their statements on different resources, which could not entirely fit here. Namely, the officia newspapers of the Pahlavi era are used, which are mostly retrieved from mashruteh.org, Digital Iranian History section of the University of Manchester library, or is bought from the free market. The international newspapers are accessed through thenewspaper.com. Several interviews are also included which are listed in the bibliography1.

1 - Although Hossein Amanat, the architect of the building initially agreed to conduct an interview with the author he later did not respond to the correspondences.

Urban Volcano 15

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"The search for identity is the ongoing struggle to arrest or slow down the flo , to solidify the fluid, to give form to the formless. We struggle to deny or at least to cover up the awesome fluidity just below the thin wrapping of the form; we try to avert our eyes from sights which they cannot pierce or take in " (Bauman, 2000,p. 82:83).

"A clan is essentially a reunion of individuals who bear the same name and rally around the same sign. Take away the name and the sign which materializes it and the clan is no longer representable" (Durkheim, 1915/1947 cited in: Latour, 2005, p.38).

PART II

The Trajectory

Figure 5, shows the square in the middle of its trajectory during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Here, the square has no name or more precisely is about to obtain a combination of the two names. Before this moment it formally called Shahyad- in English, the remembrance of the king, after that, it becomes the symbol of liberation- renamed to Azadi. In what follows, the picture’s elements would be analyzed to make an account of the associations contributed to the making of the monument. The description starts from the middle, in the position that the flow is more visible to track. As the middle comes with being on the way, it is the point where mobility is its dissociable part.

First Episode: The Monument Exposition The inverted Y shape building in the center of Figure 5, is a result of a competition that was declared in Etela’at newspaper on the 1st of September 1966. Despite its complex gesture, the announcement did not contain any briefing for the design but only asked for a building of Shahyad Aryamehr (hereafter Shahyad) to be submitted to the Council of the Royal Ceremonies (“Etela’at 1 Sep,” 1966)1 . The answer, however, might lie with keywords as they provoke such a strong connection that no need to be explained further.

Not to forget that the competition was limited to merely Iranian designers. The word 1- For some people this is even a conspiracy theories as it finds a reflection in an audio podcast in which the narrator wonders about the possibility of developing the concept of the scheme out of a simple brief. See: Syna Zarei (Producer). (2019). ‫زمینه و زمان‬:‫برجآزادی‬- (in English: Azadi Tower: Time and Context) Retrieved from: http://korrection.ir/?p=672. Last Time Visited:4/21/2019.

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Figure 5- People gathering after a massive demonstration of Ashura. Reprinted from Institute of Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies, by Gh.H. Mohammadi, 10 December 1978, Retrieved from http://www. iichs.ir/s/5402, Last Visited: 24/07/2019.

Shahyad can be translated to the remembrance of the king, and Aryamehr means light of the Aryans. Thus, the title laid down specific emphasizes that should be projected: the royal family, and the race of the nation. The former linked to ancient time since kings ruled the land for 2500 years, while the later was a contemporary phenomenon and found reflection in 1935 by changing the name of Persia to Iran, land of Aryans1.

Milani (2012) observes that while forging a nation was a modern phenomenon and relatively a fresh portray, as authenticity comes with age, it was tied to the ancient history of the land . As the Iranian Foreign Ministry of the time announced, “Because Iran was the birthplace and origin of Aryans, it is natural that we should want to take advantage of this name… which indicates the greatness of the race and civilization of ancient Iran.”(cited in: Talinn Grigor, 2005, p.217:218). At that time, the idea fueled as Persepolis was resurfacing after years of neglect (Talinn Grigor, 2005). The excavations operated under the supervision of German archeologist, Ernst Herzfeld (Azzoni et al., 2017), and finding promotion by going to media through discoveries and gaining the attention of the local, and Western scholars, such as Arthur Pope, and Andrea Godard (Emami, 2011). Abrahamian (1982) notes that these ancient reminiscences inspired the elites to compensate the sense of inferiority and loss of prestige amongst Iranian ensued by the mixture of military, political, and economy humiliations, such as the surrender of the peripheral territories to colonial powers, losing the subsequent wars, and the growing poverty (Abrahamian, 1982). An article in Le Journal de Tehran gives the same insight to the discourse of the time: “We forget...all 1- This is just 4 years earlier than 1939, when the world was engaged in a war over the idea of Aryan race superiority.

Urban Volcano 19

our past historical brilliancy...We forget the services that we have rendered to humanity.” (“Editorial:Notre But,” March 15, 1935 cited in: Talinn Grigor, 2005 ,p.128)

Hence, the designated title for the building had attached with itself the idea of using architecture as a reminder, a historical monument1. At that moment, this iconic representation was not an invisible or intangible concept. In fact, Shahyad is the last monument that was built to propaganda a message under the Pahlavi reign. The Society of National Heritage (hereafter SNH) that tried to familiarize Iranian with their “fantastic historical heritage,” had been engaged in the construction of iconic mausoleums in the form of historical monuments since the early ’30s. According to Grigor’s study, the extension of the idea of national buildings and monuments over historical structures came from Herzfeld in 1925 in one of the SNH meetings. Herzfeld quoted Ferdowsi-- a poet whose work is seen as the motivator of national revival in the 10th and 11th centuries2-- in which, Ferdowsi resembled his work to an eternal high castle out of poets that is immune from wind and rain. Grigor (2005) states that this notion ultimately became the very foundation of the historical monument that would glorify the ancient past in their appearance and content. A chain in which, Ferdowsi’s new mausoleum on his alleged grave was the first ring and the opening attempt to use pre-Islamic history and architecture as the nation’s patrimony.

The Agencies The Ancestors: Monumental Mausoleums As it then became the routine of SNH, Ferdowsi was pulled out from his alleged resting place, went under medical experiments to prove his Aryan origin, and then reburied in his new modern mausoleum (Talinn Grigor, 2005). Ferdowsi’s new mausoleum in Tus, Khorasan has a modest look, but as pedagogical project unmistakably reminds of the tomb of Cyrus in Persepolis (Figure 6). This empty ancient tomb would also firmly tie to Shahyad monument. Although the resemblance of Cyrus tomb in Shahyad is not as evidently as Ferdowsi cited in the form of the structure, but the connection was emphasized in the events led to its opening­. Shahyad inaugurated in 1971 in Tehran, as a locus of a lavish and highly contested parade in Persepolis, called the ‘Celebrations of the 2500th 1-In Alberti’s view, monument’s primary function is to “preserve the memory of great events.”. This definition ascribed to monuments is instrumental in the Iranian context, for the ideological agenda that gave birth to Iran’s “historical monuments” was imbued with an intense desire to remember the great events of the past. Accordingly, the concept of “historical monuments” has been employed in this study as a highly selective set of architectural and archaeological artifacts amassed to serve the political ideologies.

2-Ferdowsi is compared with Homer and Virgil in western literature. However to the Iranian he is also a national figure. In his work Abul-Ghasem Ferdowsi reminded Iranian of pre-Islamic legendary and actual figures. He focused on using Persian words in his narration, at the time when Arabic was becoming the dominant language since Islam was introduced in Iran. As such his book is consider as a protestation against Arabization of Iran that saved Persian language. See:(Sadigh, 1947). Some even consider this as the existence of national identity between Iranians before modern times, while other oppose this idea by explaining the whole notion as a modern construct. Afshin Matin-Asgari gives an insight to this debate: Matin-Asgari, Afshin. (2012). The Academic Debate on Iranian Identity. In Abbas Amanat & Farzin Vejdani (Eds.), Iran Facing Others: Identity Boundries in a Historical Prespective (pp. 173-192): Springer.

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Figure 6- Right: Ferdowsi in Tus. Left: Cyrus tomb in Persepolis. Reproduced by Author.

Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great’ (hereafter the 2500th-anniversary celebration).The connection emphasized as Mohammad Reza Shah (hereafter the Shah) who succeeded his father Reza Shah1, greeted and talked with Cyrus while standing in front of his tomb. “Cyrus! We have today gathered at your eternal resting place to say to you: rest in peace, for We are awake, and will forever stay awake to guard the proud heritage.”(M. R. Pahlavi, 1973).

The reference to the tomb in Persepolis is not the only connection that Shahyad square make to Ferdowsi mausoleum in Tus. The celebration of 2500 years also resembles the fanfare of the Ferdowsi’s tomb opening in 1934. Reza Shah inaugurated the Ferdowsi mausoleum in person, which, as Grigor states was a rare occasion (Talinn Grigor, 2005), The event then tied to international conferences from Moscow to New York and nationally followed with the ‘Millennia Celebration’ in Tus, Mashhad, and Tehran that lasted about a month (Shahpur Shahbazi, 1999). The resemblance is evident for Grigor that studied both monuments (Talin Grigor, 1998; Talinn Grigor, 2005). She states: Ferdawsi’s millenary remained an exemplary moment in Pahlavi history; one to be mimicked and, perhaps one day, transcended. In 1971, Mohammad Reza Shah was doing exactly that by erecting the Shahyad Aryamehr monument in Tehran.

Just like October 1934, October 1971 was designed and choreographed not only around a white and symbolic monument, but also to impress Western dignitaries, sidestepping the very nation whose history was being glorified. The monument, in each case, linked the ancient and the modern in a glance, and successfully signaled such historic changes of progress (Talinn Grigor 2005 ,p.221).

Grigor extends the resemblance to the extent that sees the only difference in “glamour and scale”(Talinn Grigor, 2005). Although the resemblance between the two monuments seems not to be the same, their connections are certainly far more enmeshed and complex.

Accordingly, the description continuously shifts between Ferdowsi and Shahyad.

Similarly, this link found physical embodiment in the urban space. On the occasion of 1- Reza Shah founded Pahlavi dynasty. He won the power through coup d’etat, hence, didn’t have a royal blood line. Maybe part of his patron for ancient empire was to claim the legitimacy. The name Pahlavi also refers to a now-extinct ancient language spoken in Parthia, a region of northeastern ancient Iran from 248 BC to 224 AD. Urban Volcano 21

Figure 7-The new Ferdowsi statue installed in 1971. Reprinted from Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture in twentieth-century Iran (p,244), by T. Grigor, 2005.

this Celebration, in Tehran, the former Ala al-Dowleh Avenue renamed to Ferdowsi and on the northern end of it the new Ferdowsi Square was adorned with a bronze statue of him (Talinn Grigor, 2005). The street that intersected the Ferdowsi avenue at its new square led to another iconic conjunction with a sculpture of Reza Shah inside it. The square named 24 Esfand Square but called Meydan-E-Mojasameh, which means the sculpture square1. The route eventually terminated in a remote square at the western edge of Tehran, which was renamed from Caravan Sara -e-Kian Sangi to Shahyad one year before it was announced as the site of the competition (The appeal for renaming, 1965). This physical link even refurbished three weeks to the inauguration of Shahyad. In 21th of September 1971, a new sculpture of Ferdowsi, a 3,35-meter carved from one piece of stone, situated on a pedestal come from Alvand mountain replaced the previous one2 (Figure 7) (“The New Sculpture is Reveled,” 1971) .

The White & The Blue: The Formation of The Materiality The series of monumental mausoleum continuously challenges the architectural knowledge and technical capabilities, to the extent that these monuments find their way in the syllabus of the faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran University. The University, itself was inaugurated

by Reza Shah to service the construction of the mausoleums by performing medical tests on the unearthed corpses and confirm their Aryan race before the reburial (Talinn Grigor, 2005). The mausoleum of Ferdowsi, as the first ring of the chain, does not have a complex geometrical interplay of its descendants, however, made a notable contribution to the later mausoleum that would see the daylight in the Pahlavi era. The white marble that is used in the building resonates in all the mausoleum and becomes the icon of the architecture of the Pahlavi era (Talinn Grigor, 2013). Until 1971, that marbles would be used in their most 1- Although the exact date of this renaming couldn’t be precisely determined, in 1938 in Isfahan the city council approved the renaming of a square called Meydan-e-Mojasame to 24 Esfand and approved the installation of Reza Shah sculpture in it. Since Tehran as a capitol of Iran in centralist policies of Pahlavi acted as a role model for the rest of the country the same could be perceived to happened in Tehran. See: The Approval of changing the name of Meydan-E-Mojasame to 24 Esfand and installation of the royal sculpture in it- 1938( .‌‫ف‍ن‍د و ن‍ص‍ب‌ م‍ج‍س‍ م‍ ه‌ ش‍ اه‍ن‍ش‍ اه‍ی‌ درآن‬ ‍‫ اس‬۲۴ ‌‫)ت‍ص‍وی‍ب‌ت‍غ‍ی‍ی‍رن‍ام‌ م‍ی‍دان‌ م‍ج‍س‍ م‍ ه‌ب‍ ه‌ م‍ی‍دان‬. Document.

(291/3314, ‭۱۰۷‬‌‫‮ع‬۳‬‌‫‮آج‬۱). Iran National Archive.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ 2- The substitute was ordered by the Shah in 1968, designed by Mohsen Froughi and done by Aboul Hassan Sedighi in Rome.

22 Urban Volcano

complex forms, and the Iranian stoneworkers were trained for almost six decades as the architectural expression became more and more complex.

Houshang Seyhoun (1920-2014), who Grigor (2009) calls “the paramount personification of the Pahlavi architect,” specifically contributed to this evolvement. As Seyhoun (2000) states, his career started by winning Avicenna mausoleum competition in Hamedan in 1952, which eventually caused “the monumental architecture following him” during his career (Seyhoun, 2011). Seyhoun impacts on architectural knowledge could not be fully covered in this short section. Far more interesting for this study is that his designs using Islamic buildings1 as a source of inspiration. In 1952, the 23 years old graduate from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, came with a proposal that was inspired from a historical tomb in the form of a tower called Gonbad-e-Qabus. However, in his design for Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) and Kamal Al-Molk (1848-1940)2 in 1963, he inspired from Islamic motives and barrel vaults (Chahartaqi) respectively, and came with complex geometries resulted from the metamorphosis of these structures (Figure 8). Seyhoun’s innovation opened a new way of thinking in architectural knowledge, but at the same time, it was challenging for Iranian technical capabilities. Diba (2012) mentions that Seyhoun’s metaphoric expression requires forms and materials such as stone, brick, steel and, concrete to be used in new combinations.

Seyhoun (2011) , refers to this process of learning through trial and error, which started by using exposed concrete in Avicenna mausoleum for the first time in Iran. Similarly, the later engagement of Seyhoun with stonework in his designs push the boundaries of the technic and the proficiency of Iranian masters, to the point that he eventually could boast about Kamal Al-Molk tomb as “fully built by Iranian labor”3(Seyhoun, 2000).

Looking at the chain of the monumental mausoleums that were constructed from 1934 to 1963, one identifies the gradual development of the technical capabilities as well as the increasing symbolical expression. The gradual mixture of the white marble, that first was used in Ferdowsi mausoleum to resemble the Cyrus tomb in Persepolis, with blue stones that recall the tiles that widely used in the Islamic period, is part of the evolution.

The combination first used by Andrea Godard for designing Hafez4 mausoleum in 1935, where the inner part of the dome is covered Islamic motifs. In 1963, Seyhoun, who was influenced by Godard (Shirazi, 2018), used the same motif in his designs for Kamal Al-Molk 1 - Seyhoun rejects the term Islamic architecture and instead regards it as a continues evolution of Iranian architecture. His statement initiated an intense controversy, however, to stay clear and avoid more controversies in research the term is accepted as it is currently used. See: Seyhoun, 2011.

2-Khayam (1048-1131) was as a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet and Kamal Al-Molk (Mohammad Ghafari, 1848- 1940) was a prominent painter.

3- The projects of the future were involved in this process of learning but also the projects of the past, namely Ferdowsi mausoleum. Despite that the poet compared his work with a stable monument, his tomb did not sustain its integrity for long. Almost from the inauguration day the tomb caused technical difficultie and eventually fruitless restorations put Seyhoun in the charge of complete dismantlement of the monument.

See: Grigor,2005.

4-Iranica Encyclopedia describe Hafez (1315-1390) as: the most popular of Persian poets. If a book of poetry is to be found in a Persian home, it is likely to be the Divān (collected poems) of Hafez. In fact, Goethe’s West–östlicher Divan inspired from his work. See: Yarshater, Ehsan. (2002). Hafez. In. Iranica (Vol. XI, Fasc.5, pp. 461-465).

Urban Volcano 23

Figure 8-Kamal-Al-Molk mausoleum- Architect: Houshang Seyhoun, 1963. Source: Author

and Khayyam mausoleums.

The Memory & The Memorial: Educating The Next Generation In 1962, Seyhoun became the dean of Tehran University of Fine Arts “and played an important role in the architectural education of the next generation” (Shirazi, 2018). Hussein Amanat, whose proposal would win the competition for Shahyad building, is one of these students that registered1 in the faculty a year earlier. When Seyhoun was assigned as the dean, the head instructor of the studio that Amanat enrolled in was arrested with the charge of corruption in the construction of national senate. The new dean filled the vacancy and became Amanat’s new teacher. This turn of events marked a decisive moment in Amanat’s education. For him, Seyhoun “was a different person… [He] was really the first architect to refer to traditional Iranian architecture in his own work, to explore the dynamic tension between the possibilities of modern material and form, and the very old traditions of Iranian building”. Seyhoun led voluntary field works to document historic building across the country, which to Amanat was an exceptional opportunity as “this was not what was being taught elsewhere at the school” (Amanat, 2013).

Seyhoun experience with monumental buildings found reflection in the university syllabus. Archives of Tehran University of Fine Arts show that student documented Khayyam’s mausoleum alongside documenting other vernacular and historical buildings (Fine Arts Collection, 2016, pp. 64,65). Also, the monumental building was presented as the diploma project in Seyhoun’s studio (Figure 9). Documents related to 2500 years of Persian monarchy suggests the engagement of the school in designing the monument referred to as ‘the Royal Gate’ in 1964 (The celebration in the documents of the court-vol.2, 1999). Although Amanat did not design a monument for his graduation project, he participated in many of the field trips. He recalls: “I refer to my memories of the history of Iran- to the ancient sites and buildings…also what I recalled from frequent visits to old buildings, museums and sketching whatever I found interesting” (Amanat, 2018: p,157). Amanat (2011) mainly refers to Shahyad design as the first embodiment of the observations led by Seyhoun. Amanat’s proposal for the Shahyad’s competition involved citations to various historical buildings 1 - Amanat started his education in mechanical engineering but as he describes after spending a day in the faculty of fine arts he never returned to his previous school. See: Amanat,2011.

24 Urban Volcano

Figure 9-Shahyad Tower designed for diploma projects. Adapted from “Shahyad: A Two-Faceted Symbol” (p.478), by F. Javaherian, 2009, Iran-Nameh, 24(4).

at different times and location; From motives on the frieze of the building that is derived from Tughrul Tower built in 12th century in the vicinity of Tehran, to the resemblance of 18th century Vakil Mosque in Shiraz through the organization of ribs [Rasmi-Saazi] in between the building’s iconic vaults: The Mogahrnass Kari’s and Rasmi Saazi’s and underlying geometry of domes and vaults and the spaces they define were all in my mind, when I started sketching.

These were what I had measured and drawn Borje Toghrol in Ray as a part of my university courses and sketched as a hobby most of the weekends (Amanat, 2000, p.605).

The vaults are the most prominent features of the Shahyad tower and demonstrate the language Amanat chose. The pointed arch interpreted from Taq-e-Kasra which were mostly used in the Islamic period morphs to another type of arch mostly used in pre-Islamic, and eventually forms a coherent whole, or in his own words “connects two eras”(Amanat, 2016).

He believes that this skillful mixture helps him to capture the “essence of Iranian culture.”

“The essence refers to many aspects of Persian architecture to which I have referred before…In Shahyad, the inspiration from some of the above has manifested.”(Amanat, 2018, p.160). The building was perceived in white from the early stages of design as it is reflected in Art and Architecture, the only Iranian architectural journal of the time, that covers the development of Shahyad design in a special edition (“Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972).

Similarly, In the reports of the structural engineers, it is mentioned as one of the few things that Amanat was certain about (Ayres, 1970). Using exposed concrete and stone tile were considered as two possible solutions to achieve the expected whiteness, preferably the proficien y of native stonemason illustrated stone as a more feasible option (“Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972). What should be noted, as the preceding text tries to illustrate, is that the feasibility of both solutions at that time owed to the previous experiments in dealing with monumental mausoleums, namely Avicenna tomb in experimenting with exposed concrete and the gradual advancement of stonework since the construction of Ferdowsi tomb. Here, the associations with the reburial of the corpse of the past in their monumental mausoleums found meaning in Shahyad and were solidified in its materialit

Urban Volcano 25

Figure 10-Network of the actors described in the first section

26 Urban Volcano

Through slowly mapping the flo , the people’s reading of the tower as the Shah’s final resting place (cited in:Hemmati, 2015), gains a broader meaning than merely a misunderstanding and maybe is as valid as the formal brief. In terms of materiality, there are other researches (Diba, 2012; Talin Grigor, 1998; Hemmati, 2015) pointing to Shahyad as the extension of Seyhoun’s approach. However, in jumping to this conclusion, not only the innovative dimensions of Amanat’s design are neglected, but more importantly, the web of references in which he and Seyhoun are part of is undermined. Seyhoun was the member of the jury1 that recognized none of the designs befitting the ideal project2; however, mentioned Amanat’s proposal as the closest (Amanat, 2000). To make the final decision, Amanat alongside with other potential winners, went to present their projects to the Shah and the Queen. As the building becomes a matter of broader concerns, it becomes more fluid. The trajectory should be observed from a different point of view to understand the royal couple’s concern.

