Congrès Mondial des Études sur le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord

Barcelone du 19 au 24 Juillet 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: Architect

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Seyed Jamalaldin Mousavi

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: Iran is undoubtedly one of the capitals of world poetry. Poetry is intertwined with Iranian life: in cinema, in architecture and even in its classical sport, Zur-khaneh. And it seems that Iranian classical architecture is more inspired by the subtleties of a poet’s mind than the prowess of a professional industrialist. And in modern Iran, if architecture is inspired by poetry it can represent an identity; if, that is, it is poetic. The purpose of this set of posters is to introduce architectural projects that have been informed and inspired by Persian poetry, as representative of Iranian identity examining the influence of poetry in the creation of a structural design and investigating the possibility of actualizing poetic ideas in architecture. The first project is a floating restaurant and for serving ‘slow food’ as opposed to ‘fast food’. The idea is the resurrection and restructuration of a very old village in southern Iran. The initial concept is based on the mourning ceremonies, Ayeen-e Zar, and has planned itself on a poetic scenario to achieve its goal. The second project is a marine control tower. This building is inspired by epic poets of Persian poetry, Ferdosi, and differentiates itself from the rest of similar repetitive ‘soulless’ projects lacking an identity by displaying a poeticity of structure absent elsewhere. The third project is a symbolic Entrance Gate located at the largest harbour in Iran welcoming all the incomers. This structure, inspired by Rumi poetry, intends to carve a memorable image of Iran in the minds using modern ingredients. The forth project is Dialogue Among Civilizations centre. An intelligent structure that universe make it to choose its way, and every year at a pre-specified moment travels to a country through oceans and a splendidly annual cultural ceremony takes place in there. The last project is the Sheykh-e Eshragh monument, celebrating an Iranian philosopher of that name executed for his opinions. This structure is unswervingly planned by turning the philosopher’s ideas, expressed in a poetic language, into executable architectural design. This structure intends to display the interdependencies of philosophy, art, and architecture. These projects’ purpose is to show a tangible picture of poeticity in architecture and how to turn words into concrete structures.