Reinterpretation of the Principles that give Identity to the Iranian House in the Works of Architects of the Second Pahlavi Period, based on Women’s Changing Role in Family and Society

Amirzadehdana, Elnaz; Armaghan, Maryam; Yousefi, Mandana; Shafiei, Somayeh Sadat

doi:10.22034/aaud.2025.555628.3006

Reinterpretation of the Principles that give Identity to the Iranian House in the Works of Architects of the Second Pahlavi Period, based on Women’s Changing Role in Family and Society

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Elnaz Amirzadehdana ¹

Maryam Armaghan ²

Mandana Yousefi ³

Somayeh Sadat Shafiei ⁴

¹ Ph.D. Student, Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran.

² Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran (Corresponding Author).

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran.

⁴ Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/aaud.2025.555628.3006

Abstract

In the early 14th century AH, the structure of Iranian houses began to change. This transformation occurred alongside shifts in government structure and bureaucratic style, leading to fundamental changes in family lifestyles and the roles of individuals, particularly women. As a result, traditional Iranian houses, regardless of their historical roots, gradually began to be replaced by villa houses. In the 1960s, a construction boom fueled by oil sales and the influence of the architects educated at the Faculty of Fine Arts redefined the identity of the Iranian house. This redefinition aligned with the new lifestyle and evolving individual roles, while still establishing a connection to historical roots. The present study aims to examine how the principles that give identity to the Iranian house were redefined, focusing on changes in the family system and the evolving role of women in the works of architects from the Faculty of Fine Arts. This mixed-method research first employs a qualitative library study to descriptively analyze the principles that give identity to Iranian houses. The subsequent step involves a comparative examination of selected samples in terms of the extracted components to analyze transformations based on the evolving roles of individuals, especially women. The samples are purposefully chosen from houses designed and constructed by the aforementioned architects. The results reveal a redefinition of the long-forgotten principles of the Iranian house, such as privacy, diversity and flexibility, social relations, secrecy, and a connection with nature, concerning the roles of women and the family system redefined in the thought of architects from the Faculty of Fine Arts. These principles had been overlooked by architects who were educated abroad and engaged with modern global thought.