Second Episode- The Gateway Rising Actions For Amanat, his design is pure from political concerns. He states: “As a dreamer, I could not or did not want to see or hear and did not care about the political rhetoric of the time” (Amanat, 2000, p.603). ّ Nonetheless, the symbolic language that he selected, as Milani mentions, “encapsulated all the key elements of the shah political paradigm”(Milani, 2012, p.371). The main resemblance can be seen in the iconic gateway of the monument, which, as Amanat (2013) recalls, was the starting point of the design. However, the concept of the gate was in the air. The idea of the gateway had attached to Shahyad even before the competition for its design announced publicly. The building called ‘The Gate of Cyrus’ and later ‘The Imperial Gate’ in officia correspondences before the name Shahyad was forged for it. Besides, the minutes in these documents3 shows that other architects were hired to provide proposals for the same monuments4. The designs are also described as 1- Amanat introduces other members of the jury as follows: “Architect Foroughi, Architect Ghiai , Architect and Urban Planner Schewer, German advisor of Teheran municipality and plan organization of Iran, Architect Nasser Badie deputy minister of Housing and Development, Architect Koohang from plan organization.See: Amanat,2000.p, 604.

2- Javaherian states that Seyhoun in an interview with her mentioned his influential role in putting emphasize on Amanat’s design. Amanat in another interview questions the authenticity of the quote. Since Javaherian does not provide reliable references for her quote it is not taken into the account in this thesis. See: Javaherian, F. (2009). ‫آزادی نماد دو پهلو‬ -(Shahyad: A Two-Faceted Symbol). Iran-Nameh, 24(4), 481-501.

Hemmati, K. (2015). A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (Master of Arts), Simon Fraser University, 3- After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the officia correspondences were published alongside with revolutionist footnotes to make the ‘corruption the authorities visible. Since the costs of the 2500 years, Persian monarchy was contested explicitly by the opposition all the documents related to that event were gathered and published in four volumes under the title of Devil’s Celebration. Shahyad is in the focus of the second and the third volumes. Although the book is not neutral in its description; since the original documents are presented, it provides a valuable resource. It should be noted that the added comments are not referred to; instead,the text in the original documents are the source of information.

4- For instance, there is a bill for 200,000 Rial to be paid to “Dr. Marjan and his associates” for the designs, blueprints, and models for The Imperial Gate. There is also a document discussing a proposal submitted by Amir Nosrat Monaghah, Yousef Shariatzadeh and Associates, which was described as a triumph vault and was inspired by Ctesiphon Archway, an ancient Persian monument.

Urban Volcano 27

the gate and vault, although were rejected by the Shah (The celebration in the documents of the court-vol.2, 1999). In fact, The idea of the gate was associated with the Shah himself, as the idea and phrase he coined. The idea of the gate founded on the paradigm of the revitalization project and specifically referred to the threshold in which the revoked Iranian nation would catch up with the other ‘great civilizations.’In his memoir, the Shah explains the idea: “…I believe each nation has the right, the duty to reach or to return to a Great Civilization. That is why Iran cannot be unfaithful to its ancestral, universalist tradition. This tradition in fact always combined certain values and a certain purely national Iranian spirit with the best available in other civilizations. In our march toward this Gate of the Great Civilization, Iran was one vast workshop.”(M. R. Pahlavi, 1980, p.175, emphasize added.)

Here, the description of the gate is a metaphor for a portal that extended in time and links the past and the future. Looking at the similar rhetoric of the time, Milani (2012) also concludes that Shahyad supposed to act as a “gateway to the future and a celebration of the past” symbolizing the coming of “The Great Civilization.”. Moreover, the gateway is narrated as it intersects with the present. Here, the same way that the Queen calls it (F. Pahlavi, 2004), the gateway is a triumph vault and supposed to mark and celebrate the ending of the march rooted in the 30s. Subsequently, the inauguration of the tower with its symbolic archway came after the lavish parade of 2500 years celebration in Persepolis.

The statements mentioned above show the multi-aspect that the gate presents in the narration of it. The monument is a declaration of coming to a new time and space; a new era, or as Amanat (2016) describes it a “mini- renaissance”. The term, mini-renaissance that Amanat (2016) used to describe the era he worked in, seems impossible to imagine as a rebirth cannot be downplayed. The discourse that what could be considered as a renaissance, or what happened in Iran is an example of it, even on a minor scale, is not in the focus of this thesis. Instead, the point is to describe the making of the social construction, in which Shahyad would be designed, placed, and more importantly intended to celebrate, as it reflected in The New York Times. A picture of Shahyad below a heading of “Welcome to Tehran” is published in an advertisement with the caption reading: “The stunning Shahyad Tower exemplifies Tehran today…and is the very symbol of a legendary civilization that has evolved into our vital, modern society.”(14 April 1975, cited in: Hemmati, 2015,p.74).

This evolution, or the massive reforms, rooted in the ’30s, came with the weakening of the religious structure. In that time, the religious institutions lost their influences in Iranian community since part of the blames for the failure of the previous state put on clergies that the monarchy derived its legitimacy from (Abrahamian, 1982). Despite various viewpoints on the situation, one thing everyone seemed to agree on unanimously was that the Qajar kings, with the support of the Islamic religious leaders, had driven Iran into “the Dark Middle Ages” by “exploiting public ignorance, fear, backwardness, and superstitions.”(Talinn Grigor, 2005). This turn of the events could also be tracked in years leading to 1937 when clergies were progressively losing their chairs in the parliament.

Eventually, in the eleventh Majlis that met in 1937, not even a single well-known figure 28 Urban Volcano

from the clergies was present (Akhavi, 1980; Faghfoory, 1987). Faghfoory even claims public opinion was against the clergies to the extent that, “according to some oral and written reports, even buses refused to carry the mullahs, in addition to prostitutes” (1987, p.427).

Although it seems similar to the Renaissance, the Iranian reforms did not base on similar rhetoric. However, as Eisenstadt (2000) reminds us in the traditional communities as the unquestionable order of divinity vanishes, the modernization finds space to set in.

Similarly, Grigor (2005) notes that the marginalization of the clergies who had historically been central to the organization of the Iranian society and state1 provided room to the implantation of the reforms. She states that the reforms underpinned secular, constitutional, and nationalist ideologies. Despite the big claims, the extension of these reforms impacted the everyday practice to modernize it in order to advance or purify it from superstitions that kept it backward. Hemmati notes, “through such imagery, the government exposed Iranians on an everyday basis to representations of structures that were meant to symbolize the regime’s success at forging of a modern nation-state.” (Hemmati, 2015, p. 98).

The Agencies The Pedagogical Space: The Cultivation of a New Taste Maybe one of the first examples of such spaces, that embodied the new reform of social structure as becoming more secular and modern, is the iconic mausoleum.2. Since the opening of Ferdowsi tomb in 1934 (see p.20), other mausoleums in the form of monumental buildings were built over the grave of respected poets that were deceased hundreds of years ago. In addition to the modern structures that replaced the traditional buildings, these landmarks put emphasize on the visits of the mausoleums belong to non-religious individuals, nonetheless, promote the visits to a ritual. Additionally, as they are situated inside of an open space that acts as a public realm, the ritual enmeshed with the everyday routines. Grigor notes that the ritual was borrowed from the Shi’a ritual of pilgrimage (ziyarat) and called these monumental tombs secular pilgrimage sites. Moreover, she mentions that the same verb in Persian is being used for paying a visit to both sites.

Talking about linguistic roots, she also mentions that the titles forged for these sites, such as Ferdowsiyeh for Ferdowsi tomb, was derived from the distinctively Shi’a architectural concept of Hosaynieh- a term used for the specific space constructed or converted for the reading of Ruzeh (the recital of the suffering and martyrdom of Imam Hossain) during the month of Muharram (Talinn Grigor, 2005).

The iconic tombs tried to cultivate new tastes, but also new habits; hence, they were pedagogical tools alien to the urban fabric. In fact, the modern educational facilities were entirely new for their context as traditionally teaching was practiced and organized by religious institutions. Reza Shah put lots of labor to institutionalize secular education.

1 - Clergies has found central position in Iranian community especially after 1501 when Shah Ismail Safavid proclaimed the Twelver Imami Shi'ism as Persia's official religio 2- Pamela Karimi mentions that the displacement of the religious territory first appears in domestic space by making more opening towards outside but also inside. Nonetheless, here, the discussion is about public space that created for that specific intention. Laleh-Zar street is an older example; however, it should be noted that the intention was not to challenge the traditional order. See: Karimi, P. (2013). Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the Modern Era: Routledge.

Urban Volcano 29

Figure 11- Reza Shah in the Medical Science in the inauguration of Tehran University, January 15, 1935.

Reprinted from Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture in twentieth-century Iran (p,140), by T. Grigor, 2005.

It became part of the law, and the organizing schools left to the Ministry of Education (Akhavi, 1980). Education became compulsory for boys and girls, and they obliged to wear a uniform during school hours (Abrahamian, 1982). Accordingly, new schools mushroomed around cities and turning the urban space into the secular environment as they functioned outside the traditional frame. Maybe the most prominent one among other was Tehran University. This symbolic importance found reflectionin the inauguration of the University.

A blurry image, portrays Reza Shah walking in between skeletons on the dissection tables of Medical Science faculty during the opening of the Tehran University on January 15, 1935 (Figure 11). This was the first department of the University that saw the daylight. As Grigor (2005) mentions, it serviced the construction of the mausoleums by performing medical tests on the unearthed corpses to confirm their Aryan race before the reburial. The picture was widely published in the press. It announced Reza Shah’s symbolic choice to inaugurate the building of the Anatomy and Dissection Department, which disregarded the Islamic ban on human dissection. Thus, if the other educational buildings were new to the traditional order, Tehran University publicly contested it with its ‘intolerable’ function.

This modern building, however, was very selective to the past as it cited Persepolis in the construction. A golden plate buried underneath the foundation that tried to mimic the rituals performed in building Persepolis1. This careful choreographed moves intend to teach a lesson to Iranians. Interestingly, The burial of the golden plaque would be exactly performed, although with more emphasis, during the construction of Shahyad tower (Hemmati, 2015), which would be designed by, Hossein Amanat, a fresh graduated from the same University in 1966.

Therefore, Figure 11 shows a collection of the elements which are oriented around the 1-In September 1933, the German archaeologist under the guidance of Herzfeld discovered two silver and two golden plate in a stone box that was buried in Persepolis for millennia. As grigor states Reza Shah mimic the same ritual by laying down a gold foundation plate in a marble box in a cornerstone of the University building. See: Grigor, 2005.

30 Urban Volcano

Shahyad Square

Sculpture Square

Ferdowsi Square

Figure 12- The formation of the monumental axis leading to Shahyad Square. Reproduced by Author.

project of revitalization. However, the impact was not only hidden in the social realm through being a symbol of secularism and modern education, instead transcended the associations in the physical sense in urban space. The University is on the east flank of the sculpture (Mojasameh) square led to future Shahyad site in west and Ferdowsi square in East (Figure 12). The sculpture square had a statue of Reza Shah. In the background, Tehran University was the most prominent structure surrounding the square as a secular educational building defiant to religious laws and order. Hence, a monumental axis was shaped that would lead to Shahyad Square. In 1971 couple month to the inauguration of Shahyad, the Ferdowsi statue was substituted, and the old sculpture moved to Tehran University 1. As Grigor notes, the substitution of a Ferdowsi in a standing position seemed to better suits the modernistic narrative on him. Some had contended that the “Oriental style” of the previous statue was both culturally and historically “inappropriate.” 2 (2005).

The Unveiling & The Progress: The Formation of The Secular Sites Reza Shah recognized the pedagogical platform to broadcast the new ideas on which the revival of the nation should be founded. As he did in the inauguration of Tehran University, where he did “the hardest thing in his life.” This is how Ashraf Pahlavi (1980), described it when his father asked her and his wife to remove their veil in the inauguration day to “serve as an example for other Persian woman.” Following that, Reza Shah had a family 1- Both Ferdowsi tomb and Tehran University are among the few buildings that Reza Shah inaugurated during his reign.

2- Ferdowsi was depicted as sitting on pillows and cushions in the original statue. This was not the first time that Ferdowsi was appropriated. He deceased in Islamic era as a Muslim, but unearthed, confirmed as an Aryan, and then reburied in modern mausoleums with references to pre-Islamic time as “a good Shi’a but extremely tolerant”.

See: Sadigh, I. (1947). Biography, Personality, and Works of Ferdowsi: The Lecture of Dr.Isa Sedigh in the Cultural Society of Iran and Britain- ‫دکترعیسیصدیق در‬ ‫سخنرانی‬ :‫شخصیت وزندگیفردوسی‬ ،‫شرح حال‬ ‫انگلیس‬ ‫انجمنفرهنگی ایران و‬. Iran-va-Amrica, (14), 1-13. Retrieved from http://ensani.ir/file/download article/20120504133459-6016-7.pdf Urban Volcano 31

photo with his unveiled daughters published in newspapers1, and then the Uniformity of Dress Law was put in the effect in 1936 (Akhavi, 1980; A. Pahlavi, 1980). The law2 obliged women to remove their veil and required men to abandon traditional dress for Western one combined with brimmed hats. Looking back at the picture of Reza Shah in Tehran University the implication of the dress law policy is visible in the image, in which the iconic hats are recognizable. This forced modernization was seen essential by Reza Shah to quickly compensate the backwardness of the previous dynasty (F. Pahlavi, 2004).

What he aimed for was to educate the masses through the modern education system that can encourage industrialization and the presence of women rendered essential to achieve that. Pamela Karimi (2013) notes that the image of women during this era portrayed as an active contributor in the project of the modernization. At the same time, the meaning of the progress which was translated into the proliferation of industrial technology could very well reflected in architecture. The same tendency historically reflects in monumental architecture to testify the unlimited capabilities of the power, namely the Shah. As Ardalan and Bakhtiar (1973) states, in Iranian architecture the gateway was historically associated with latest technology of the time. Similarly, Taq Kasra, or the Archway of Ctesiphon is an ancient Persian monument, which owes much of its reputation to the fact that it is the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in world3. The monument cited in the entrance of the Museum of Ancient Iran designed by Godard4 and also referred to in the main archway of Shahyad tower. Amanat (2011) describes it as one of the most significant vaults in Iranian history for its technical achievement (Figure 13).

The construction of the iconic tombs were also the field to experiment with new materials and tectonics. The same experience and eagerness made the realization of Seyhoun’s designs of the mausoleums possible. His designs were challenging for available competencies, but there was a tendency to practiced and mastered new skills; as he describes in his experiment with exposed concrete in Avicenna tomb which was done with the help of western technicians (Seyhoun, 2011). Accordingly, the construction of these monuments, which as it is mentioned (see p.31), functioned as secular spaces were blended with technology and the idea of industrialization. The technological received 1 - The image reminds of Naser al-Din Shah photos of his harem in the late 19th century that for the first time found their way to newspapers and became public. Pedram Khosronejad gathers a unique collection of these photos. See: Khosronejad, Pedram. (2018). The Royal Lens: Naser Al-Din Shah's Photography of His Harem: Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies Program (IPGS) at Oklahoma State University.

2 - Reza Shah impressed by the Turkish law forbidding the wearing of the brimless hat, which Ataturk saw as a sign of backwardness. However, Atatürk (spelled differently in different places) discouraged veiling, but it was banned only for women in the public sector, such as teachers and government employees. While some municipalities issued ordinances banning veiling, physical force was not used on Turkish women.

See: Chehabi, H. E. (2003). The Banning of the Veil and its Consequences. The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, 193-210.

3- The building dated back to about 3rd-6th AD. The remaining of the monument is currently located in Iraq.

See: Keall, E. J. (1987). Ayvan-e Kesra. In Iranica (Vol. 3, Fasc.2, pp. 155-159). Also available at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayvan-e-kesra-palace-of-kosrow-at-ctesiphon, Last Visited: 24/06/2019 4 - The building was constructed with the direct order of Reza Shah under the paradigm of inspiring from ancient history to progress. He intended to prevent the newly discovered antiques to move to western museums and instead exhibit for Iranian. See: Grigor, 2005.

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Figure 13- Top: the Archway of Ctesiphon (3th-6th A.D.). Middle: The Museum of Ancient Iran, designed by: Andrea Godard, 1937. Bottom: Shahyad Tower, designed by: Hossein Amanat, 1971. Reproduced by Author.

emphasis, as Grigor notes the 1394-kilometer trans national railroad that goes from one end to the other end of the country and stands as the main symbol of the modernization of the era associated with these sites. The railroad connects cities hosting these monuments, providing easy access to them nationwide (Talinn Grigor, 2005).

Likewise, Shahyad’s link with the concept of progress and industrialization is far more complicated than merely a formal citation, however it is mostly neglected in the historical review of the structure. Shahyad, like its ancestors, is entangled with modernization and new way of transportation. The rate of industrialization in Iran was notable at that moment and very visible when the building was put in the competition. The brief could be considered as a testimony of that as it allowed any technique and style to be used; a showcase for the capabilities acquired by the nation. This connection even received emphasize as the primary source of financing was claimed to provide by a group of five hundred Iranian industrialists (“The costs of the royal celebration,” 1971). Of course, the budget would be in the center of the controversy and would be discussed further on in this thesis, rather the involvement of the industrial sector as the believable suspect for the public proves the point. The connection further described in an article titled “the message of Shahyad for the future generations” published in a newspaper specifically for the royal ceremonies. In the article, the tower and controversies around it are compared Urban Volcano 33

with the Eiffel tower, and the author concludes that the building “… serves as a means of appreciating Iran’s industrialists… [which] will leave the Shahyad Square, as a display of the greatness of Iran today, to the destiny of history.”(“The Message of Shahyad”, 1971 cited in:Hemmati, 2015, pp. 58-59)

The technological aspect of Shahyad received considerable attention by the media, emphasizing the use of the latest technology that was implemented by Iranian never missed in the reports (“The biggest square of the world,” 1967; “The new glamourous gate,” 1966; “Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972), neither in the architect’s narrations (Amanat, 2000, 2007, 2011). The Shah also defines his concept of ‘The Great Civilization’ with the intellectual capacities and technological achievements, as he defines it as a civilization in “which the finest elements in human knowledge and vision are on the path for achieving the highest standards of material and moral living, for all individuals of society”(Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1978, p.

250). The involvement of western companies with high-end construction technologies may be considered as a reflection of this attitude. Leastwise, Shahyad intended to mark the Shah’s White Revolution which, similar to his father’s modification, was centered around the industrialization. Accordingly, Arup and partners that just gained a reputation with Sydney Opera House were assigned to provide consulting services for structural engineering and fabrication strategy1 (Ayres, 1970), while the construction left to the Iranian Industrial Management Institute2 (hereafter IMI) and native contractors (“Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972). In this respect, Shahyad, as Arup’s engineers mentions, was considered as the stepping-stone to the future: … [The building’s] inspiration clearly coming from traditional design. But it has another purpose concerned very much with today. Iran is not advanced in the modern techniques of building and the monument is seen as an opportunity of introducing to that country some of the sophisticated methods of construction available today—a stepping-stone to the future, perhaps (Ayres, 1970, p. 29).

Moreover, the building is linked through new roads to the new Tehran international airport, which “physically and visually brought the monument and the [national] airline company together” (Hemmati, 2015). Iran Air, as the flag carrier of the country quickly secured positions in major national airports and traffi rights. The national airline considered the most profitable non-oil enterprise owned by the government and was referred to as “the caviar airline.”3 (Steele, 2015). The link between the two structures was reflected in most of the advertisement for the airline (Figure14). The tower was explicitly supposed to welcome visitors who landed in renovated Mehrabad airport to modern Tehran. Hence, If the previous terrain system weaved monumental mausoleums and intended to act nationwide, 1 - It should be noted that although as Amanat describes he approached the firm and signed the contract, but he conditioned to the consent of the ceremony council and the Shah even supported him in the controversies around leaving the work to a foreign firm and downplaying the capabilities of Iranian engineers. See: Amanat, 2000..

2 - “The formation of the Industrial Management Institute dates back to 1951 when the concept of an avant-garde organization ​focusing on the development of management potentials in Iran was incepted. Ten years later, in 1962, the Industrial Management Institute (IMI) was founded. The objectives of IMI were to develop management capacity and facilitate change and improvement in Iran's industrial and service sectors.” See: http://www.imi.ir/en/Pages/AboutUs.aspx , Last Visited: 25/06/2019.

3- In the year 1970 Iran Air carried 730,000 passengers between 33 points in 17 countries.

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the airport was specially being prepared to host international guests. Tehran was selected to host the 1975 Asian Games and was in the nomination list for the Olympic Games (Hemmati, 2015). The resemblance of the industrialization with the secular space is also traceable in Shahyad as the symbol of woman suffrage would be placed underneath the structure. A museum celebrating the modern achievements under the Shah reign would be added later to the program of the monument that is specifically linked to the woman’s voting right.

The Modern City & The Alternative Space: The Formation of The New Public Space The juxtaposition of Shahyad with Mehrabad international airport gives the monumental archway a real and physical sensation of a gate, as it could function as an entrance to a modern Tehran1. In fact, almost after six decades, the city reclaimed its reputation as the city of the gateways. Tehran was famous for its twelve old gateways, which in addition to serving the practical purposes, carried strong religious symbolism as the entrance to holistic utopia (Marefat, 1988). The same image, however, in Reza Shah perspective was the symbol of a ‘bad taste’ (Talinn Grigor, 2005). This is coupled with the fast industrialization and the consequent urban expansion, which resulted in the gradual destruction of the mentioned gates between 1932 and 1937. Mashayekhi (2016) states that this is mostly carried out under a new urban plan of Tehran called ‘Street-Widening Act of 1933’. She mentions that the widening and creating new streets under this scheme was the result of the trans-national railway project and administration reform plan. The plan follows a Frenchstyle modern street plan that imposed a degree of geometric regularity, with monuments as focal points of the street system (Mashayekhi, 2016). As Mashayekhi (2018) mentions, the same trend in emphasizing the focal points of the street system well extended to the futures plan, namely to the first master plan of Tehran, called Tehran Comprehensive Plan and designed by Abdul- Aziz Mirza Farman-Farmaian and Victor Gruen2. Their plan, like ‘Street Widening Act of 1933’, based on the newly created avenues, and put more emphasize on the focal point of the system. At the selected intersections, the neighborhood centers formed around modern shopping malls (“The complete specifications of Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan,” 1970).

However, the site of Shahyad, which was at the intersection of three streets and acted as the new entry point to the city, was not proposed as one of the anticipated focal points.

1 - The Sydney Morning Herald report in a special edition for the 2500 years anniversary celebrations, that Shahyad would inaugurate as its memorial, gives a glance to this city behind the gate. The newspaper published a map of Iran showing major industrial centers across the country and the tittle reads “An oilbased economy forges ahead”. On the top a picture of a hotel with a modern look next to the picture of Persepolis is subtitled as a “symbol of progress”, while another article links the celebration with modern Persia. See: Modern Persia to celebrate. (1971, May 4). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 16.

2- Farman-Farmaian was an Iranian architect who graduated from Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1950. In the same year he opened the first consultant offic in Iran, called AFFA (Abdul-Aziz Farman-Farmaian and Associations).

Victor David Gruen was an Austrian born architects best known as a pioneer in the design of shopping malls. He later engaged in urban designing and was influenced from garden cities.

The cooperation between native and western project was part of the requirement of the Point Four Program that contributed partially in the expenses of the master plan. The Point Four Program was launched by Harry Truman, the president of the united stated, in order to prevent developing countries, roll into the soviet’s communism by providing better quality of life for poor.

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Figure 14- The image shows an advertisement of Iran Air in the early 70s. Shahyad and Iran Air associated with each other from the early stage of the inauguration of the tower. Reprinted from Shahre Farhang , Retrieved from http://shahrefarang.com/en/iran-air-pre-1979 , last visited: 21/07/2019.

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Neither the street that led to it was supposed to act as one of the prominent connections.

Rather, due to its massive size and increasing importance as the entry point, the square transformed into one of the most prominent public spaces of the city1. Similarly, as the street leading to Shahyad stretches from the square at the western side of Tehran to the east and passed through the prominent monumental intersections on its way, namely Ferdowsi Square and Sculpture Square, it changed into the most symbolic and ceremonial street of the country (Zarabadi, 2012, Figure 15). Hence, the intersection of a secular space with the industrialization created alternative public spaces to the traditional ones, such as iconic tombs vis-à-vis religious pilgrim sites, or streets that added to the traditional urban fabric and transformed it significantl . Looking back at Figure 1 (Mohammadi, 1978), which this chapter started with, the public space is visible. However, the women and the men wearing black are in contrast with the white monument in the background. The black cloth and the black flag are the sign of the religious ritual, called Moharram, and it stands against the white marble as the sign of the secular reforms. Grigor notes that the emphasize on the west-east axis while catalyzed the expansion of Tehran on the same direction, and at the same time divide the city into two parts: rich modernized North opposing the poor traditional South. However, while Shahyad sit in a site of conflict, it was hoped to be the place of the tolerance.

As part of the political and environmental agenda to shift the momentum of Tehran’s expansion to the city’s East–West axis and to diffuse the existing tension between the rich modernized North and poor traditional South, Shahyad became the commanding urban marker in the middle-class populated western Tehran district.

The state-planned East–West urban expansion would, it was hoped, solve real social problems and ultimately obscure the ever-growing cultural and material gap between the mostly religious urban population and the secular rising bourgeoisie of Tehran (Talinn Grigor, 2003, p. 213).

Third Episode- The Black & The White Climax As Grigor (2003) notes, Shahyad was the commanding urban marker in the state-planned east-west expansion of Tehran, which supposed to diffuse north-south social segregation.

The division marked the fast and forced modernization of the 30s and was not planned initially. Indeed, the crystallization of modernity caused the fragmentation in the traditional continuity. The split is traceable in both urban fabric and social structure. The fabric was torn apart with the superimposition of street networks on top of the traditional fabric. This specifically included leveling approximately two-thirds of the historical core of Tehran to ground. As Marefat (1988) explains this was part of decentralizing dense urban centers.

The scattering of important spaces outside the royal closure and positioning them on the north part of the city encourage the growth of the city in that direction (Mashayekhi, 2016, Figure 16). This displacement came with deepening of the social gaps between the traditional layers and the modern centers that have developed within the community.

1 - The square has the area of about 50,000 square meters and advertised as the biggest square of the world as the achievement of the regime. See: The biggest square of the world-‫بزرگترینمیدان جهان‬ . (1967, September 13- 22/06/1346). Etela'at, p. 13.

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Figure 15-Network of the actors described in the second section

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110

A. Mashayekhi

Ministry of Economy

Main Building (Qajar Era)

New Streets on the Moat

Justice Ministry

Main Building (Pahlavi Era)

New Streets on Old Paths

Radio Station City Park

City Hall Post Offi

Totally New Streets Streets Never Built

Figure 16- Tehran map in 1937, the plan of the new grid of streets and emergence of new institutions.

Fig. 9.1 map 1937,ofpresents the in plan the new grid ofModernisation streets and emergence of new Reprinted fromTehran “Tehran, theinScene Modernity theof Pahlavi Dynasty: and Urbanisation institutions (Atlas of Tehran Metropolis 2005).

Reproduced with permission of Tehran Processes 1925–1979” (p.110), by A. Mashayekhi, 2016, Urban Change in Iran.

Municipality ICT Organisation

This ‘natural’ urban expansion was socially and symbolically emphasized and reinforced by the royal family. The Shah and his entourage moved from the Marble Place in the center By the end of the first Pahlavi regime in 1941, Tehran covered an area of around of Tehran 2to Niavaran royal complex in the north of Tehran in 1959 (Talin Grigor, 1998).

46 km , which was 2.5 times bigger than during the Qajar period. The population While the aristocracy began to move northward for better water, air, view, and urbanism, grew from 200,000 to nearly one million in only sixteen years (Atlas of Tehran the clerics and merchants chose to remain in their place and2 over the years became more Metropolis 2005). Streets and avenues covered 1.8 km or 9 % of the whole area of separated (Akhavi, 1980). Besides, the expansion of the city and the construction of the the city. For Tehran, the two decades that followed the end of the first Pahlavi were new streets dispersed the traditional network and constrained the traditionalist merchants in their stores, the clergies in their mosques, and the old nobility in their residential quarters (Talinn Grigor, 2005). In addition, the construction of new streets gave rise to the creation of alternative spaces on a notable scale. 1.8 square kilometers - 9% of the whole city- was transformed into open squares, including wide avenues, urban squares, Urban Volcano 39

and municipal parks (Figure 16) (Marefat, 1988). Hence, while the traditional layers of the community isolated, new spaces contested the conventional counterparts, that were based on a collective identity rooted in the religious beliefs. Kamran Diba, a prominent Iranian architect, in his sketch, describes traditional public space as a veiled space (cited in:Talinn Grigor, 2005). The same status of mind is useful to understand the alternation of the new space as they literally came with the forced unveiling (see p.31).

Therefore, the contrast between secular new public space vis-à-vis religious traditional brought the contestation into the public space. Where the first signs of social reforms projected, and the first forms of resistance established in the ’30s. The obligation of the dress code in 1936 was one of these confrontations. The law made unveiling for women and wearing western cloth in combination with brimmed hats for men compulsory, was an intervention that controlled the appearance of citizens in public space and prevented them from doing their religious ritual. Alongside with the evident contradiction of unveiling with religious beliefs, the brimmed hat was read as a mean to prevent the believers from touching their heads to the ground in prayer, which is a requirement in the Islamic tradition (Akhavi, 1980). The new proper space was challenged in bloody incidents1. However, far more interesting in this study is the ban that Reza Shah put on The Mourning of Moharram, which is a very rooted religious ritual in Shia Islam that traditionally performed publicly in urban spaces in Iran. As Mozaffari notes Moharram and Persepolis are at the heart of competitive discourse in Iran (Mozaffari, 2014). The picture in the opening of this chapter, figure 5, was taken during the commemoration. The black flag on top of the monument and men’s black shirts are the well-known signs of expressing of grief, while the monument erected as a remembrance of a lavish parade in Persepolis. As if, the contrast of the picture speaks of the contrast in social construct.

As it is described in the preceding text, the construction of alternative spaces to traditional counterparts, from the iconic tombs to Tehran University and the expansion of the street network, found reflection in the materiality and locality of Shahyad. In this section, the modification of rituals and its implication on Shahyad’s spatial configuration is described.

The Agencies The Black Flag: The Ritual and The Practiced Space Historically, The morning ritual was considered as one of the most important collective events that traditionally brought urban spaces under the control of the public (Mozaffari,2014; Sharayeli & Adelvand, 2017). Specificall , at the climax of the remembrance of Moharram, 1 -The dress code was put in effect by publishing a family photo of Reza-Shah with his daughters unveiled.

This move condemned by clergies. Ashraf Pahlavi, Reza Shah’s daughter, states that one mullah who talked against her father allowing the women of his house to show their face was treated with “equally public gesture”. His turban was removed, and his bread was shaved (A. Pahlavi, 1980). Later, clerics organized a demonstration in the courtyard of Mashhad's Imam Reza Shrine. For two days, the one thousand or so protestors held their positions, while the shah dispatched a troop of two thousand men to Mashhad. On the eve of July 14, they opened fire on the crowd and between four hundred and five hundred people were killed (Akhavi, 1980).

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the public processions on the Day of Ashura1, consist of men marching in the streets and flagellating themselves, mourning the death of the Imam2 (Sharayeli & Adelvand, 2017).

Moharram suspends everyday life for about 40 days, blinds the traditionally oriented social classes to space, and transform spaces to the space of the ritual. Mozaffari refers to it as a momentary construction of the utopia that transcends in the pilgrimage and moving to the ‘second site’(Mozaffari, 2014). The ritual of Moharram was growing during Qajar era (Marefat, 1988; Sharayeli & Adelvand, 2017), however, later, the secular reforms of the early 30s tried to redefine this second site by the construction of monumental buildings.

Accordingly, the shift in the concept of performing rituals received support from the state, namely as the construction of the monumental mausoleums encouraged the civic pilgrimage.

However, the civic pilgrimage was not an alternative option, instead, forced to replace the old habit. Alongside with the promotion of the civic pilgrimage, Reza Shah forbade traveling to religious cities in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but more importantly, he outlawed the commemoration of the death of Imam Hossein during Moharram in 1935 (Abrahamian, 1982; Akhavi, 1980). The severity of the prohibition was reported by J. Rives Childs, the American diplomat working in Iran in the same year: This year the police order is understood to have gone forth that no mourning processions were to be allowed to parade in the streets as in previous years. A few days before the advent of Ashura certain mullahs are known to have addressed telegrams directly to the shah appealing of the removal of the restrictions imposed on observance of the day. The mullahs who took action in Kermanshah and in Teheran are known to have been placed promptly under detention until after the day had passed. Likewise, in Babol, where the most serious disturbances are understood to have occurred, it appears that an application was made by the mullahs to the authorities for the holding of public processions.(Majd, 2001 cited in: Talinn Grigor, 2005 ,p.119).

Accordingly, scholars note the impact of this ban on the transformation of the public space, as this ritual traditionally was entangled with urban environments. Not only the performers and audiences were ordinary people on the street, but also observation happened there. The open theaters that were used for passion plays, called Tekye, were located at the intersection of narrow streets and acted as the primary gathering points (Marefat, 1988, Figure 17). Prohibiting the mourning of Muharram, coupled with the replacement of pathways with avenues caused the environments that were suitable for this event to gradually depart from the public spaces (Figure 18). This resulted in shifting the rituals into the domestic space and more notably to the bazaar located in the historical center of the city. The shift in the use of space alongside with the effect of Tehran Comprehensive Plan to the landscape of the consumption, formed two type of public space formed parallel to each other, each of which accommodated differe t group with contrasted viewpoints (Figure 19).

The bazaar was viewed by the state and local professionals “as a remnant of the past, but 1 - Ashura is the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calenda .

2- Here, Imam refers to Hosayn, son of Islam's fourth caliph, Ali. Urban Volcano 41

Figure 17- Plan of Tehran in the early 20th century (Qajar era), showing the location of Takye(s). Reprinted from Building to power: architecture of Tehran 1921-1941 (p.332), by M. Marefat,1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Figure 18-Sabz-i-Meidan in the bazaar of Tehran during Moharram in early Twentieth century. Reprinted from “Simulatneity of Music and Urban Space with the Emphasize on Mourning in Tehran (Qajar to Pahlavi I).”(p.38), by M.R. Sharayeli and P.Adelvand, Bagh-e-Nazar

Figure 19- Public space in a modern shopping mall as it was envisioned for the development of Tehran.

Reprinted from “The Complete Specifications of Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan” (p.33), by A. FarmanFarmaian and V. Gruen, 1970, Art and Architecture 42 Urban Volcano

also as an institution incapable of change” and “a major impediment to Iran’s continued economic development1” (Mashayekhi, 2018, p. 24). However, in contrast to this viewpoint, the bazaar kept its integrity, and since WWII had steadily increased. Although, malls manifested a new style of retail and caused the bazaar to lose its position in retail sale sector. The establishment of showcase streets beside the central core expanded the geographical extent of the bazaar function (Habibi & Pati, 2017). In 1978, Tehran bazaar became the largest covered shopping area in the world2 (Mashayekhi, 2018, p. 24, Figure 20).

This contrast between two different public spaces reduced by the ending of WWII. After the allies meeting in Tehran in 1941, Reza Shah’s racial nationalism was associated with fascism, and he was sent to exile. The consequent dramatic rise of foreign influence in the forms of western culture and communism revoked reactions in between citizens. The government weakness and inefficienc to manage the chaotic aftermath caused clergies regaining the influence, through the well-rooted religious institutes in the various layers of the community. (Akhavi, 1980).

The Shah who succeeded his father, Reza Shah, crowned in a precarious condition.

Accordingly, he intended to use clergies resources to extend its influence and acceptability between citizens, besides generating anti-communism feeling in Iran (Abrahamian, 1982; Akhavi, 1980). The alternation of public space was in the center of this attempt to attract the consent of religious leaders and traditional layers of the communities. The Dress Code and the prohibition of the Moharram rituals withdrawn. Akhavi (1980) reports of the people enthusiasm to partake in the ritual, just a year after Reza Shah sent to exile. Almost seven years later, in 1948, fifteen clergies, in an announcement that was unimaginable in Reza Shah time forbid women from shopping in the bazaar and markets without wearing the veil (Akhavi, 1980). The modification of the public space followed in 1952 when the parliament rejected the women suffrage appeal. Which, in contrast to the ’30s, was controlled by the clergies. In the telegraph sent to the prime minister, it was seen against the Islamic values (The telegraphs on the election law, 1952). The democratic reforms of the prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh3, further challenged the foundation of the Shah monarchy and the bonds between the Shah and religious side strengthened.

Accordingly, from 1953 to 1955, clergies’ influence was rising, and Shah was collaborating 1- In 1975 a project for Tehran’s new center, with area of around 9.000 ha was started that intended to expose the bazaar to stronger market competition and replace the old economic heart of the city. The first plan was designed by Louis Kahn, however with his unexpected death, Kenzo Tange finished the final design. The proposal was not approved by the Shah and the project was given to Llewelyn Davis. See: Emami, 2011.

2- The bazaar reached its climax a year before the Islamic Revolution of the 1979, in which merchants actively engaged.

3- Moṣaddeq was the popular leader of the National front (Jabha-ye mellī), a coalition of political parties and prominent individuals formed in 1949 with the primary goals of nationalizing the oil industry and democratizing the Persian political system. Soon after Moṣaddeq’s appointment, the British began a pro­ tracted effort to have him removed from power, impos­ing economic sanctions on Persia, conducting military maneuvers in the region, and undertaking a variety of covert political activities. Eventually, his government was overthrown with the coupe d’état orchestrated by C.I.A. The events that led to fall of his government is still discussed between various political groups. See: Gasiorowski, M. J. (1993). Coup D’etat of 1332 Š./1953. In Encyclopedia Iranica (Vol. VI, Fasc. 4, pp. 354-356). Retrieved from: http://www.iranicaonline. org/articles/coup-detat-1953, Last Visited: 01/07/2019.

Urban Volcano 43

Shahyad Square Bazaar

Bazaar

Figure 20- The rapid urban expansion of Tehran and growth of the bazaar from 1950 to 1960. Adapted from Building to power: architecture of Tehran 1921-1941 (p.11), by M. Marefat,1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

with them in de-secularization reforms. Akhavi notes that in his reply to their plea for the banning of liquor, “one is struck by the eager, effusive tone in the Shah’s message.” (Akhavi, 1980). In the years following 1953, the government agreed to certain educational reforms involving more Islamic instruction in secular schools. He even started the construction of a mosque in Tehran University in 1955 (Talinn Grigor, 2005), the same place that his father used to declare his secular reforms (see p.31). These modifications extend to 1955 and Shah contributed in the anti-Bahai1 campaign of clergies by ordering the destruction of the dome of Bahai center in Tehran. Clergies assured Shah that this action would elicit the most fervent support for him on the part of faithful and they remarked about the monarchy and Islam as the basis of Iranian nationalism. In reply Shah confirm the existence of the suggested bond by the clergies. However, he did not support the bill which intended to remove Bahais from governmental apparatus stating, or threatening, that existing laws are efficient in dealing with all the outlaw (Akhavi, 1980).

In August of 1955, the state saw itself on the control. The prime minister was asked whether the regime worried about the Ashura demonstration turning to violence. The reporter noted he was swift to respond in denial, “as though he had anticipated it” (Etea’lat 16 August,1955 cited in:Akhavi, 1980). The city regained its original meaning and returned to the realm of the Shah, as the Persian word for city Shahr literally means ‘where the authority of the Shah is current’ (A. Amanat, 2012). Relying on this, the Shah would 1 -Bahai is a “religion founded in the nineteenth century by the Iranian notable Bahāʾ-Allāh (commonly Baháʾulláh or Bahāʾullāh in Western works)”. They considered as one of the largest minorities in Iran. “ In the early years of the 1930s Bahai women joined the movement of discarding the veil and gradually abandoned the traditional veiling practice. This development opened new fields of service for women and made possible their fuller participation in the social and administrative activities of the communities.” For more information see: Rafati, V. (1988). Bahaism. In Encycopedia Iranica (Vol. Vol. III, Fasc. 5, pp. 454-460). Also available at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahaism-v , Last Visited: 05/07/2019.

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continue his father’s reform under the slogan of ‘The White Revolution.’ However, by weaving the white flag, he intended to reflect the reform more tolerant and peaceful than the previous experience. Figure 20 shows the embodiment of the preceding narrative in the urban form. The bazaar extensively increased in size during the 50s and the 60s while the boundaries of it were about to collide with the future site of Shahyad, which would be built to celebrate the Shah’s White Revolution.

The White Revolution: The Reforms of The Practices The White Revolution was a strategy to avoid collision between the regime and growing opposite group that formed in 1941 as the result of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran that weakened of the state and opened of the social space (Abrahamian, 1982; Akhavi, 1980).

The reforms under the title of the revolution were envisioned to eradicate stratification and resolve all problems of class and social conflict, effectively removing threats by Leftists1(Abrahamian, 1982). In contrast with Reza Shah’s reforms based on nationalism from the beginning, the white revolution was encouraged with the breakout of the Cold War. The United States tried to convince Iranian authorities to prevent a communist revolution by starting reforms that could benefit the deprived and neglected layers of the community. The Kennedy administration offered 85 million dollars on condition that the Shah brought liberals into the cabinet and took meaningful steps to implement land reform and share the workers on the ownership of the lands (Abrahamian, 1982).

In 1958-1963 Iraq became close to communist under Abd Al-Karim Qasim2, which makes the reforms in Iran urgent. In 1960 the bill for the land reform became the first public confrontation of the state with clergies after Reza Shah. The problem of the religious institution with the land reform was; first, they were concerned with the impact of this law upon lands held by them. Second, the sanctity of private ownership is stressed by Islamic traditional law, and the land reform forced individuals to sell or give up on their private property (Akhavi, 1980). In return, the national press, which was operating as the instrument of the Shah’s government, was full of analyzes arguing that Iran was not the first Muslim nation to begin implementation of land redistribution. Hence justifying it in the framework of the religion (Akhavi, 1980). In late 1961 and early 1962, the Shah, that saw himself in a stable position, had committed himself to his reform program in a manner that suggested he would no longer hesitate in the face of clergy reaction3 (Akhavi, 1980). The break was also marked with the movement of the royal family from the Marble 1- Politically speaking, the White Revolution could be approached from multiple aspects. Amin Saikal notes the White Revolution can be understood in various ways: as the politics of system preservation, policies of maneuvering, as politics of independence, or in terms of the politics of social modernization, or as Marvin Zonis describes, a means whereby the Shah was able to solidify and widen the popular bases of his rule while also reducing dependence on the United States. Here, the focus lies on what contributes to the making of Shahyad. For the more focused study on the White Revolution. See: Saikal, A. (2009). The rise and fall of the Shah: Iran from autocracy to religious rule: Princeton University Press Princeton, NJ. 2- Abd Al-Karim Qasim Muhammed Bakr Al-Fadhli Al-Zubaidi was an Iraqi Army brigadier and nationalist who ascended into power when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown during the 14 July Revolution. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Karim_Qasim, Last Visited: 05/07/2019.

3- Akhavi notes that neglecting the clergies’ needs and interests were reflected in the lack of coverage for the death of prominent religious individuals in late 1950. Moreover, in 196 the most prominent clergy who acted as the leader of the cult died no one was adequate to fit in his shoes. This weekend religious institution Urban Volcano 45

place close to the historical center of Tehran to the Niavaran place in the north in 1959. It seems that the Shah both physically and ideologically was detaching himself further from the traditional bonds.

While the gap between various social layers was widening, the land reform gave rise to broader modifications in order to achieve ‘social justice.’ In a speech for the professional syndicates’ union of Tehran, the shah describes his motivations. His extensive use of architectural metaphors reminds of the replacement of the old tomb with monumental one. He concluded to achieve “independence” and “progress” the foundation of the old society must be abolished and reconstruct a new one which is more in accordance with today needs and necessities: "…Other issues, each of which like a deteriorated building blocked the pass to the progress, and if we wanted to brace each of these ruined structures, and mend them with patches, per say, it would be useless, as they were doomed to destroy.

Sooner or later, not only we would have to demolish these building and replace them with new ones, but also, we must fully level its foundation, meaning Iranian society, to the ground and found the future on new and more reliable foundations"(Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1964 Sep 16, translated by the author to English).

Accordingly, the land reform expanded, and besides the modification of land distribution included five more points. The program included the nationalization of forests, sale of state factories to private entrepreneurs, profit-sharing for industrial workers, the extension of the vote to women, and establishment of a rural literacy corps (Abrahamian, 1982). On 26th January 19631 the plan, which at that time called ‘Six Point Program was systematized through a referendum in which women for the first time granted the right to vote. Although in symbolic fashion as their votes did not count and they cast their votes in so-called self-organized centers. As the Queen states, the referendum was used to signal the country entering a new era and an extension of Reza Shah’s reforms. (F. Pahlavi, 2004) Mohammad Reza Shah, in his manifestation of the revolution, also describes his efforts as another step in the continuation of his father’s reforms towards the new era and specifically emphasizes in giving equal rights to women (Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, 1967).

The reforms were approved with the preposterous rate of 99.9% confirming it. The image of women celebrating their voting right became the symbol of the referendum as Reza Shah’s reform was associated with the unveiling. The analogy between two, however, inevitably brings the resulted conflict in mind, as it also is mentioned in the Queen’s memoirs (F. Pahlavi, 2004). The title of The White Revolution intended to resolve, or more accurately to understate the conflicts. Etela’at newspaper 26 January 1963 specifically covered the event of the referendum published an article in which Tehran’s Friday prayer Imam is illustrated and quoted saying an affirmativ vote in favor of the Six Point Program did not contradict Islam. This is accompanied by the picture of women and landlords voting (“Today people chose the path of the future,” 1963). In the other article, the prime minister visiting the Bazaar while all the shops were open, implying that no one was on strike even more. See: Akhavi, 1980.

1- 6 Bahman 1341 H.Sh 46 Urban Volcano

in objection to reforms. The report continues by describing the merchants expressing their support for the reforms. (“The prime Minister Visited Bazaar,” 1963) At the same time, in another column, the international press reflected praising the referendum and the Shah’s efforts and specifically mentioned the United States is pleased with these reforms as they make Iran more resistant to “internal and external communist treats.”

Later, in the column called the Pulse of the Day, the author starts a discussion with regards to some concern that the newspaper received about the growing division between clergies and state. The writing starts by downplaying the division and limited to only some clergies opposing the social reform. The rationality behind the article is that as the clergies are the representative of Shari’ah, they cannot oppose the ‘white revolution.’ Since these reforms are not new inventions contradicting Islamic instructions and “were implemented in the other Islamic countries.” In conclusion, the writer supported the idea of secularization but emphasizing that modernization, science, and religion are natural parents and can be mutually supportive (“Religion and the Issues of the day,” 1963). The fusion between two counterparts, which intended to omit the contradiction also reflected in the statements of the Shah.

Akhavi (1980) noted that Shah was deliberately using religious references in his speeches that evoked the theme of social justice, declaring that “no one can claim that he is closer to God or the Imams than I am.” He also mentioned that in numerous occasions, Shah expressed that his reforms were entirely compatible with and indeed foreseen by “true religion of Islam.” As the article in the newspaper, he argued that the Islamic trinity considered piety, justice, and equality. Admitting the first to be the appropriate sphere of the clergy, he identified his efforts with “justice and equality ” (Akhavi, 1980). As a result of the Shah’s labor to council the two opposite sides, the narration of history and heritage, which were the foundation of Iranian nationalism evolved. This may best be reflected in the Shah’s manifest of his reforms. Where he states that the revolution is confirmed by God and Islamic laws and also is aligned with values and ambitions of thousands of years old Iranian civilization1 (Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, 1967).

The New Sensibility: Tradition and Technology The same vision of Iran is precisely articulated in Shahyad monument. As Amanat (2016) states, “the style of Shahyad was also a manifestation of this period - modern, yet very Persian, with aspects of both pre- and post-Islamic architecture.”. Now, that the broader references he mentioned are described, the statement renders as more than a general brief, instead, provide a panoramic view. Milani explains it: "… [Shahyad monument] heralded a Tehran transformed by changing times and 1- The narration of old Iranian civilization that is in harmony with the Islamic values is opposite to what the paradigm of Reza Shah’s era, in which the ancient history was emphasized to contradict the Islamic traditions by focusing on the superiority of Aryan race. In contrast, the Shah condemned racism and saw it unacceptable in the post-war era. See: Pahlavi, M. R. (1967). The white revolution of Iran: Imperial Pahlavi Library.

He even tried to reintroduce his father as a religious man. In his book ‘My mission for my Country’ Mohammad Reza Shah wrote that his father was a religious man rather would’t let his pure faith to come into everyday life matters. See: Pahlavi, M. R. (1961). Mission for my Country: Hutchinson.

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conflicting identities and creatively bridged the city’s tormented past with its triumphant mood about its future. The Shah’s new, grand, sometimes grandiose, vision of Iran; his constant promise to build a “Great Civilization,” better than anything produced in the West while at the same time showing an openness to all things Western; and his increasing interest in conjuring the history of Iran’s ancient grandeur to consolidate his claim to power are all captured in the monument’s design" (Milani, 2012, p. 370).

Milani (2012) also mentions that the marriage of the Shah to Queen Farah strengthen the emergence of this new sensibility. The Queen expresses her concerns about the consequences of fast modernization. She warns about the removal of the heritage of Iranian culture and urges to find a combination of tradition and culture with modernization. (F. Pahlavi, 1971). The attempt to find an in-between ground resulted in softening of the masculine industrialization as the heart of the White Revolution, which specifically informed architecture. In 1970 she opened the first international congress of architecture in Isfahan. In which well-known architects such as Louis Kahn (19011974), Paul Rudolph (1918-1997), George Candilis (1913-1995), and Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) took apart to present their thoughts on the interaction of tradition and technology1 . Farah Pahlavi, the Queen, in her lecture for the opening of the convention mentions “the technological progress of our time” that provided “unlimited facilities and new horizons to those who create our human environments.” Yet for those countries “who share a strong traditional background” she emphasized the importance of finding a “compatible interaction between elements of permanence within this overall change.”

She concluded, “these resolutions should reflect the spiritual base that characterizes the Eastern culture.”(The interaction of tradition and technology, 1970 cited in: Emami, 2011, p. 50). The theme of the convention is perfectly aligned with the Shahyad Tower which was in the final stage of construction at that moment. As a locus of 25 centuries anniversary of the monarchy, the design has clear citations to both pre-Islamic and Islamic period and at the same time has a modern complex geometry which was built by a well-known western firm using the latest available technology and the labor of the nation Although the Shah’s marriage offer aborted the Queen’s ambitions as a student of architecture, she remained an architectural devotee, which helped strengthen the emergence of this new narration2 (Milani, 2012). Grigor states that the Queen “believed that “good architecture” could not only avert a popular revolution from below, but also bring about a successful elitist evolution from above.” (Talinn Grigor, 2005, p. 489).

Accordingly, she encourages architects to find the middle ground in between their design, 1- The International Congress of Architects was a symposium organized by the Ministry of Development and Housing and Iran’s Society of Architects. Emami notes that the symposium held a month before the 2500-year celebration of the Persian Monarchy, hence, had similar political underpinnings. Emami states, “following a visit to Persepolis and the historical monuments of Isfahan, “the delegates from fourteen different nations,” convened in the Chehel Sotoon palace, a seventeenth-century Safavid monument, for the opening ceremony of four days of discussions on “The Interaction of Tradition and Technology.” It was in this gathering that the central architectural discourse in Iran was crystallized.” See: Emami, 2011, p.50.

2-The Queen specifically would find opportunities to exercise her belief and were engaged in the construction of some of the most iconic public buildings in Iran, would act as the chairwoman of the Supreme Council of Urban Planning in 1965, and also granted the ability to issue the ‘special command in 48 Urban Volcano

by remembering “that they are working in Iranian cultural context and for Iranian people” (F. Pahlavi, 1971).The Queen intervention is been regarded as a production of an alternative way of modernization which is more feminized (Emami, 2011; Talinn Grigor, 2005). Emami (2011), even refers to Shahyad (Tower) as a production of this alternation and believed that under the influence of the Queen the winner entry for Shahyad has references to feminine elegance.1 Emami notes the skillful in-between interplay in Shahyad gives it a poetic quality and feminist narration of the Shah modernization, which did not look be-fitting in the eyes of the Shah later on.

Nevertheless, Milani refers to Amanat’s design as it “encapsulated all the key elements of the Shah’s paradigm” of its time. He mentions that Amanat’s winning the competition had a symbolic significanc unrelated to architecture. His victory was an apt metaphor for a new decade in which Iranians of talent and merit, regardless of their faith and family status, could part take in their community (Milani, 2012). The same message was also embodied in the 25th century anniversary of founding Persian monarchy. Shojaeddin Shafa who first proposed the concept of the celebration to the Shah in 1960, and later worked as his cultural advisor writes: “The celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great must be considered above all as a homage by the Iranian people to the great values of its history and civilization, as well as renewal of the moral commitment to support the causes of universality, tolerance, respect for the rights of others…” (Shafa, 1971 cited in: Hemmati, 2015, p.20-21)

Fourth Episode- The Composition Documentation Shahyad was built to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy.

The celebration is considered as “The longest state banquet of the twentieth century” (Stevenson & Clark, 2008, p. 2) in which 64 heads of the states invited to Persepolis and review contingents of the royal army dressed in the custom of nine periods of Persian history.

The event glorified the ancient history and at the same time witness the strong leadership of the Shah that brought back the former glory of the ancient dynasties. In this carefully orchestrated scene, Shahyad was the strawberry on top of this ‘impressive’ cake of the White Revolution (Figure 22). However, The Celebrations were not supposed to be such a grand affair and had not initially been planned to be (Steele, 2015), neither, Shahyad as the monument of its remembrance was planned in such a grand scale.

1967’ which as Grigor states increase her criteria of influence (Talinn Grigor, 2005). In 1966, she was acting as the chairwoman of the Ceremony Council which was in charge of the appropriation for the grand event, including the construction of Shahyad.

1-Grigor describes how architectural and urban projects became a site for practicing the power of the royal couple, also the context of their conflicts. Emami mentions this tension too and states that in Shahestan project, which was inspired by the success of Shahyad tower but of course in a bigger scale, the Queen was prevented to intervene. In a striking photo, the Shah and his companion are discussing the blueprints of the project. Meanwhile, the Queen standing behind HIM were excluded from the group. The Shah’s body blocks her access to the map. She is standing on her toes to be able to take a glance at the plans. See: Emami (2011), Grigor (2005).

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Figure 21-Network of the actors described in the third section

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Figure 22- The Shah flying from Persepolis to Tehran for the next stage of the celebration, one of his companions surprised him with a cake in the form of Shahyad Tower. Octoberm 1971- Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.160),

by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University

In 1960, a small budget was allocated to the proposal of having a colorful pageant thirty miles outside Shiraz in the ruins of Persepolis. (Ansari, 2009). Following the small initiatives at the court, about the same year, the Shah declared that Iran was not ready for the Celebrations and that preparatory steps for this project should first take place. As a result, the Council of the Celebrations formed, and in the first steps decided on “the creation of a memorial monument, which was to be constructed at the entrance of Tehran.” However, the financial crisis of the government and the break out of the unrest protesting the Shah’s White Revolution in 1963 forced a delay of the Celebration 1 (“Never Sleep Cyrus”, 2014 cited in:Hemmati, 2015, p. 32.; Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1964 Sep 16). In the next years, the increment in the oil revenues and the stability of political context resolved the previous concerns but also gave more grandeur to the Celebration. Consequently, it was decided to hold the Coronation and Centenary together in October 1967. However, the Celebration gained more international importance. Eventually, “the Shah to decided that the Coronation should be a purely internal affai , foreign representation being by Ambassadors only. The 25th centenary, however, was conceived as an international event to be attended by Heads of States, to be postponed until 1971.” (Hemmati, 2015, p. 32). The timing sounded prefect as “Iran has enjoyed eight years of unprecedented stability and economic expansion under the Shah’s White Revolution”(“The Sydney Morning Herald,” 1971).

These delays also caused the development of the concept of what monument should present. The previous proposals were not documented and lost to history. Nonetheless, the way they were mentioned in the court correspondences may provide a glance to what the designs offered. The first mention to the monument was recorded as ‘the gate of Cyrus’ and later under the title of ‘the imperial gate’ (The celebration in the documents of 1- Almost immediately after the Shah announce his plan for wide social reforms, the bazaar as the center of traditionalist were context of unrests. The opposition saw the reform as an attempt to manipulate their identity and critical dialogue. Later, other layers of community such as unvierstiy student joined the demonstration., which suppressed by the regime. See: Abrahamian, E. (1982). Iran between two revolutions: Princeton University Press.

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A few months earlier to the announcement of the competition, the Council of Celebration had commissioned the firm of Bonyan, founded by some of Iran’s top architects1, to come up with a design for the monument (Milani, 2012). The design apparently used the Archway of Ctesiphon as the source of inspiration (see p.31) (Javaherian, 2009), however, did not charm the Shah. Milani (2012) states that Shah found the 900,000$ monument a cheap representation of Iran glory under his reign. Thanks to the boom in the oil prices, the gross national rating of the country has been increasing in an average rate of 8.6 per cent, and the royal government see itself capable of taking a big leap. the court-vol.2, 1999).

Nonetheless, almost at the same time, in 1965, another monument erected in the first park of Tehran, Park-i-Shahr. The monument, however, was not directly related with the Celebration Council, rather the striking resemblances of the structure with Shahyad make it difficul to ignore. While Shahyad would celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy, the monument in the park intended to mark the 25th anniversary of the Shah coronation. The six hexagonal prisms situated on top of each other. The height of each prism increased as the tower raised. The upward movement of the tower was a symbol of the progress. Also, the iconic use of six referred to the Shah’s reform, which at that time only include six sections, called ‘Six- Points Program’ (Figure 23). The tower labeled as ‘Azadi (in English: liberation)’ and was constructed by the industries after the High Council of The Iranian Women Societies proposed the idea and called for the contribution (“25th anniversary of HIM,” 2015). The monument as it was based on the White Revolution ideology, the embodiment in the form of the tower, its progressive growth in height, and the mixture with public space resembles Shahyad. Besides, the involvement of a couple of industries in the construction of the tower was like a maneuver to perform it on a larger scale. Shayad would also be staged as a gift from the nation, funded by hundreds of industries and merchants, to appreciate his efforts in remaking the country. Instead, the monument in the park proposed by the Iranian Women Society that was chaired by the Shah’s twin sister, the proposal for Shahyad would come from a nation-wide competition.

Agencies The Formation of the Concept The design for the building was put on the nationwide competition under the title of Shahyad Aryamehr; it was a series of words invented by an Iranian orientalist. “Shah means ‘king’, yad ‘remembering of’ or ‘reminiscent of’, and Aryamehr ‘the Light of the Aryans’, the officia title of the Shah” (Talinn Grigor, 2003). Later, a square in the region 1 of Tehran is renamed to Shahyad (The appeal for renaming, 1965) and introduced as the site of the competition. On the 1st of September 1966, a small announcement in Etela’alat newspaper called for the entries to the competition for designing a monument that celebrates the 2500 years of monarchy. The brief was short, and only the height was limited to 45 meters, aside from it, the designers were permitted to use any style.

The winner would be offered the contract, provided the confirmation of the design by the jury (“Etela’at 1 Sep,” 1966). Hossein Amanat was graduated in June 1966 from Tehran University and was on his way to Illinois to follow his education (Milani, 2012). He was 1 - The firm was founded by Yousef Shariat Zadeh (1930-2001) and Amir Nosrat Monaghah (1923-2015) that both are consider as pioneers in Iranian contemporary architecture.

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Figure 23- Azadi Tower in Park-i-Shahr, Tehran- 1965. ُReprinted from: Mashruteh, Retrieved from: https:// mashruteh.org , Last Visited: 15/07/2019

still living at his parents’ when he saw the announcement and after a discussion with his father over breakfast was encouraged to submit an entry (H. Amanat, 2000).

Amanat turned his bedroom to a temporary office With the assistance of a group of friends, he engaged in designing various alternatives, but it was only in the last days before the deadline, he came up with two drawings. One presented a more detailed idea for the monument and the other accounting for the square in which monument became the pinnacle focus (Hemmati, 2015). The monument designed in the form of a triumph vault and later a tower came to the play. As Amanat states, “the building starts from wide base and moves toward the sky. It is kind of feeling that I had Iran is moving towards a higher level.” (Amanat, 2016). The arch, which was inspired from Ctesiphon Archway (see p.31) then blended with the extended buttress, as he explains: I had the main shape of Sassanid Arch with buttresses moving up, but I found the simple buttresses problematic, until the idea of warped buttresses appeared through the dark clouds and became more lucid when we rendered it in early hours of the dawn (H. Amanat, 2000, p. 605).

The resulted shape cited pre-Islamic era as the Sassanid arch (3 A.D- 6 A.D) represents the pre-Islamic while the buttresses are the reminder of Zoroastrians1 Fire Temples which are open on four sides. The interplay between geometries later extended to other part of Iranian history and deformed the Sassanid arch situated in the middle of the structure. The central arch stretched to west and east sides of the monument while smoothly transforming to the form of a pointed arch. While the central arch refers to the pre-Islamic era, the pointed arch was widely used in the Islamic era, and hence, the archway symbolizes the transition between two periods.(H. Amanat, 2016). The form is folded on the north and south sides to provide more visible surface on two other faces, hence are much simpler comparing to them (Figure 26).

1- Zoroastrianism is considered as one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions, which was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago.

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Four squares of 21 in 21 meters were used as the basis of the entire structure. The main arch is situated in the central square, and the center of the upper square marks the apex of the pointed arch (Figure 24). However, the wide base of the composition renders the structure short. Requested height limit to the 45 meters because of the nearby airport did not allow for further extrusion. To increase the upward movement of the structure, grooves running from top to bottom added and emphasized by the blue tiles that make a visible contrast with the rest of the building covered with white marbles. The combination of the white marble with blue stone is also a sign of the mixture between two part of Iranian history.

The white marble is associated with the Persepolis and ancient architecture, while the blue one, known as Persian blue, is associated with Islamic architecture (see p.22). These grooves are similar to the fluted columns of Persepolis. Also, resembles the ridged façade of the historic towers, specifically Toghrol Tower in the 12th century in Ray near Tehran, which Amanat refers to as one of the sources of his inspirations (H. Amanat, 2000). The resemblance reflected in the form of the windows on top of the monument which are the interpretation of the motives on the frieze of Toghrol Tower.

The mastery of Iranian architect in geometry is also repeated in the ribs filling the transition area between the central arch and the pointed arches on the facades. RasmiSazi, a technique that uses a particular geometric elegance to make the transition of a straight line to a curved one, interpreted as the visual layout in the transition area between two arches (Figure 25). The ribs resemble the pattern in Vakil Mosque in Shiraz built in the 18th century (H. Amanat, 2013). The monument is in a square in the shape of an ellipse, rather not located in the center of it. The asymmetrical location of the tower is the result of pushing it alongside the longer axis towards the side, which is nearest to the airport.

Hence, it can welcome the new arrivals to the city and act as a physical gate (H. Amanat, 2013). The square smoothly elevated towards the tower, therefore, increases its visibility but also facilitates the access to the museum underneath the ground level. The museum was not asked for in brief but was part of Amanat’s proposal. It included a whole series of connected museum halls; however, each gallery dedicated to a specific period of Persian history and marked with an individual central sunken court (Talinn Grigor, 2005). The halls representing the pre-Islamic era were situated on one side, while on the opposite part, the Islamic galleries were located. The halls on the main axis were allocated to Pahlavi dynasty as the ruling house of the imperial state. As it is mentioned in The Coronation Ceremony Newsletter (1967), these galleries were supposed to accommodate the elements of the White Revolution, a major reform that was initiated under the Shah governance (see p.45).

The Modification of Desig After submitting the design proposal, Amanat followed his plans to leave for Illinois.

Then, much to his surprise was informed about being shortlisted while the final decision left to the royal couple. After the project review in the large hall of the Green Palace, his design was announced as the winner (Hemmati, 2015). Eight days after the deadline for delivering the design documents, on the 9th of November, citizens of Tehran could read about the result of the competition, and the building which is going to represent their city in Etela’at newspaper. Here, the building, maybe for the first time, was described 54 Urban Volcano

Figure 24- The underlying geometry of Shahyad. Reprinted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 36), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

Figure 25- Ribs in Vakil Mosque (left) and Shahyad Tower (center and right). Adapted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 38), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

as a gate in a document available to the public. The title of the article reads, “the new glamourous gate will be built in Tehran,” then continues by describing the gate as a symbol of Iran and the achievements under the Pahlavi dynasty. Rather, what may be more interesting is the further description of the design in the early stages, which in the contrast of how it would be constructed later on shows the modification of the design. The report quoted an informed source in the Ministry of Housing who claimed that what made the winning design to stand out was its “original Iranian aspirations combined with the latest technology.” As the informant described the upper part of the building would host a library, a museum, and an auditorium, while automobiles could pass through the gate (“The new glamourous gate,” 1966).

The citizens of Tehran, however, never found a chance to pass through the gate with their cars. The pedestrianization of the square may be one of the first modification to the original concept. In the literature and the available design documents, the square is rendered in its current condition. However, in one image in Iran National Archives, the Shah is portrayed alongside with Amanat and other authorities discussing the model of the project (Figure 27). In the picture, pedestrian bridges that surround the square are Urban Volcano 55

Toghrol Tower 12th Century Pointed Arch after 7 A.D.

Persepolis 550-330 B.C

Rasmi-Sazi 18th century Niasar Fire Template 3-6 A.D

Cteisphon Archway 3-6 A.D

Figure 26 Historical citation in Shahyad. Source: Author.

evident, while it seems that vehicles could get into the closure but only to circulate it and not pass the central axis. The report of the structural engineers confirms that the roof of the basement is reinforced to support the load caused by heavy vehicles but only during festivals that they may require them to pass under the arch (Ayres, 1970). Moreover, in another document the engineers report of their new task to design a tunnel structure. The construction of the bridges over the carriageway considered inappropriate. The rationality behind the decision was that the span and pedestrian capacity would result in a structure of a size that would make an unpleasant obstruction and distraction to the view of the monument (Figure 28). As a result, Shahyad Square modified to become pedestrianized while accessible and disclosed to its surrounding.

Additionally, in the report published in the newspaper, the use of the interior space of the monument is also mentioned for the first time. Amanat tried to give the monument a “meaningful interior”, The ‘Historical Halls,’ as he refers to them, “was always there from the start like some of the main features” (2000, pp. 604-605). In Figure 28, the sunken courtyards that were supposed to bring light and air to the galleries underneath the square are recognizable with their octagonal form. Amanat (2000) attributes explicitly his success 56 Urban Volcano

Figure 27- The Shah and government official are visiting the model of Shahyad Square. From right: Hoveida (the prime minister), Amanat (the architect), and the Shah. Reprinted from Iran National Archives (2925563, 340/1/2864)

in winning the competition to his proposal for the hidden underground landscape of the square, as he was told by one of the jury members. The Queen, also insisted that each structure should “serve some practical use...headquarters for seminars, libraries, lecture or concert halls” instead of becoming mere “monuments and museums.” (Blanch, 1978 cited in:Talinn Grigor, 2005, p. 495). Hence, the use of the available space extended to inside the hollow form of the monument in the early stage of the design review, as it is mentioned in the special report on the building by Art & Architecture magazine (“Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972). The available space gave room to three floors. One was immediately on top of the central arch at the level of 23.4 meters while two others were located at the height of 33 and 39.5 meters, respectively (Ayres, 1970). In the upward movement, one would pass through each of these galleries exhibiting mementos of the past, present, and the future.

While the third floor was to be turned into a museum of the future that would contain the souvenirs of tomorrow as they occur (Figure 29), the fourth floor at the top of the monument provides an observatory to look at the capital in its present condition (Hemmati, 2015).

‘Historical Halls’ remained as the part of the design proposal and reflected in another report that reminded Iranians of Shahyad on 13th of September 1967, Almost one year after the announcement of the competition. Etela’at in an exclusive report gave the latest news on what was called “The biggest square of the world,” in which the author describes the submerged galleries in more detail. According to the article, the construction would commence in 6th of November of the same year with the ritual of unveiling the memorial plague of Shahyad construction, performed by the royal couple (“The biggest square of the world,” 1967). However, the start of the construction was postponed, as Amanat was trying to have his contract signed while influential architect, who believed such a grand project should not be left to a young architect, tried to disrupt the process (Milani, 2012). Similar Urban Volcano 57

Museum sunken courtyards

Figure 28- The proposed design for Shahyad Square and the sunken courtyards of the museum. Adapted from Facenama, 2013, Retrieved from https://facenama.com/post/183214667 , last visited: 23/07/2019.

Figure 29- The interior space of Shahyad Tower- 3rd floo . Reprinted from Instagram, Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BFQHN3CqrqX , last visited: 16/07/2019

inner political struggles in the organization in charge of constructing the monument, alongside with the other factors like fear of cost overruns, specifically as the objections to the cost of the 2500th anniversary celebration were increasing, led to the annulment of the ‘History Halls.’ The grand museum was replaced with a smaller scale version limited to the surrounding space of 65,000 square meters that the monument occupies (Hemmati, 2015). Following that, as the sunken courtyards were removed, the landscape design of the square changed. The new design was inspired by the decoration of the Sheikh Lotfollah1 mosque that was built in the 17th century (H. Amanat, 2011). The pattern on the interior side of the dome, which leads the eye toward its center, is modified to put the tower inside the square on the focus (Figure 30).

1- Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque is one of the masterpieces of Iranian built in 17th century and located in Isfahan, Iran.

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Amanat did not insist on the creation of the underground exhibition. He feared any objection might be led to the scrapping of the monument all together (Hemmati, 2015).

However, the further modification of the ‘meaningful interior’ that Amanat envisioned came from the royal couple. In 1967, the Shah and his wife visited the International and Universal Exposition in Montreal (Expo’67) and were impressed by the Czechoslovak Pavilion, in which an innovative approach was applied to present information (Kramerova, 2013). Modern technology was used to provide a multidimensional experience. The pavilion featured three-dimensional animated mosaics and 112 small movie-screens that formed a cellular block projecting images, including industrial progress (Hemmati, 2015).

Encouraged by the Queen (Kramerova, 2013), the Shah decided to replicate the sophisticated audio-visual techniques in Iran to propaganda the Pahlavi and specifically the White Revolution achievements (see p.45). Jaroslav Frič1 (1928-2000) was contacted2, and after meeting with the monarch, he asked for the location of the work, and the Shah replied: “why not in Shahyad.” (Hemmati, 2015) As Kramerova (2013) notes, Frič’s exploration of the possibilities of modern technology in presentations suited the area of propaganda. “The resulting presentation’s visuality and deployment of other basic stimuli secured it a universal appeal, speaking to audiences from various cultural backgrounds and with diametrically different levels of education and life experiences.” (p.348). She also notes that the background of the Czech artists3 in dealing with the communist monument and dealing with the grandiose presentations help them to cope with the aims of the project in Iran, as it likewise intended to “create a surreal experience removed from everyday reality.” An alternative space (see p.35): "The intention of this new gesamtkunstwerk [total work of art], supplemented by technical media, and combined with traditional techniques to create a sense of monumentality, spaciousness, and material richness, was to produce a modern alternative to the sacred space, a glorification of dynasty and ideology, and to establish and impart legitimacy to a new cult" (Kramerova, 2013, p. 349).

However, it took some persuading to convince Amanat of the benefits of the cooperation with Frič. One of his concerns was the location of the audio-visual theatre. He states: “It is like having a house and you have a cinema in its living room, and when one comes in, you do not feel like you are in a house, but it appears like a cinema.” (cited in: Hemmati, 2015, p. 92). Eventually, it was decided to create a different hall on the opposing side of the original museum. The new hall, called ‘Iran- Glory of Life’ added to the transformed plan 1 - Jaroslav Frič originally was an electrical engineer. He worked as a technician and co-designed some of the exhibits. In 1953 he helped to prepare the ‘Atoms for Peace’ exhibition, where exhibition work first grabbed his interest. In the Czechoslovak Pavilion at Expo in Brussels, and had a hand in the exhibition of Czechoslovak glass held in Moscow; in Montreal, he and Raduz Činčera worked out the technical side of kinoautomat and collaborated on the development of Svoboda’s polyvision. See: Kramerova, 2013.

2 - Two years after the royal couple visit, Czechoslovak President, Ludvik Svoboda, was visiting Iran, the Shah shared his appreciation for the pavilion in Montreal and expressed his wish to hire the artists associated with the project to prepare an exhibition for the 2500 years of the Persian monarchy. See: Kramerova, 2013.

3- For Shahyad project Jaroslav Frič collaborated with architects: Radoslav Maca, Radka Zieglerova, Stanislav Picek, composer Zdeněk Liška, cameraman: Emil Sirotek, film editor: Alois Fišarek, screenwriter:Věra Polačkova and visual artists: Pavel Nešleha, Hugo Demartini, Bedřich Dlouhy, Oldřich Kulhanek, Stanislav Kolibal, Jan Hendrych, Marketa Trosterova, Bohumil Eliaš and Jiři Frič. See: Kramerova, 2013.

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Figure 30- Left: Shahyad Square modified design. Right: Sheikh Lotfollah mosque and the ornaments on the interior side of the dome. (Right): Reprinted from Azadi Cultural Complex Catalogue, Iran National Archives, (4422806, 41-16695). (Left): Author.

of ‘Historical Halls’ and divided into eight room while a travellator pass through them (Kramerova, 2013, Figure 31). An integrated approach to projection techniques employed to each room and the multi-sensory experience was provided with the aid of contemporary technology.

The exhibition in each room followed its title, ‘The Chaos of the World’, ‘Persepolis’, ‘Good and Evil’, ‘War and Peace’, ‘Poets’, ‘The White Revolution’, ‘The Coronation’, and ‘A Vision of the Future’, which perfectly narrates the historical trajectory of the monument, as it is reflecte in the chapters of the thesis. The way the galleries arranged perfectly describes the narration of the revitalization of the nation. The movement from the chaos to realizing the good and devil (see p.29), that then escorted with the seven poets (see p.20), six of which has a new iconic mausoleum1, led to social reform (see p.45), that opens up a bright future. However, in the museum hall, textual information was secondary to visual imitations and multi-sensory experience. The latest exhibition techniques and the artful mixture of sound, image, movement, and light were used to meet the need for a robust and extraordinary experience for the glorification of the Shah’s family and his reforms. The description of the audio-visual exhibition program reconstructs a part of this experience: "… Visitors drifted through on moving sidewalks. In this exhibition, titled ‘Heritage of the Ages’2… the visitors’ movements interacted with real objects, photographs, rear projections and lighting effects. Film shots and slides presented alter1- In a report in Etela’at newspaper, the experience of visiting of Shahyad museum was recorded. In one of the sections the author found herself in the Hall of Poets where, as she states, “the museum paid its tribute to seven Iranian poets”: Avicenna, Ferdowsi, Romi, Jami, Saadi, Hafez, and Anvari. See: Dabir Ashtiani, S. (1971, December 7-16/09/1350 H.SH). ‫تاریخایران‬ ‫گنجینه دار‬ :‫شهیاد‬ -(Shahyad: the guardian of Iran's History) Etela'at, p. 11.

2 - The exhibition was developed by Radoslav Maca and Radka Zieglerova in collaboration with Jaroslav Frič 60 Urban Volcano

Figure 31- The plan of the audio-visual gallery. Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists in the 1970s. (p. 342), by D. Kramerova, 2013. Umeni-Art.

nating images that contrasted dynamic elements (a sprinter, a racing car, a crash, runners tripping over hurdles, and a rocket) with the slow work of a sculptor, the tranquil feeding of pigeons, and a view of the human eye. This part of the exhibition space was geometrically carved up using refracted shapes (a pentagon, a pyramid, and a prism). In the second room the projection, focusing on a historical theme (Persepolis), was supplemented with works of glass etched with historical motifs by Bohumil Šimice [Figure 32]. In the third section, titled ‘Good’, projections were shown on a fragmented or cubistically faceted mirror and were thus interlaid with the images of the visitors/viewers, so that in a new and imaginative way they were actually drawn into the exhibit themselves. Ideal landscapes were presented in fantastical dioramas combining paintings with sculpted metal and glass elements...[The sound component] was conceived to weave through and mix with the exhibition as the viewer sailed through it1…"(Kramerova, 2013, p. 394).

In 1975–1977 Teatron projection system introduced theatre and film presentations into the space of the museum. The gallery was a showcase for ‘the White Revolution’ through interactive multi-sensory experience. Dozen long columns were suspended from the ceiling and slides were projected onto their surfaces from the front and rear projectors.

The columns could be displaced horizontally, intertwined, and overlapped with each other in different ways. Thus, constantly deforming the image during the projection (Figure 33).

Kramerova (2013) notes, “the audio-visual programme attained monumental, astonishing dimensions” (p.350). As she states, the technically innovative exhibition with varied sensory impressions, physical experiences, and intellectual incentives intended to reach out to as broad a spectrum of viewer personalities as possible. The same way, through the White Revolution, the Shah relied on the industrialization to expand social justice and portray the reforms as inclusive as possible (see p.45). The concept of social justice was profoundly inscribed within the museum, specifically in the main gallery. In the center of the gallery, the elements of the White Revolution engraved in golden plaques were put in 1- Zdeněk Liška’s composed the music. His most distinctive work was for the Museum. the music is accessible via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADLpml5w_Ug , last time visited: 08/07/2019.

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Figure 32- The second room of audio-visual gallery. Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists in the 1970s. (p. 343), by D. Kramerova, 2013. Umeni-Art.

Figure 33- Gallery setting and Teatron projection system in audi-visual hall of Shahyad. Reprinted from 'We sell dreams' Work Commissioned by the Shah of Iran from Czech Artists in the 1970s. (pp. 344-345),

by D. Kramerova, 2013. Umeni-Art.

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display on both sides of the Cyrus Cylinder (Dabir Ashtiani, 1971), which was dubbed by the government as “the world first charter of human rights.” (Iran Presents Replica of Ancient Edict, 14 October 1971).

Grigor, also notes that “the programme of the monument was also meant to create historic links and political legitimacy. It housed the storyline of Persian achievements in a series of museums and a large show-stage” (Talinn Grigor, 2003, p. 215). this link is also documented, in one of the rare accounts in Etela’at newspaper the experience of visiting of Shahyad museum just a couple of months after it was opened to the public. The writer started the journey by moving on a travellator around the gallery of Iran-Glory of Life. In each eight-section, she encountered with an audio-visual installation with various themes, but all related to the history of Iran. Her journey ended in the gallery dedicated to contemporary history. The gallery had a sculpture of Reza Shah and other members of royal family inside, while the locus of the gallery was the Cyrus Cylinder surrounded by the manifestations of the white revolution (Dabir Ashtiani, 1971). If all the visuals and physical references were not evident enough, the renaming of the ‘Historical Hall’ to ‘6th Bahman’ (26th of January), which is a date of the referendum for the White Revolution and the image of women voting for the first time became its symbol (see p.45), made sure that the connection was highlighted. Therefore, Shahyad gradually transforms from a structure which its appearance was in focus to the building that also accounted for what it would include. During these negotiations the plan of ‘Historical Halls’ evolved and transformed to something else ( Figure 34). In the report of Arup and Partners, Shahyad explained as a building “ to celebrate the 25th centenary of the foundation of the Iranian Empire, and of the Declaration of Human Rights by Cyrus the Great.” (Ayres, 1970, p. 29).

The structural consideration also modified the external appearance of the monument.

The first modification was in the defining curve of the East and West elevations. The curve consists of two parts, lower straight portion and the upper one, which is a curve line. As it is mentioned in the report of Arup and Partners, the transition between these two parts, although it is easy to draw, was not easy to represent algebraically. The first proposal of the engineers was to replace it with one smooth curve, to avoid making a lousy transition due to lack of enough curvature between two parts. Amanat rejected the proposal as he insisted on keeping the perfect straight line. The second proposal was to maintain the straight line while introducing a second-order curve, which slightly changed the appearance of the monument (Ayres, 1970, Figure 35). This subtle modification is crucial since it changed the exterior appearance of the monument. However, the form of other elements, such as covering tiles, would be driven from these defining curves. Moreover, the straight line would keep the tower climbable for the revolutionists in the unrest of 1978.

The white marbles for the external cladding were also used as the permanent shuttering.

The problems in cleaning, waterproofing, and editing the possible errors that may occur, made the exposed concrete an impractical option (“Shahyad Aryamehr,” 1972). While, available resources of building stones and the background of Iranian stone-workers in the construction of complex forms with stone tiles (see p.22), made stone a more feasible option. The form of each tile decided by the curvature of the surface, hence each tile only Urban Volcano 63

1-5. Hall of Philosophy 6. Corridor of Time 7. VIP Reception 8. Crown Prince Gallery 9. Iran- Glory of Life 10. Tickets Administration 11. Teatron Audio-Visual Presentation ‘White Revolution’ 12. HIM Shahanshah Aryamehr Gallery 13. HIM Queen Farah Gallery 14. Information Hall

15.Image of Iran 16. Administration 17.Library 18. Tea House 19. Toilets 20. Lift 21. Stairs 22.Tickets 23. Entrance 24. Exit

25. Emergency Exit

Figure 34- The plan of the 6th Bahman Museum. Adopted from Mashruteh Retrieved from: https:// mashruteh.org/wiki/images/4/49/ShahyadAryamehrBuildingGuide1b.jpg , last visited: 24/07/2019.

Figure 35- The defining curve, left: original form, right: final form. Reprinted from " The Geometry of Shahyad Ariamehr" (p. 29), by P. Ayres, 1970, ARUP Journal.

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repeated twice in the whole symmetrical structure. This means 25,000 types of tiles that each of them folded in various direction, which their coordinates were obtained using computer software (Ayres, 1970). The size and the thickness of each tile should support the pressure of the concrete behind it. Amanat skillfully decreases the height of tiles in a subtracting arithmetic progression as the level increases. The height of tiles reduce from 1.66 meters on the bottom to 33 centimeters on top and makes the building, which height was limited due to the airport nearby, look taller (H. Amanat, 2011).

On August 13th, 1969 the construction of Shahyad started with a ceremony in which the Shah buried a golden plaque under the foundation of the North West pedal. This was a replica of ritual that is believed to performed for the construction of Persepolis and was repeated before by the Shah’s father in the foundation of Tehran University (The Celebration in the Documents of the court and SAVAK-Vol.3, Figure 36). The building finished just before the 2500 celebration of Persian monarchy started ("The construction of Shahyad Tower," n.d., Figure 37). As the construction of Shahyad came to it final stages, the White Revolution seemed to fully in effect. The modern education and health were provided for remote areas, the forests and waters were nationalized, the bureaucratic reforms were on their way, the huge step was taken in social reforms by recognizing women suffrage in 1963, also the land reforms that was the main pillar of the revolution, just finished almost one month prior to opening of the big celebration. After a lavish parade in Persepolis, the Shah and some of his guests took the Iran Air’s planes to Tehran and inaugurated Shahyad Square.

The building inaugurated in the autumn of 1971 and opened to the public on the 14th of January 1972 (Figure 38).

The Everydayness of the Monument The monument soon found its place in everyday culture. It was located at one of the most important entry to the city and hubs, thus, is experienced regularly. Other than using the image of the tower in national airline advertisement, Hemmati refers to the adoption of Shahyad as the image behind the nation’s largest bus company, as it appears on the bus tickets. Hence, as he states, millions of Iranians in the 70s associated their daily travel with the most symbolic piece of architecture constructed during the reign of the Shah (Hemmati, 2015, Figure 39).

Moreover, the image was adopted as an icon for everyday purposes, even before its opening. The picture of Shahyad published on the banknotes, clothing, and even a graphic-novel (Figure 40). In a book called ‘Recapturing the Glory,’1 the Shah and his father are portrayed as heroes that saved and revived Iran after national humiliations.

The graphic novel that was targeted towards young adults and schoolchildren illustrated the adoption of technology during the Pahlavi era as a measure of the modernization in Iran. Shahyad is portrayed as a triumph vault for transformation to the modern nation.

First, it is shown in one single panel during the inauguration night of the monument, while it is behind the image of the Shah. The caption describes Shahyad as “one of the great masterpieces of architecture in the world,” built by the people as an appreciation for 1-The novel was printed by Universal Publications, the authorized publishers of Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin in Iran. Edoardo “Dino” Attanasio, a comic artist, was hired to do the illustrations ( cited in: Hemmati, 2015).

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Figure 36- The Laying of Shahyad’a foundation Plaque, 1969.Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.149), by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University

Figure 37- Construction of Shahyad Tower. Reprinted from Mashruteh, Retrieved from https://mashruteh. org/wiki/images/f/fe/ShahyadAryamehrUC11.jpg, Last Visited: 15/07/2019

Figure 38- Shahyad Square inaugurated, 1971. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (3171417, 363/1/5302).

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Figure 39- Image of Shahyad on bus tickets. Reprinted from A Monument of Destiny: Envisioning a Nation’s Past, Present, and Future Through Shahyad/Azadi. (p.163), by K. Hemmati,2015, Simon Fraser University

Figure 40- The image of Shahyad on banknote. Reprinted from Wikipedia, Retrived from https:// es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rial_iran%C3%AD. Last Visited:16/07/2019

Figure 41- Shahyad in a graphic novel. Adapted from Recapturing the Glory (p.41), by E. Attanasio, 1976, Universtal Publication.

the monarch endeavors to modernize Iran. Shahyad appears again in the last page of the book, as a transition between tradition to industrialization. In the bottom of the same page images of historical gardens are accompanied with industrial buildings, chemical plants, a plane of the national airline alongside with a high-speed train as symbols of technological advancements (Figure 41).

The external visual experience of Shahyad in everyday life was also extended to its interior. It was not only because of its architecture but also the use of the latest multimedia technology in its audio-visual gallery. The gallery helped the building to be promoted as an attraction point and became a public space. The Ministry of Information and Tourism set up summer tours and took both Iranians and foreigners to see Shahyad (Figure 42). The monument was the final destination of the extended tours started from 8:30in the morning until 6:30in the evening, while half-day tours offered in the summer started with Shahyad1 (Hemmati, 2015). In a section of a book, ‘Blend of Old and New,’ the Shah describes how 1- Hemmati provides an extensive description of the tours. The tour offered on Wednesdays, from 8:306:30, included visiting the Iran Bastan Museum, Golestan Palace, Anthropology Museum, Abanbar Urban Volcano 67

Figure 42- Tourists at Shahyad Tower, 1974. Reprinted from Facebook, Retrieved from https://www. facebook.com/TehranParirooz/photos/a.521743908005828/521743981339154/?type=3&theater, Last Visited: 24/07/2019

the synthesis of East-West world in the urban fabric would be experienced by Tehran’s visitors: "As you go to meet a friend at Tehran’s big new jet-age international airport, you pass along broad boulevards lined with modern shops, and ablaze with neon lights, where some of the women will be wearing the most daring Paris fashions, and other still be veiled…"(Hemmati, 2015 cited in: M. R. Pahlavi, 1971, p. 63) Lord Mayor of London, visiting Tehran a few months before the Centenary Celebrations echoes Shah, “Iran had successfully married East and West; adapting the technology and administrative systems of the West to the unique cultural achievement of the East.” (cited in: Hemmati, 2015, p. 64). Shahyad, as a result of various fusions, somehow traces the same scheme. Indeed, since the inauguration of the monument, Shah welcomed visiting dignitaries at Shahyad and then move to his palace on the north. Their trajectory made a section of the city from the center where the middle class resides to the more affluen area on the north. This captured the image the Shah envisioned while cutting the disadvantaged southern area out of this picture.

However, the shift between different world was not as smooth as the Shah mentioned.

There was a wide gap between social layers that Abrahamian (1993) refers to as ‘uneven development.’ As he states in the period between 1963 and 1977, the GNP grew dramatically. However, the growth did not benefit all equally. Instead, it profited the rich Museum, Museum of Decorative Arts, and Shahyad Monument. The tour with lunch would cost 400 Rials (around 5 dollars). In the half-day tour tourists were taken to Shahyad, Golestan Palace Sepahsalar School, Anthropology Museum from 3:30 until 7:00 pm, at the cost of 220 Rials (about 3 dollars).

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Figure 43- A view to Shahyad from a slum in between 1974 to 1980. Reprinted from Iran National Archives (25-5878), by N. Kasraian, 1974-1980, Zendegi (Life) Collection.

more than the middle and the lower class. According to him, between 1967 to 1977, the percentage of urban families living in only one room increased from 36 to 43. On the eve of the revolution, as much as 42 percent of people living in Tehran had inadequate housing. This was also very visible in the site of Shahyad as it was situated at the end of the street that literally divided the city into two parts. In a striking photograph, we see Shahyad that was just finished, from a site of a slum in the approximation of the monument (Figure 43) Nonetheless, most of the sites that host the lavish ceremony had these contradictions, which authorities hardly tried to hide them from the curious eyes of journalists and head of the states. For instance, a disadvantaged village near Persepolis where the celebration commenced was fully bought by the government, and all the inhabitants were relocated.

This strategy, however, was not feasible in Tehran, where the respected guests were supposed to pay their respect to Reza Shah in his tomb, which required passing lots of deprived areas on their way. The chief of police suggested to heliborne the prominent guests to avoid unsightly conditions of people living in the southern parts of Tehran (The Celebration in the Documents of the court and SAVAK-Vol.3, 1999).

In such a context, the costs of Shahyad also became the subject of everyday discussions.

The noises that questioned the costs of the celebrations and its monuments surfaced on some occasions. On the October 17th, 1970, the front page of Etela’at newspaper had an image of the Shah and his guests in front of the tower. The title reads: “the great Shahyad-e-Aryamehr was inaugurated in the presence of the representatives from across the globe.” In this special edition in 48 pages that were dedicated to the last day of the celebration and inauguration of Shahyad, in only one page, the people’s critiques are Urban Volcano 69

reflected. Two citizens in separate notes while ironically referring to the glamorous celebration questioned the efficienc of government in allocating budget to essential needs and the success of the revolution in achieving its goals. In one of the accounts, the person astonished with the grandeur of a governmental building states, “in time of bureaucratic reform the workplace after the American style should also be grand and eyecatching.” (“ The great Shahyad-e-Aryamehr was inaugurated,” 1971).

However, even before that, the costs of Shahyad square was the subject of talks on the street. This is also recorded by SAVAK, the Organization of National Intelligence and Security of the Nation, which spied on the everyday life of ordinary people to help the propaganda machine of the regime. In one report, an accountant in a factory gave his opinion about the costs of Shahyad. He criticizes the cost of Sahyad and states that it would have been more appropriate if this money had spent on making new industry or developmental project. The document advised increasing the propaganda in daily newspapers to influence public opinion and promote the designated political cause. (The Celebration in the Documents of the court and SAVAK-Vol.3, 1999, p. 90)

Hence, Shahyad alternated to a contested site and transformed into something against the idea initially intended to demonstrate. It was even regarded as a deception that aimed for financial and personal gain. In June 20th, 1971, A few months before the Centenary Celebrations, during the monthly gathering of teachers, which was held for a decade and led by Mohmmad-Ali Rajai, who would later become the president of Iran under the Islamic regime, attendances voiced their concerns regarding the costs of the celebration.

An individual criticizing the expenses referred to the monument while subverting the title from Shahyad ( means the King’s memorial) to Shaayad, a derogatory term meaning fraud or imposter (The Celebration in the Documents of the court and SAVAK-Vol.4, 1999, p.119).

According to Amanat, Rajai even tried to blow the structure up just a few days before the inauguration (H. Amanat, 2013).

The costs of the ceremony and Shahyad also came to the dispute only one day after the closure of the celebrations, as the Shah’s regime encountered with charges of excess. The scandal almost started as the menu of the ceremony, a closely guarded secret, leaked to the press. All headlines spoke of the dishes on the menu1, and wondered about the high costs of the ceremony (Ansari, 2009). Despite the Shah’s high regards for emphasizing the historical roots of the monarchy and the modern nation, as it turned out, an unexpected aspect overshadowed the main reason. The Shah commanded for the list of the costs to be published. Six days later the court minister in a press conference explained the expenses of the celebration. According to him, Shahyad did not fund by the government. Instead, around 6.5 million dollars budget of the monument was provided by 312 of bankers, merchants, and industries2 (“The costs of the royal celebration,” 1971).

1- The menu includes roast peacock stuffed with foie gras, crayfish mousse, roast lamb with truffles quail eggs stuffed with Iranian caviar all were prepared by Maxim s of Paris.

2- Amanat also evaluated the total cost of construction around the same price. In 6th August 1968 in letter the total cost of construction estimated around 4,000,000 dollars equals to 310,000,000 rial while Shahyad Aryamehr tower sought to constitute 1,500,000 dollars of the total amount (equals to 114,500,000 rials).

According to Amanat letter the underground museum, which described as six galleries, estimated around 70 Urban Volcano

The government tries to downplay the celebration expenses and its connection with the problems citizens were experiencing in their daily life. In the editorial column of royalist Etela’at newspaper in response to the dispute over the costs of the celebration and not spending the money on structures, maintenance, or welfare, the author rejects any rational link between them. The article states that the money spent on public relations policy and also result in the construction of new structures. Nonetheless, the celebration and the monuments more and more regarded as the symbol of the government inefficienc and misuse of public wealth for personal interests.

As Milani (2012) mentions, “Shahyad became the object not only of adoration and emulation, but also of satire and criticism.” He refers explicitly to Ebrahim Golestan, a prominent Iranian filmmake , whose subversive Mysteries of the Ghost Valley, portrays the nouveau riche man with an obvious resemblance to the Shah1. He constructs a phallic monument to his grandeur after unintentionally finding “underground” treasures (Milani, 2000, 2012). The unearthed treasure stands for the discovery of oil and the monument built in the film mischievously but unmistakably conjured Shahyad. To even be more ironic, the monument inaugurated after a big party in which no one of the local was invited (Milani, 2000). Moreover, the monument, in the same way, glorified the path and was built by the latest modern technology. In the part of the movie, the speaker reads the design manifestation: “a structure comes out of the wombs of our ancestral traditions to fuse with latest techniques and aesthetic of great American masters…”. Golestan even mocks the design. The speaker continues: “If our proudest buildings in the past consist of one dome and two minarets, the exigencies of modern times require two domes and one minaret.”

(Goletan, 1974). The form that is resulted from this interpretation turn to look like a male sexual organ ("Mysteries of the Ghost Valley," n.d., Figure 44). The speaker continues by relating the duality of the domes to many other dichotomies that the structure tries to unify. The fusion of two contrasting sides in his view resulted in a composition that is empty of the meaning of every single part2.

The government removed the movie with dismay. If a distorted image of Shahyad could shake the roots of the social and political structures, any form of the disruption to the real image could benefit the opposition groups agendas. The very essence of the Celebrations and protestation against it considered as the pivotal moment in the revolutionary movement that toppled the Shah down (Abrahamian, 1982; Milani, 2012; Steele, 2015). Ansari, who was in the celebration council, states that the most scathing attack came from the exiled Khomeini. He condemned the event, titled as the “evil celebrations” (Ansari, 2009).

780,000 dollars (equals to 60,000,000 rials) and the landscape around the tower which he emphasized as the undividable part of the design costs about 1,000,000 dollars (80,000,000 rials) and the rest are side costs.1347/5/15 no.1263. In 5th December, 1968(1348/9/14) MAAP won the tender with a proposal close to what Amanat evaluated as the cost of construction. See: (The Celebration in the Documents of the court and SAVAK-Vol.3, 1999) However, the study and constructions of the Museum cost around 10,000,000 dollars that was not part of the project in Amanat’s evaluation but was not mentioned by the court minister. See: (Kramerova, 2013) 1- The man had a stubborn father, the character that Reza Shah was famous for. He also married a girl 20 years younger than him living in a city and brought to the village, which refers to the age difference between the royal couple, and the fact that the Queen left her study in France and returned to Iran.

2-The movie is accessible on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWreiq0XJY, last visited: 16/07/2019.

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Figure 44- The poster of Mysteries of the Ghost Valley movie.

Reprinted from Tiwall, Retrieved from https://www.tiwall. com/p/asrar , last visited: 16/07/2019.

Akhavi notes that in an interview with Le Monde, Khomeini introduced a new time reference that did not go back to 2500 years of Persian monarchy, “the only time of reference for us …the time of the prophet and Imam Ali1” (Luicen, 1978 cited in: Akhavi, 1980, p. 167). The National Front, one of the most active opposition groups during the revolution also disputed the time reference. They mention that the celebration only produced a realization of Zoroastrianism, a religion that was practiced in ancient Iran, which is a further debilitation of Islam (Akhavi, 1980). Both images of 2500 years of Persian monarchy and Zoroastrian Fire Temple were inscribed in Shahyad Tower. Khomeini promises that “Islam has come to destroy all these palaces of monarchies’ oppression” (Akhavi, 1980).

As the image of the oppressor and the oppressed was revoked, Khomeini called for the protest against the Shah during Moharram2. It is a religious event in which Shia’s Muslims mourn to the death of Imam Hussein son of Ali, that they believed was killed by the oppressor of the time. More importantly the even is considered to traditionally brings the public space under the control of the people (see p.40) (Sharayeli & Adelvand, 2017).

Moharram is born out of the conflict between oppressor and oppressed3, and as a mean for the civil disorder was also utilized in 1963 in opposition with the White Revolution and specifica ly women’s suffrage (see p.24). People were encouraged to demonstrate in urban spaces, under the religious slogan derived from Moharram rituals (Abrahamian, 1982). The slogan says, “Every day is Ashura [the day that the incident of decapitating the Imam happened] and every land is Karbala [ where the incident happened].” (Iran 1- Ali ibn Abi Talib known as Imam Ali, was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the last prophet of Islam. He ruled as the fourth caliph from 656 to 661, but is regarded as the rightful immediate successor to Muhammad as an Imam by Shia Muslims. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali, last visited: 31/07/2019.

2- Although the demonstration lasted for about a year, the largest manifestation occurred on the days of ashura-tasua on the 10th and 11th of November 1978. Two million men and women marched the streets.

3- This is mostly theorized by Ali Shariati. In his book, Martyrdom, Arise and Bear Witness, he tracked the idea of protest in the “revolution of Imam Huseyn” in which oppressed stood against the oppressive. See: Shariati, A. (1981). Martyrdom: Arise and bear witness.

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Freedom Movement 1963) As Khomeini mentions, the slogan implies everywhere is the place to protest against the oppression (Khomeini, 1995). The 1963 unrest were dispersed around

the historical core while the decentralized plan of the city did not allow the concentration of the masses. In 1978, Shahyad found its situation as a dominant public space, a place for projection and where nation and state intersect.

As Mozaffari (2014) mentions, Moharram emphasizes how things ought to be in contrast with the way they are. In the gathering of the masses in Shahyad changed the narration of space and what it stood for. If before it was the associated with the referendum that approved the White Revolution, now as Khomeini states, “Iranian people voted with their feet” to another revolution (cited in:Akhavi, 1980, p. 167). In Figure 45, revolutionaries are carrying notice of Human Rights reminding of their right to participate in the governance of their county. Hence, the concept of social justice and Human Rights that were embedded in the Museum of the monument was interpreted in the other way. Carrying a bilingual notice shows that the projective quality of the square was also realized by the protesters to direct their message not only at the Shah but to the world outside. The monument became a gigantic stage for globally televised events, namely for the 2500 years of the Persian monarchy. However, the unrest around the monument introduced another time reference.

In 1978 in an interview with Le Figaro, Khomeini stated: “the only time of reference for us …the time of the prophet and Imam Ali and not intending to forego the advantages produced by more than 1300 years of science.”(cited in:Akhavi, 1980, p. 167).

The Guardian reporter describes Shahyad in 1979 as a “sea of people.”(Thurgood, 1979).

For seven years, the monument told that story through elaborate ceremonies and officia appearances involving the royal entourage, various government institutions, and international political figures. At various occasions, the Shah received his guests and walked toward the arch on red carpets accompanied by kings, presidents, and prime ministers. In the last year, however, they have to use the helicopter to reach the monument and avoid the crowds. Ashraf Pahlavi, the Shah’s twin sister, shared her feelings as she looked down to the monument: "As I flew over the Shahyad monument, I saw that one corner was completely dark. A moment later I realize that this black mass was the mass of Iranian women… Here they were in the mournful black chador their grandmothers had worn… to me it was little like seeing the child you had nurtured suddenly sicken and died" (A. Pahlavi, 1980).

All the excavations, documentation, statements, celebrations, alternations, and reforms that Shahyad was part of their assembly (Figure 46), dismantled in less than a year, and the monument established another connection (Figure 47). As Grigor (2003) notes, the architecture of the structure read differently in this new position, enabling performative patterns of collective behavior. The eye-catching surfaces of the monument acted as large panels on which things could be exhibited, hung, nailed or taped. The straight part of the defining curve of the form allowed people to climb, stand, and sit atop its buttresses, and the white marble allowed slogans to be painted on the monument. Indeed, through these graffiti the monument displayed its innocence and alliance (Figure 48). Instead of Shahyad (remembering the Shah), the words read, ‘Death to the Shah.’ Even it turned to be a Urban Volcano 73

Figure 45- Demonstration in 1979. Reprinted from Iran: Islam and the struggle for socialism, Retrieved from Libcom website: http://libcom.org/library/iran-islam-struggle-socialism-mohammad-jafar-azartabari, Last Visited: 16/07/2019.

platform to choose the new name for the monument since remembering the monarch was not something to practice in public anymore. In Figure 49 , various new names are written on the pedestal of the building. Later, two of them, Khomeini Tower and Azadi(liberation1) Tower became more popular.

The New York Times reported as early as the end of January that Shahyad square was “popularly known these days as Khomeini Square.”(Apple Jr,1979 cited in:Hemmati, 2015).

Khomeini arrived in Tehran after fifteen years in exile on February 1st. The square, located in proximity to the airport, would become the officia welcoming stage for the Ayatollah’s arrival. However, one week later, the site referred to as the “Liberty Square” (“Soldiers join the march of Khomeini loyalist,” 1979). After the revolution, Eisenhower Avenue, which runs in between the Sculpture Square and Shahyad, also adopted the same name. The Sculpture Square renamed to Enghlab-e-Islami (in English: Islamic Revolution), and the street in between this square and Ferdowsi square also renamed after Islamic Revolution.

Therefore, the streets that before marked the social gap in the urban space transformed into a symbolic landscape, as literally, the Islamic Revolution leads to freedom, while coping the direction of the protestors’ march. The monument lost its character as a gateway; instead, it becomes a destination.

Although, Amanat expected the building to be torn down (H. Amanat, 2016), In 1979, the tower had already established too many associations that its destruction would be self-contradiction and arise the legitimacy crisis. However, the museum sealed, and the tower remained neglected for years, covered with anti-Shah graffit from the time of the 1- In some literatures the name is also translated as Freedom, but in the newspaper that reported the events of 1979 the word liberation is used, which is also adapted in this thesis.

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Figure 46- Shahyad Square in 1971. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (25-3517).

Figure 47- Azadi Square in 1979. Reprinted from Institute for Iranian Contemporary History, Retrieved from: http://www.iichs.ir/Upload/Image/139507/Orginal/cb28955d_b9a4_441a_ae1f_066fe1c3e42b.jpg , last visited: 16/07/2019.

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Figure 48- Protesters are climbing the monument and write their slogans on the facade, 1979. Reprinted from Iran National Archive (16172).

Figure 49- Different new names for the monument are written on its pedestal. Retrieved from Political Studies and Research Institute, Retrieved from: http://ir-psri.com/?Page= ViewArticle&ArticleID= 2267, last visited: 16/07/2019.

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revolution. On 1st September 1982, the repaired tower and modified museum reopened under the name of the Azadi Cultural Complex (Opening ceremony of the Azadi cultural complex 1982). As the poster for the reopening announces, the program of the event consisted of multiple exhibitions mostly centered around the Islamic Revolution. Nonetheless, in contrast with the past, the galleries did not follow a specific theme and are being used for temporary exhibitions. Before, the galleries were dedicated to permanent exhibitions that honored royal families and the achievement of the Pahlavi regimes. These galleries were named after the paradigms or members of the previous regime and of course, could not stand the new waves of change.

In the coming years, no object with historical or aesthetics importance was exhibited in the museum. The audio-visual gallery, now named ‘Iranology Hall,’ modified to give a visual experience of moving across Iran through displaying regional and local symbols.

This is pretty much in contrast with the well-orchestrated and choreographed exhibition during the Pahlavi era. Hemmati (2015) notes that the aura of neutrality in the exhibition intends to disassociate the monument from the political interests it previously represented.

After the revolution, the pre-Islamic past sanctioned1 and the monument of 2500 years of monarchy lost its function. The iconic expression of this past glory only reflected again during the war with Iraq, when Saddam Hussein made the Victory Arch on top of foundation consisting of the 2,500 helmets of dead Iranian soldiers (Hemmati, 2015).

It could be stated that If the monument was initially built as a reminder of the past glory, it is then modified to be the site of oblivion. Hence, the visual experience of the tower limited to its exterior as it was first intended in the competition advertisement. The square return to be a ceremonial space; however, what it marks and celebrates is different. In the ensuing years after that summer, until today, the victory of the Islamic Revolution is celebrated by fireworks and religious gatherings in Azadi Square. However, modern technology is still used as a means of presenting the information, and attracting wider layer of the community as possible (Figure 50).

The monumentality of the building, however, was also challenged. With the further expansion of the central bus station for thoroughfares leading to the west, north-west, and south-west of Iran, the bus terminal dominates the function of the square. The traffi jam with lots of buses on the square blocked the view of the building (Talinn Grigor, 2005).

The unrests during the revolution years and the subsequent war with Iraq impacted Iran as a travel destination, and gradually, the tower lost its symbolic standing as the gateway.

The opening of a new international airport outside Tehran in 2004 also disconnected the tower with the foreigners arriving in the city. Besides, the iconic role of Azadi tower as the representative of Tehran contested in 1991 as the City Hall announced a design competition for a tall monument that could accommodate telecommunication facilities as 1- This is also extended in urban space, as van de Van mentions to the removal of any Achaemenid kind of old from the street names. Grigor also refers to the evident social and cultural impact of the policy as She describes that how her simple inquery for a stamp of Perspolis in post office turns to a politica discussion.

See: Van de Ven, A. (2017). (De-) revolutionising the monuments of Iran. Historic Environment, 29(3), 16.

Grigor, T. (2005). Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture in twentieth-century Iran. (Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Urban Volcano 77

Figure 50- Khomeini’s face is projected on the monument during the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Reprinted from Fars News, by A. Khara, 2018, Retrieved from https://www.812.ir/board/ detail/87278/, last visited: 26/07/2019.

well as tourist and cultural centers. The tower first referred to as ‘Monumental Tower’ then renamed to as ‘Milad (in English: birth date) Tower’ on the occasion of the Khomeini’s birthday (“The sky came closer,” 2008). The new tower conceived as the rival of Azadi tower from the beginning (Karimi, 2016). As the inauguration day of Milad Tower became closer in 2006 and the transition from Azadi tower as a symbol of the city was approaching, the monument was looked back at and the image it represents found reflection on media Few days before the inauguration of Milad tower, an article in Hamshahri newspaper seen Azadi Tower as a forgotten structure, which in contrast to the other iconic buildings of the city was not associated to the Shah and his court, instead, only represents the middle class. (Rad, 2006). Here the previous name of the monument Shahyad, that means reminder of the king is entirely forgotten. In another article in Hambastegi newspaper, the writer appreciated the skillful design of Azadi (in English: liberation) tower since its fluid form captured the true meaning of the freedom as if the tower named Azadi from the first day (“Azadi, the symbol of Iranian liberation,” 2005). The rediscovery of Azadi was also accompanied by the efforts to return the building to the cultural domain of the city. The citizens of Tehran were reminded of what Azadi hides underneath. Exhibitions were held in its galleries and performances staged in its auditorium (Amini Fard, 2007; Rostami, 2004).

However, in the Viewpoint column of Mardom-Salary newspaper, the author suggests that the competences of Azadi were not fully realized in its new programs. The article calls to interview the people on the site and come up with the functions for the cultural complex that fits the existing demands (“Azadi Tower, would become popular one day,” 2004).

However, while the building as a physical space might lose its place in the everyday routine of life, its image retained references to undelivered utopian promise for social justice. For instance, in the autumn 2001 issue of Shahr magazine Azadi tower is illustrated 78 Urban Volcano

overarching a brick shelter with graffit foregrounded by a woman with her two children.

The monument stands for the well-designed edifices inside Tehran limits in opposition with the shacks of the slums outside the city districts (cited in: Talinn Grigor, 2003). The social issues also were connected to the materiality of the structure. The congestion around the building and emission raises concern regarding the conservation of the white marbles, but both traffi jams and air pollution are also one of the most prominent issues in Tehran.

Amanat also sees the ignorance to the conservation of the building as a reflection of sociopolitical situation, when he was questioned about the current condition of the monument: “It reflects how the country is being managed,” Amanat said. “It is still standing, but it is not the way it should be.” (Torbati, 2013). The same concept also illustrated in a cartoon of Mana Neystani, in which his famous personage stands in front of Azadi Tower while both are ‘cracked’ by the pressure of everyday life (Figure 51).

Grigor states that the monumental sites built as an alternative public space truly connect to the general population during the revolution. They transform into places to enact civil disorders and demand social justice: "They have become very important national sites under the IRI [Islamic Republic of Iran], because they are perceived by the people as non-religious places in contrast to the increasingly growing numbers and types of mosques. They are also seen as potent sites to enact civil disorder and demand social justice for these are the public spaces that the Islamic Republic has not managed to fully bring under its “Islamic” fold. Therefore, that which the Pahlavi kings intended (i.e. the practice of civic pilgrimage) was realized only after the revolution and only after the institutionalization of the theocratic orthodoxy" (Talinn Grigor, 2005, p. 547).

In 2007, Iran newspaper published an interview with a member of the city council who warns about the invisible hands that are trying to replace Azadi tower with Milad Tower as a symbol of the city (Amini Fard, 2007). The study conducted, however, demonstrates that the new tower, being almost ten times taller than Azadi/Shahyad monument, could not replace it as the icon of Tehran among citizens (Ghaffaryan & Dastjerdi, 2013). In 2008, over the contested presidency re-election of Mahmud Ahmadi Nejad, Azadi square turned to a sea of people once more, which as Karimi (2016) states shows the disregard of the people for its new counterpart. Van de Ven (2017) notes that the concept of liberation and freedom which the square is named after it served a new purpose. The monument again allowed people to climb on it, flagellated this time in green, and write upon its white marbles (Figure 47). According to Amamant, at the same time an article in Keyhan newspaper, which is close to conservatives, states that the tower should have been destroyed in the first place during the revolution (H. Amanat, 2013). For him, however, among of all the events that the tower has witnessed, this one was most “memorable.” (H. Amanat, 2016).

However, the memory cannot stay with the symbol of the capital. After the unrest was suppressed, the monument washed to clean the graffi (“Azadi Tower will be washed,” 2009); as it was baptized to return to its saint-like ceremonial position. Nonetheless, the conservation of tower remained in a political discussion as one group accused the other of either being ignorant or having ulterior motives. The axes that divide the city and terminates in the Tower also retain its iconic position. On December of 2017, a girl stood Urban Volcano 79

Figure 51- The newspaper reads “Azadi Tower Cracked.” The character facing the tower is saying: “I feel your pain, bro! ” Reprinted from Payvand, by M. Neystani, 2014, Retrieved from: http://www.payvand. com/news/14/jul/1112.html , last visited: 16/07/2019.

next to Tehran University where the first unveiling happened by order of Reza Shah, put her hijab on the stick and waved to the crowd. It was an objection to the Islamic dress code, almost eight decades later and in the same place. While her action was under controversy, Reza Shah’s corpse, that was lost after his mausoleum destroyed by the revolutionaries, accidentally unearthed during the construction project on April of 2018.

The man who unearthed famous poets for his cause of modernization and secularization, his corpse came to act as an agent now. This revoked the grave social fault on which Shahyad/ Azadi tower was built.

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so many entities are now knocking on the door of our collective. Is it absurd to want to retool our disciplines to become sensitive again to the noise they make and try to find a place for them? Latour, 2005, p. 262) when the ‘observer’is sufficientl enclose within his judicial institution, and his sufficientl blind, everything goes fine. The discourse he produces has every appearance of holding together (De De Certeau, 1988, p.

60).

PART III

Discussion and Conclusion Urban Volcano 81

This chapter starts revisiting Shahyad/ Azadi Square to explain architecture with concerning society. The point is to understand the building by considering "what happened" to it, and through its erection. The square is contrasted with different approaches to show that the notion of the building is not passive. It is not a reflec or of the society nor its serviceable instrument, rather has a far more complex function. It is generative but denies almost any authorship. Instead, as a result of collective co-existence with heterogeneous elements is part of an auto-generic network.

Revisiting Shahyad/ Azadi Square The metamorphosis of Shahyad to Azadi in a dramatic shift of the paradigms while the monumental aspect of the structure preserved its relevance, is the central engagement with the literature surrounding the monument. Soltani (2011) treats the square as a space of political conflicts that causes its transformation. Similarly, Milani (2012) in a section of his book tittled "Architecture and Power" views Shahyad/ Azadi tower as the representation of the political scene. Milani discusses the transition from its historical trajectory. He misses taking into account the connection of their reflection in the materiality of the monument. Kakhi (2016) is not concern by this issue neither. She admits the cleverness of the design, however, relates the survival of the structure to the events happening around it. She notes the different position of the tower in images led to survival of the structure, considering the events that occurred around it. Thus, identifies as a site of memory which is more about the social and political memories attached to it comparing to its architectural qualities.

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Javaherian (2009) narrates the story of a ground-breaking design as something that happened in an isolated bubble of architect and influences society. For her, the survival of the monument was pretty much due to the design which presents a double faceted gesture.

Also, For Eimen (2006), the monument’s presence highlights an unresolved presence. In the same way, Shirazi (2018) sees the monument as an skillful interplay of geometries that positioned the tower in an in-between space. An space for confrontation, exchange, and unificati n. Similarly, he assumes that there is a hidden potential that allows everyone to relate to the structure. In the same way, Hemmati (2015) refers to the ambiguity of the design that allows the monument to capture the image that is represented or adopted in different periods. Grigor (1998) Also relates the adaptability of the monument to its unstable context in the abstractive language of design. She explores the gateway is the most symbolic part of the monument. Aside from the visual presentation of the gate, she describes the gate as a physical manifestation of the political paradigms, an ideological representation of perceived utopia, and a shift in time and space. The real function of the gateway is only mentioned as the entrance to the city and the motivator of the uneven development on both sides of the east-west axis, which was emphasized by the building centrality. For her, the same abstraction alongside with tectonics and urban reasons help the tower to outlive the political era for which it was erected.

Grigor ‘s description is one of the rare attempts to theorize the metamorphosis of the building. Her argument about the meaning of the Shahyad at its historic junction is based on architectural historian Stanford Anderson discussion, in which the memories carried by a monument are divided into two categories: the social memories and the disciplinary memory, called memory through and in architecture, respectively. Memory through architecture is an external event that is attributed to from, where the architecture is a servant to instructions and practices. Hence, the memory it represents is transitional and mutable. Memory in architecture, however, gains architecture authority as it is something inherent in the form (Talinn Grigor, 2003).

This is very close to what Amanat introduces as the reason for the durability of his design. He asserts that the form captures the cultural essence, which gives it the ability to connect with the general population (Amanat, 2018). His remark evokes memory of Louis Kahn speech in Isfahan symposium in 1972. “Traditions are just mounds of golden dust, not circumstance, not the shapes which have resulted as an expression in time... And if you can just put your fingers through this golden dust, you can have the powers of anticipation.”(Tradition and Technology, 1970 cited in: Emami, 2011, p.52). Similarly, in Grigor’s view, Shahyad owes its durability to its formal vocabulary or disciplinary memory which by enabling various political activities can stand shifts in cultural memory.

The dramatic statement of Kahn finds a more practical reflection in Grigor’s account as she translates to a formal vocabulary, which includes axial approach, massive site, monumental scale, clear perceptibility, and historical references as architectural qualities.

These abilities exist in the memory of discipline, which is separate from subjective interpretations and is valid as long as the structure endures (Talinn Grigor, 2003). Van de Ven (2017) also follows the same interpretation. She notes that the transformation is made possible by renaming the structure that helps the alternation of the interrelated memories Urban Volcano 83

and consequently, results in the displacement of the building to a new sphere. Hence, while the object remains stationary, the subject is mobile: "The transformation of Shahyad/Azadi Tower demonstrates how language is referential. It does not create a one-on-one connection between thing and word, but rather a whole web of interrelated memories and connotations. Therefore, the active alteration of the name by which something is called, implies a change to its web of associations to one that you feel more in control of, allowing a space to change from a celebration of monarchy, to one of religious zeal and revolution" (Van de Ven, 2017, p. 24).

Van de Ven (2017) and Grigor (1998; 2003) rightfully point to the tower as a part of a bigger assembly. However, if the movement of the building is seen as the effect of the merely renaming or anything else outside the architecture, the building or space renders as an object with no agency in the composition, no matter how golden the design is. As Yaneva (2016) notes if everything is left to social forces to explain the transformation, the role of the physical aspect would be lost. If the division between object and subject persists, then architecture, one way or another, would remain static and there are always subjective qualities to account for that.

Based on the preceding narratives the idea of capturing cultural essence in Shahyad/ Azadi Square cannot explain its dynamism. In Latour and Yaneva (2008) words, “…a building is never at rest and never in the shape of this Euclidian space that was supposed to be its “real material essence,” to which one could then add its “symbolic,” “human,” “subjective” or “iconic” dimension” (Latour & Yaneva, 2008, p.85) Therefore, two parts cannot be seen in composition. Accordingly, answering the question of what features in architecture make the connections to endure or expand becomes either more challenging or, even worse, leads to simplifying the complexity. For instance, all of these studies that look at Shahyad/ Azadi Square simply forget about the museum inside it, which occupies a massive area. Besides, these studies neglect the fact that making of architectural qualities is not entirely in the authorship of the architect. As mentioned earlier, the monument trajectory was not a continues line; instead, it is interrupted, alternated, and modified. According to the preceding description, the pre-planning, planning, designing, construction, and conservation of the building has been on the concern of various groups. Hence, another question should be answered first: How could an account of the interaction between spatial and social constellation be made without falling into the trap of the abstract divides between society/architecture?

On the Boundary Between Architecture/ Society Heynen (2013) categorizes the interaction between architecture in three categories. In the first, architecture generate or organize society, like an instrument. In the second, the built environment reflects the society; hence, it is a reflecto . In the third, space is a stage.

As the name suggests, here, architecture is more interactive, not only can be a reflector but equally is capable of affecting people’s behavior. However, Yaneva (2016) states that treating architecture either as instrument or receptor emphasizes the division between architecture as the content and society as the context. She notes that instead of seeing 84 Urban Volcano

A-Society

B- Architecture

Social needs

Forms

Economic, social, political, religious and cultural factors

Style

Society ideas, forms of economics, social organization, distribution of resources and authority, beliefs, values

Appearance

List of elements to provide explanation

List of elements to be explained

Size Location

Figure 52- Architecture as the instrument/ receptor. Reprinted from Mapping controversies in architecture (p. 32), by A. Yaneva, 2016, Routledge.

the interaction, the division facilitates the explanation. In both approaches, there is an independent generator at work; the difference is to decide which side to consider as the generator. Thus, it could be conceived that every list is comprised of two columns. One includes items to be explained and the other with items that may present the explanation.

When space acts as the receptor, society should explain. Reversing the direction of the arrow put architecture in the place of explanatory and transform space into the instrument (Yaneva, 2016, Figure 52).

The word monument has its origin in the Latin monumentum, a derivative of monere which means to recall, or to let know. Grigor notes this functional definition of monuments in the ideological context of Iran gives monuments explicit instrumental role (Talinn Grigor, 2005). The creation of the monuments is intended to stabilize the social order and as such resembles the instrumental use of architecture as ‘Penitentiary Panopticon.’ Panopticon includes the inception feature that Jeremy Bentham added to the circular layout of prisons.

The tower-like feature constantly reminds the place of the governor who can observe everyone from that point. The tower stands as a monument in the layout. However, looking back to the historical trajectory of Shahyad/ Azadi Square (see p. 1), it would be ironic to call it a stabilizer! There is a gap between how it works and how it looks. The building instead of “representing the image of the Shah in a stone bible”(Talinn Grigor, 2005), it is continuously transformed and adopted. This shows how the division between object and subject causes the approach to be incapable of capturing the gesture of making; “the traces of time transformation, the meanders of design process and debates” (Yaneva, 2016, p. 37).

Reversing the panopticon also would not help either. It neglects the fact that buildings, although not producing society, actively participated in maintaining many of its social form (Yaneva, 2016), or acts to refresh the bounds and the connection in the collective (Latour, 2005). As it was mentioned the program of Shahyad/ Azadi Square intended to act as propaganda and thus, functions to empower specific bounds and connection to its context.

De De Certeau (1988) notices, the problem arises as the procedure is related to the discourse. Before him, others such as Foucault- who is mostly known for his instrumental approach to space- and Bourdieu- that is famous for treating architecture as a reflection of the society- try to find the discourse in the procedure. De Certeau (1988) refers to them, Urban Volcano 85

states that Foucault opened-up a new perspective in which procedure associated with the influentia power. And Bourdieu constructs the circular movement1 and thus makes the explanation of the procedure into the discourse possible. However, as De Certeau mentions, that in both cases, the discourse hunts the trajectory. In the case of Foucault, the actors are mindless puppets that cannot work outside the defined discipline. Also, in Bourdieu's approach, the subjects are not aware of what they are doing, only move a structure to rebuild it again. All the experiments that are achieved in the process have no impact. The same structure will flourish again. De Certeau calls it a false departure that only visible in textual strategy of the author. Accordingly, he put the question forward that “one must ask what type of apparatus articulates the discourse in such a way that the discourse cannot make it its object”(De Certeau, 1988, p. 49) .

De Certeau specifically talks about ‘Trajectory.’ The idea he introduces suggests a temporal movement through space, “that is the unity of diachronic succession of points through which it passes.” This representation of the trajectory, however, is not a figure that these points may form, as a graph capture in Euclidian space would replace the time and movement. For him, the spatial sequence of points is the sequence of the operations which translates into the Strategy and Tactics. The strategy assumes a Place that can be circumscribed as proper. It implies an indication of stability. The tactics, on the contrary, gradually and through heterogeneous elements that are accumulated in the memory transforms the proper to form Space. This conflictin combination tends to capture the movement, and the time is embedded in it. While the strategy is a victory over time, homogeneous, disciplined, and stationary, the tactics are dependent memory and counts on an accumulated time. To overcome a hostile composition of place the forged memory is released in the least time, when “the propitious moment” arrives (De Certeau, 1988, Figure 53).

Since time is added as an intermediary that precedes transition, space is portrayed in the process of making. The transformation explicitly is becoming visible at the moment of instability. The trajectory of Shahyad/ Azadi Square could be fitted in this narrative. The overall scheme of space as a practiced place that goes from the image of the producer to the secondary product that is hidden in the process of its utilization seems to frame the trajectory of the tower. However, while the “right point in time” (phase III in figure 48) finds appearance, the “resources of time” (phase II in figure 48) remains invisible. However, De Certeau does not propose a method to track the numerous ways of practices that make the transformation happen in time. The agencies in work are considered as ‘memory’ that is settled outside the visible line. The only part visible in the trajectory is the beginning, the endpoint, and everything else is summarized in the explosion of the accumulated memory that connects the two-point. Moreover, based on the preceding narrative in part II, it could be stated that the formation of the proper space, itself, is the matter of negotiation and the assembly of heterogeneous elements. Hence, it cannot be regarded as preexisted or appeared overnight.

1 - According to Bourdieu’s theory, a constructed model or structure is deformed based on the assumed realities, but later goes under the unconscious reinterpretation only to reconstruct the base structure. Hence, it is a close circle that regardless of the achievement and experiments that are obtained during the procedure results in the replication of the same structure in variation.

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Figure 53- The modification of space. I) Composition of initial space II) The world of the memory III) Intervenes at the right moment IV) And produce modification of space. Reproduced after The practice of everyday life, M. D. De Certeau, 1988, Berkeley : University of California press.

Furthermore, in De Certeau’s theory and alike, space is conceived in a position that can organize the social but also be influenced by it, which is very close to the meaning of “the stage” as Heynen proposed (Heynen, 2013). Nonetheless, the bifurcation between space/ place, alive/dead, moveable/static, subject/object, strategy/ tactics, and performer/ audience throws each half to one side of a fence, and as a result, one is used as a cause to explain the effect of other. The division that is formulated in strategy versus tactic, like many other similar theories, tends to justify the movement of space and since building presumed as a static object, the subjective reading of it regarded as moveable. Although, De Certeau states that the functioning of a society is impossible to reduce, nonetheless, this rush for the cause and effect is reductive. The impulsive judgment tends to neglect the procedure and result in misunderstanding, which sometimes is catastrophic. As Lippmann used the same theatrical metaphor to criticize the role of people in the democracy that was giving rise to fascism. His view is different; howeve , it makes the point: "The public will arrive in the middle of the third act and will leave before the last curtain, having stayed just long enough perhaps to decide who is the hero and who is the villain of the piece. Yet usually that judgment will necessarily be made apart from intrinsic merits, on the basis of a sample of behavior, an aspect of a situation, by very rough external evidence" (Lippmann, 1927 cited in:Venturini, 2012, p. 797).

In the same way, Latour (2005) finds the concept of focusing on actors on stage reductive and disrupting. He states the stage puts the performer in the focus while neglecting other elements contributing to the performance. He then concludes that unfolding the metaphor leads to complete dislocation of the action. Accordingly, Latour and Yaneva (2008) see the departure from the separation between architecture and society by breaking the understanding of society as a separate domain in which architecture could be framed or performed: "It would be incredible if the millions of participants in our course of action would enter the social ties three modes of existence and only three: as a ‘material infrastructure’ that would ‘determine’ social relation like in the Marxian types of materialism; as a ‘mirror’ simply ‘reflecting social distinction like in the critical sociologies of Pierre Bourdieu; or as a backdrop for the stage on which human social actors play the main roles like in Erving Groffman s interactionist accounts" (Latour, 2005, p. 84).

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Heterogeneous Actors on the Stage By excluding an overarching theory or hidden forces from the trajectory, the description replaces the explanation. Therefore, the two lists in Table 1 should be related through correspondences and correlations. This is considered a pragmatic approach that is capable of capturing the transformation since it “traces the architecture as it unfolds in time and reveals architecture on the move” (Yaneva, 2016, p. 42). The argument is not that society and culture have no relevant connections to architecture. It is that they are not abstract constructs outside of architectural objects and processes. Instead, they only can be grasped by understanding how they unfold. In this way, it relates to engineers, politicians, contractors, citizens, and so forth. This forms unpredictable alliances, which are collections of heterogeneous elements, while illustrates the relative transformation in time and space. “Here is the social- in the process of tracing tentative trajectories and accounting for all design transformations”(Yaneva, 2016, p. 107).

Yaneva notes that the opening up of architectural theory to the ‘happening of the things’ makes the built environment a matter of concerns. The shift from a matter of fact to a matter of concerns brings out the plurality of meanings that applies the multiplicity of materials (Yaneva, 2016). This is very similar to De Certeau’s idea of changing from a matter of fact to a matter of tact1 (refers to tactics). However, a matter of tact relies on narration to transform objects to effects; Matter of concern tries to transform objects into things.

Latour advocates the shattering of the object to heterogeneous elements that constitute it, changing them to ‘thing.’ Understanding the association between these various elements can only depict how the whole collection works. Similar to the explosion of the Columbia rocket that exposed the complexity and the function of it constituted parts (Latour, 2004).

Latour similarly defines social as associations between heterogeneous elements and departs from conceiving it as a homogeneous collection (Latour, 2004, 2005). Although, this may seem to result in more division, the assemblage theory fills the gap between the question of expression and materiality. The theory avoids idealism and essentialism of phenomenology but remains concentrated on understanding the process that produces assemblage (Dovey, 2009). It follows the connection in social construct while avoiding all form of reductionism. Accordingly, if architecture is put into this context, it cannot act as a microcosm, as it cannot miniaturize the various characters of different elements and only constitute a part of the whole. Instead, it would make a star shape form with extended connection to other elements. Yaneva (2016) mentions that it forms a cosmogram which depicts the building as the product of numerous connections that extend far beyond its visible physical form, grasped in space and time. This shows, as she remarks, the activities that made the building or space possible to reconnect objective with subjective.

Cosmograms implies an ecology, and following the ecology is the best strategy to shows how it works. The path should be cleared for the composition so it can circulate and regularly refreshed, while the rest occurs by following the building circus (Yaneva, 2016).

By immersing to different flows and making sure that no shortcut is taken in the procedure of assembly, “Every reader can now judge what sort of social theory is best able to 1- Both Latour and De Certeau use different verbs when matters are referred to as a fact or tact and concern.

The former is narrated while the latter should be described.

88 Urban Volcano

fulfill these goals” (Latour, 2005, p. 261). Accordingly, Latour (2005) suggests the concept of Oligopticon to replace panopticon that provides an overarching view from its central tower. Oligopticon has a sturdy but narrow view of the connections, as long as they hold.

Furthermore, this shift also makes the variety of elements recognizable, as De Certeau (1988) reminds us that looking from panopticon historically tends to control and combat the heterogeneous practice. Latour mentions that In the moment of instability when space becomes the most mobile, the heterogeneousness increases and the social theories that are good at calibrating the social rather, ill-adjusted in following the associations paralyze, but for the assemblage theories this means more connections, contradiction and eventually, clarity (Latour, 2005). In the same way that the presence of many actors on the stage is puzzling while more negotiations from multiple sources in a platform or a forum bring more lucidity.

Accordingly, the concept of the stage takes the shape of a ‘Forum.’ A forum includes debating actors, which includes all sort of different entities that can join the discussion at any moment, on various issues, and the mobilized resources are different (Venturini, 2010). In this space of negotiation, the connection that actors make and dismantle, as they are engaged in the group formation and destruction, form a hybrid composition at any moment. Latour calls these composition ‘agency,’ which has their account and ideology to bring change into the state of affai , and in doing so, oppose to other composing agencies.

Agencies accuse each others of being fake, archaic, absurd, irrational, or illusory. Accounts of agencies will continuously add new entities while withdrawing others as illegitimate, making addition and subtractions (Latour, 2005). The transformation of space as a part of this composition could be described as it makes or dismantles connections and travel within various agencies.

Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT) “simply claims that once we are accustomed to these many shifting frames of references a very good grasp of how the social is generated can be provided” (Latour, 2005, p. 30). ANT follows the trajectory of the actors. The action of the actors is traced in the Network. The hyphen between two words could best translate into the action of agencies (Venturini, 2010). Accordingly, the theory is based on mapping the action only to describe the change they cause as an assembly. As Yaneva (2016) mentions following actors makes real accounts that links human with nature, the subjective with the objective, the small with the big, and the architecture with the social. Accordingly, for architecture, “ANT means that buildings are not seen as determinants of society (the primacy of the individual) nor as determined by society( the primacy of structure) but rather as in society” (Awan et al., 2013, p. 31). Thus, it is more extensively explained in the method section of the thesis, while the theoretical framing comes at the end of the thesis, as every reader can decide on what theory fits best the description Conclusion Forging the Volcano The diagrams presented in the following section illustrate the trajectory of the building and simplify the world in which the building is working. The linking, separations, movement, tension, alternation, and oscillation is shown to trace the dynamic trajectory Urban Volcano 89

of concerns. The diagrams try to give an idea of the path that is followed in Part II. The description in Part II focuses on the associations that result in the making, transforming, and reproducing Shahyad/ Azadi Square but avoids a timeline. In the diagrams, while the associations are unfolded, the timeline is included. The aim is to understand the results of the processes that happened in different places but contributed in shaping the context.

Hence, the arrows are not indicating a cause and effect relationship; instead, indicate the connection between various results of actions. In other words, they illustrate a figure of agencies that Shahyad/Azadi Square became part of it. As it was mentioned, the agencies should act to change the current affairs. Hence the elements that are associated with dispute are marked with an 'X.' The connections are illustrated in different modes as they are being modified or emphasized to trace the dynamic trajectory of concerns. This helps to emphasize the association between form and flow in sequences.

Since controversies unfold at different speeds, the diagrams cover different periods. The first and second diagram covers two decades and focuses on the period between 1920 to 1940 and 1940 to 1960, respectively. The third diagram adds the trajectory between 1960 to 1966. The fourth diagram includes the process between 1966 to 1971. Here, the building occurs in between the actors that were introduced before. The next diagram shows the trajectory of space and tower as they transform by going through the controversies that were accumulated in the network. The fifth diagram follows the trajectory between 1971 to 1979 and illustrates the connection the building remade to become part of a new network, as the Islamic Revolution reshuffle the elements in the network. The last diagram shows the position of building in the network between 1979 to 1980. Going further than 1980 was not plausible due to the available time.

These diagrams are not the object of study. Instead, it is the flow that should be followed and traced. Exploring this path shows that almost every event and concern plays a role in shaping the physical space as a part of the constellation. The division between content and context blurred in these diagrams and the building becomes a part of the context.

For instance, the Historical Halls of the structure that Amanat proposed and resulted in winning the competition were later reduced in size and scale as the controversies around the budget was increasing. As a result, the proposed sunken courtyards are removed, which itself resulted in the expansion of the open space. The concerns around the structure of pedestrian bridges that might obstacle the view towards the monument resulted in replacing them with underground access that disclosed the available open space to the public. Later on, the Shah was influenced by the innovative presentation of information in Czech pavilion and added an audio-visual gallery to the museum. This new modification changed the design to include two main bodies of galleries, which inscribed the conflict between the architect and the imposed idea. Also, the added galleries offered a new experience that pushed the disclosed enlarged space further in everyday life. The galleries showcased the rhetorics of the state support reforms. However, the content of the reforms was subject of controversy and revoked the old ones. This attached the site to the conflic s. In 1979, the vast space that can host a large group of people turned to a gathering point that toppled the Shah down. Thus, the resulted space transformed all the events and results that produce the space in the first place

90 Urban Volcano

In an understanding that grasps the shared world between heterogeneous elements, the building does not work as a whole. Instead, each part of the buildings finds associations with specific communities in the collection. Shahyad/ Azadi square works as a ‘thing’ instead of an object. Similar to the definition that Latour presents for ‘thing,’ The building is shattered and connected with various elements in the combination by carrying the concern of different communities and elements through its constituting parts (Latour, 2005).

What remains to understand is to how Shahyad/ Azadi square could be reproduced while other entities that the building was representing vanished or modified in a dramatic shift of paradigms?

Another element that can be highlighted to answer this question is that Shahyad/ Azadi Square acts as a mediator in the network. Latour puts mediator in contrast with intermediaries that only transport the meaning. Instead, the mediator cause in transformation, translation, distortion, and modification of the meaning they supposed to carry from different entities. Intermediaries no matter how complicated, count for one and are forgettable. Mediators, however, regardless of how simple they may look, can become complex. The more connections mean more existence, which can lead to multiple directions. This will help mediators to modify all the contradictory accounts that may be attributed to their role (Latour, 2005, pp. 37-41).

Shahyad/ Azadi Square initially intended to act as an intermediator, but it did not remain as merely an avatar. For example, the gateway of the monument was the most symbolic part of the structure when the building was erected. The gateway carries the paradigm of the time in which the reemerged ancient civilization was about to pass the gateway of modernization and join axial nations once more. The Tower was the first structure that welcomes the visitors to Tehran. It provided a glimpse to the modern city behind it and presented the narration of the achievements in the museum beneath it. The meaning is lost as both the Shah’s concept and the airport were moved away from it. What the gateway is now presenting is the historical citation in its form. The emphasize is on the pointed arch that symbolizes the Iranian history after the emergence of Islam. In this case, the ability of the structure to modify the meaning that it carries comes from the skillful double coding of the design. The museum underneath the monument was first silence and then modified to become neutral. The audio-visual gallery, although it is not projecting the political ambition of the previous regime, is being used by the new ruling group with the same technic on the exterior of the monument to propaganda new paradigms. The white marbles that came from experimenting with monuments that were supposed to rebrand the nation are now a projection board for the new paradigms and a whiteboard for the new opposition.

Thus, the building is shattered into the constituent parts in the network, while each of these parts can be modified to become silent or emphasize the connections they make.

Eventually, these fragments let the building retains its position as a representative or spokesperson in different collections. In other words, acting as a thing and a mediator the building can extend in between different elements and remain open to different inputs.

As diagrams reflect decades of production and modification through controversies forms Urban Volcano 91

a network of associations in which the monument occupies a focal point and act as a spokesperson of values and readings of contributing entities. Despite, the weighting of these representations did not remain consistent.

In the case of Shahyad/ Azadi Square when a physical space occupies the role of spokesperson, it becomes a space of projection. The creation of the monument was an endeavor to solidify this moment and state. However, this is also the place where the established order of collection could be challenged. Who or whatever claims this space receives the entitlement to modify, replace, or poses other connections that were under negotiation and make a new cosmos. Therefore, every time a controversy revokes around what the monument represents, it goes to the center of the conflict. Looking back at the maps shows that the reproduction of Shahyad to Azadi became possible as the connections it represented went into the dispute, transformed and then solidified under a new ideology of a collective. As it is traceable in the maps, in the case of Shahyad/ Azadi Square, this process is always initiated with performing rituals, festivals, or carnivals. Many scholars refer to the rituals either for refreshing social ties (Latour, 2005), or provides an opportunity to question them and act otherwise (Dehaene & De Cauter, 2008).

Shahyad/Azadi Square is situated in between various social fault lines or boundaries between various groups. However, since it has exhausted with various connection and acted as a mediator frequently, it is rendered as a boundaryless entity which gives it some quality of smoothness. In the words of Deleuze and Guattari, it implies a slipperiness and movement where one slides seamlessly from one meaning or image to another (Deleuze & Guattari, 1988). The analogy of Shahyad/ Azadi Square with urban volcano comes from such a character, while the lightness of such a smooth movement is seen through the thickness and bubbling effect of controversies. Although, the thesis does not remain in the limitation of symbolism and tries to describe the trajectory of the building as it shifts from one image or meaning to another.

In this thesis, Shahyad/ Azadi Square is portrayed as it is enmeshed with the social. It shows that there is another circuitry through which masses of entities begin to circulate, and this is traceable interactions. Hence, the features in architecture that contribute to the reproduction of space can only be traced in combination with other elements. An abstract definition of these features neglects the complexity of the interactions in the assembly.

In other words, instead of talking about powers or potentials of architecture, we may talk about architectural associations. It should be an adjective that finds meaning only as a part of a larger assembly. Architecture acts as a connector in the social and spatial constellation. That is to circulate through landscape to associate entities from different layers in architectural way. ANT provides a suitable instrument to trace the interactions that are not isotopic, synchronic, synoptic, homogeneous, and isobaric.

92 Urban Volcano

Emphasize on Street Junctions Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

New Transport

Street Plan

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute

Mehr-Abad Airport

Dress-Code Law

Controversies - generated outside the dispute

Unveiling

Events with primary influence

Industrialization

Secular Sites

Civic Pilgrimage

Progress

Extension

New Era

New Public Space

Bazaar

Events with primary influence Building with primary influence Building with primary influence

Tehran University

Association in dispute Emphasized Association

Racism

Revitalization Project

Pedagogy

Construction Technology

New Association Monumental Mausoleums

Dismantled Association

Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

Reza Shah

The Ancestors

Sculpture Square

Religious Rituals is Banned

Rituals

Moharram

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration Pilgrimage

Timeline

Ferdowsi Square

Religious Performances

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

The Diagram of the Context 1920-1940

Emphasize on Street Junctions Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

New Transport

Street Plan

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute Controversies - generated outside the dispute

Unveiling

Events with primary influence

Mehr-Abad Airport

Industralization

Secular Sites

Civic Piligramage

Progress

Extension

New Era

New Public Space

Bazaar

Events with primary influence Building with primary influence Building with primary influence

Tehran University

Association in dispute

Racism

Revitalization Project

Reza Shah Formation of Different Groups

Emphasized Association

Pedagogy

Monumental Mausoleums Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

Destroied during unrest in 1956

The Ancestors

Rituals

Moharram

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration Pligramage

Timeline

Ferdowsi Square

Construction Technology

New Association Dismantled Association

Sculpture Square

Religious Performances

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

The Diagram of the Context 1940-1960

Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

Anti-Commonism Initatives

Increase in Oil Revenues

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute Controversies - generated outside the dispute

Emphasize on Street Junctions

TCP

Cold War

Social Division

Unveiling

Woomen Voting Rigghts

Events with primary influence

Street Plan

Secular Sites

Civic Piligramage

New Transport

Mehr-Abad Airport

Projection

Royal Gate Proposal

Industralization

Progress

Shahyad Aryamehr Competition Initiiated

Extension

New Tehran

New Era

Events with primary influence

New Public Space

Bazaar

25000 Years of Monarchy

Building with primary influence

Social Justice

White Revloution Policy to diffuse conflicts

Building with primary influence

Revitalization Project

Tehran University

Association in dispute

Reza Shah

Sculpture Square

Ferdowsi Square

The Square is rebuild

Emphasized Association

Sydney Opera House

Architectura Knowledge

Pedagogy

Construction Technology

New Association Dismantled Association

Cyrus Cylinder Seyhoon

Monumental Mausoleums Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

Renovated in 1964

The Ancestors

Rituals

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration Pligramage

Timeline

Moharram

Religious Performances

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

The Diagram of the Context 1960-1966

Cold War Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

Increase in Oil Revenues

Social Division

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute Controversies - generated outside the dispute

TCP

Unveiling

Woomen Voting Rigghts

Events with primary influence

Emphasize on Street Junctions

New Transport

Street Plan

Mehr-Abad Airport

Industralization

Secular Sites

Events with primary influence

Building with primary influence

Progress

Association in dispute Sydney Opera House

Emphasized Association

Architectura Knowledge

New Tehran

New Era

Shahyad Aryamehr Square

White Revloution

Tehran University

Amanat

Extension

Gateway

Finance Social Justice

Shahyad Aryamehr Competition Initiiated

Tower Civic Piligramage

Building with primary influence

Projection

New Public Space

Bazaar

25000 Years of Monarchy Vast Square

Historical Halls

Revitalization Project

Reza Shah

Sculpture Square

Ferdowsi Square

Historical Cititations Pedagogy

Construction Technology

New Association Cyrus Cylinder Seyhoon

Dismantled Association

Monumental Mausoleums Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

The Ancestors

Rituals

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration Pligramage

Timeline

Moharram

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

Aruo & partners

Religious Performances

The Diagram of the Context 1966-1971

Active Controversies generated Within the dispute Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute

Disclosure of a Vast Space

Controversies - generated outside the dispute

Sunken Courtyards are Removed Makes the Space Uniform

Events with primary influence

Tower New Public Space

Adds Audio-Visual Gallery which does not Require Light

Events with primary influence

White Revolution

Building with primary influence Building with primary influence

Stonework is used in the exterior and Exposed Concrete in the Interior

Reduce the Size of Historical Halls

Historical Halls

Association in dispute Emphasized Association

Pedestrian Bridges are Removed to Make the Tower Visible but Makes the Square More Accessible.

Construction Technology

New Association Dismantled Association

The Defining Curve was Transformed

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan Timeline 1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

Arup & partners Concern on the Tower

Trajectory of the Tower

Concern on Space

Trajectory of the Museum (Space)

The Diagram of the Building Trajectory

Cold War Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

Increase in Oil Revenues

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute Controversies - generated outside the dispute

TCP

Social Division

Unveiling

Woomen Voting Rigghts

Events with primary influence

Emphasize on Street Junctions

New Transport

Street Plan

Mehr-Abad Airport

Industralization

Secular Sites

Events with primary influence

Building with primary influence

Progress

Association in dispute Emphasized Association

Sydney Opera House

Architectura Knowledge

Cyrus Cylinder Seyhoon

Historical Halls

Revitalization Project

Reza Shah

Acts as a gathering point

Ferdowsi Square

Sculpture Square

Slogans are written on them

Historical Cititations Pedagogy

Construction Technology

Monumental Mausoleums

The Ancestors

White Marbels

Rituals

Moharram

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration

Timeline

Bazaar

Vast Square

Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

New Public Space

25000 Years of Monarchy

Azadi Square

New Association Dismantled Association

New Tehran

New Era

White Revloution

Tehran University

Amanat

Extension

Gateway

Finance Social Justice

Shahyad Aryamehr Competition Initiiated

Tower Civic Piligramage

Building with primary influence

Projection

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

Pligramage Aruo & partners

Religious Performances

The Diagram of the Context 1971-1979

TCP Active Controversies generated Within the dispute

Increase in Oil Revenues

Dormant Controversies generated Within the dispute Controversies - generated outside the dispute

Social Division

Unveiling

Woomen Voting Rigghts

Events with primary influence

Emphasize on Street Junctions

New Transport

Street Plan

Mehr-Abad Airport

Industralization

Secular Sites

Events with primary influence

Progress

New Era

Finance Social Justice

Building with primary influence

Amanat

Association in dispute Emphasized Association

Architectura Knowledge

Cyrus Cylinder Seyhoon

Ferdowsi Square Historical Cititations

Pedagogy

Construction Technology

Monumental Mausoleums

The Ancestors

White Marbels

Rituals

Moharram

Persepolis Karbala Millennium Celebration Pligramage

Timeline

Bazaar

25000 Years of Monarchy

Azadi Cultural Complex

Ferdowsi Tomb

TCP- Tehran Comprehensive Plan

New Public Space

Vast Square

New Association Dismantled Association

New Tehran

Azadi Square

Islamic Revloution

Tehran University

Extension

Gateway

Tower Civic Piligramage

Building with primary influence

Projection

1980

1979

1971

1966

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

Aruo & partners

Religious Performances

The Diagram of the Context 1979-1980

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Photography. (25-16172 ‫)ایران‬. Iran National Archives, Tehran.

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(Vol. 2). Tehran: Ministry of Intelligence.

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(Vol. 4): Ministry of Intelligence.

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Photograph. (25-3517). Iran National Archive.

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Photography. Zendegi (in English: Life), (25-5878). Iran National Archives.

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Cultivat (ing) modernities: the Society for National Heritage, political propaganda and public architecture in twentieth-century Iran.

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Shahyad Square inaugurated on the occasion of the celebration for 2500 years of the founding of the Persian monarchy- ‫یینبرگزاری جشن دو هزار و‬ ‫بناییادبود میدان شهیاد در آ‬ ‫(پانصدمینسال شاهنشاهی ایرانگشایشیافت‬1971). Photography. (3171417, 363/1/5302). Iran National Archive, Tehran.

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