Keywords

Identity of the Iranian House

Second-Pahlavi Architects

Role of Women and Family

Abbasi-Shavazi, J., and P. McDonald. 2008. Family change in Iran: Religion, revolution and the state. In International Family Change: Ideational Perspectives edited by R. J. A. T. A. W. A., 177-198. Taylor & Francis Group.
Abrahamian, Ervand. 2008. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521821391.
Aghalatifi, Azadeh. 2016. Investigation of the Developments of Residential Species in Tehran with Emphasis on Lifestyle (Phase Two Report: General Identification of Species and Factors Affecting Them), Reviewed by Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti. Vol. 2 and Vol. 3. Tehran City Studies and Planning Center. [in Persian]
Ahmadi, Farhad. 1999. Interview with the Architect. Abadi Journal (58): 9-18. https://www.caoi.ir/fa/study/1248. [in Persian]
Alizadeh, Mehdi. 2015. Interview with Architect. Art and Architecture Magazine. [in Persian]
Alizadeh, Mehdi. 2017. Interview with Architect. Memar Magazine. [in Persian]
Al-Jordi, H. 1997. Power Structure in the Family. Master’s Th. Tehran University. [in Persian]
Archer, J. 2005. Social Theory of Space: Architecture and the Production of Self, Culture, and Society. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 64(4): 430-433. DOI:10.2307/25068197
Arjmand, M. and S. Khani. 2012. The Role of Solitude in Iranian House Architecture. Journal of Studies On Iranian - Islamic City 2(7): 27-38. https://sid.ir/paper/177360/en. [in Persian]
Azimi Hassanabad, Alireza. 2010. Thoughts of Contemporary Iranian Architects. Tehran: Farhang Saba Press. [in Persian]
Bani Masoud, Amir. 2019. Contemporary Architecture in Iran from 1925 to the Present. Mashhad: Kasra Press. [in Persian]
Bavar, Sirous. 2009. A Look at the Emergence of Modern Architecture in Iran. Tehran: Faza Scientific and Cultural Institute. [in Persian]
Bavar, Sirous. 2023. Interview with Sirous Bawar, By Elnaz Amirzadeh Dana. [in Persian]
Bemanian, M. R., and Somayeh Amini. 2017. Social Architecture of the Iranian House. Tehran: avvaloakhar Press. [in Persian]
Berman, Marshall. 1982. The Experience of Modernity. Translated by Morad Farhadpour. Tehran: Tarh-e-no Press. [in Persian]
Bostan, H. 2006. A Review of Gender-Role Theories. Woman in Development & Politics 4(1-2): 5-31. https://sid.ir/paper/55554/fa. [in Persian]
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University.
Bourdieu, P. 1990. The Logic of Practice. (R. Nice, Trans.) Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P. 1996. Physical Space, Social Space and Habitus. (U. o. Willem Aubert Memorial Lecture, Interviewer).
Diba, Darab. 1995. A Review of Contemporary World Architecture and the Issue of Identity. Journal of Fine Arts 1(1): 46-57. https://sid.ir/paper/477239/fa. [in Persian]
Fadaei Mehrabani, Vahid, and Mehdi Bani-Asadi Baghmirani. 2025. From the Central Courtyard to Spatial Framing: Changes in Mass and Empty Space in Tehran’s Residential Architecture. Architectural Technologies Studies 2(15). http://noo.rs/R62bb. [in Persian]
Ghotbi, Ali Akbar. 2008. The Concept of Identity and Architecture Today in Iran. Aineh Khial 2(10): 83-87. https://sid.ir/paper/462555/fa. [in Persian]
Golabi, Maryam. 2018. Changing discourses on visibility and invisibility in Iranian domestic architecture: a case study in Vali-Asr district in Tabriz (1980-2000). Ph.D. dissertation in Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University. https://hdl.handle.net/11511/27911
Goode, J. William. 1973. Family and Society. Translated by Vida Naseh. Tehran: Book Translation and Publishing Company. [in Persian]
Haeri, Mohammad Reza. 2016. House, Culture, and Nature in Iranian Architecture. Tehran: Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center Publications. [in Persian]
Hojjat, I. 2005. Identity that creates man, man that creates identity (a reflection on the relationship between identity and architecture). Journal of Fine Arts 10(4): 55-62. https://sid.ir/paper/433654/fa. [in Persian]
Kalantari, Iraj. 1977. On Truth; On Architecture (Interview with the Architect). https://koubeh.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Koubeh-IrajKalantari.pdf. [in Persian]
Kalantari. Iraj. 1969. Introduction to Works. Art and Architecture Magazine 17(5): 29-30. [in Persian]
Kalantari. Iraj. 1973. Interview with the Architect. Art and Architecture Magazine 17(5): 29-30. [in Persian]
Karimi, P. 2013. Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the Modern Era. London & New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203072905
Khamenehzadeh, H. 2017. An Introduction to the Concept of Privacy and How it is Realized in the House Life-World1 Comparative Study in Pre-modern and Modern Iranian Houses. Journal of Bagh-e Nazar 14(49): 33-44. https://sid.ir/paper/518185/fa. [in Persian]
Mannan, Rami. 2019. Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar by IM Pei: Tradition and Modern Development in Islamic Architecture. NCUR. https://libjournals.unca.edu/ncur/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2790-Mannan-Rami-FINAL.pdf
Marefat, M. 1988. Building to Power: Arhitecture of Tehran 1921-1941. Massachusetts: Unpublished Dissertation, Massachusetts Instutute of Technology.
Mokhtari Taleghani, Eskandar. 1977. The Heritage of Modern Iranian Architecture. Tehran: Cultural Research Office. [in Persian]
Mónica Alcindor, and Daniel Coq-Huelva 2019. Refurbishment, vernacular architecture and invented traditions: the case of the Empordanet (Catalonia). International Journal of Heritage Studies. DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2019.1678054
Moshiri, Iraj. 1997. Issues Related to Architecture. Architect (4): 80-85. [in Persian]
Naghizadeh, Mohammad. 2006. The Relationship between the Identity of “Iranian Architectural Tradition” with “Modernism” and “Nogarai”. Journal of Fine Arts (7): 91-97. https://sid.ir/paper/5795/fa. [in Persian]
Nasiri, Negar. 1388. A Comparative Study of the Concept of Solitude in the Iranian Introverted House and the Western Extroverted House. Journal of Fine Arts (39). DOI:10.22059/jfaup.2018.68319. [in Persian]
Paidar, P. 1995. Women and the political process in twentieth-century Iran. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rabiee, R., Darab Diba, and Mansour Flamaki. 1999. Recognizing the Components Shaping Iranian-Islamic Identity in Historic Iranian Houses. Journal of Islamic Art Studies 49. DOI: 10.22034/ias.2022.339682.1949. [in Persian]
Radmard, Taghi, and Ali Akbar Saremi. 1995. Enduring Values in Iranian Architecture. First Edition. Tehran: Cultural Heritage Organization. [in Persian]
Rostam Kolai. 1992. Foreign Education, Women’s Press, and the Discourse of Scientific Domesticity in Early Twentieth-Century Iran. In Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics, edited by R. P. Matthee, & N. R. Keddie (pp. 182-204). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Roth, L. M. 2018. Understanding architecture: Its elements, history, and meaning. Routledge. ISBN: 9780429964138.
Sala, B. 2016. L’arquitectura Tradicional: Del Menysteniment a La Mitificació. In Arquitectura tradicional. Essència o forma. Un Debat obert al voltant de la intervenció a l’arquitectura vernacla, edited by M. Alcindor and J. M. Fortià, 19-24. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21093.14565
Sanasarian, Eliz. 2005. The women’s rights movement in Iran: mutiny, appeasement, and repression from 1900. Translated by Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani. Tehran: Akhtaran Press. [in Persian]
Sarai, Hassan. 2007. Continuity and Change in the Family in the Context of Demographic Transition. Journal of Population Association of Iran 1(2): 37-60. https://sid.ir/paper/517901/fa. [in Persian]
Saremi, Ali Akbar. 1995. Modernity and Its Results in Architecture and Urban Planning of Iran. Goftogu 10: 57-70. https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/320268. [in Persian]
Saremi, Ali Akbar. 1996. Footprints of New Iranian Architecture in the Atelier of the 1940s. Abadi Quarterly 6(21): 61-54. https://www.caoi.ir/fa/study/1253. [in Persian]
Saremi, Ali Akbar. 2009. Warp and Weft and Still...: My Story and Our Architecture. Tehran: Art of Century Architecture. [in Persian]
Weisman, L. K. 2000. Women’s Environmental Rights: A Manifesto. In Gender space architecture: an interdisciplinary introduction, edited by J. Rendell, B. Penner, & I. Borden (pp. 1-6). New York: Routledge.
Yousef A. M., Al Haroun. 2019. Perceptions of the Courtyard in Kuwait: Between Tradition and Modernity. Journal of Arabian Studies 9(2): 182-208. DOI: 10.1080/21534764.2019.1770422
Zarghami, Esmaeil, and Seyyed Ashraf Sadat. 2016. Characteristics of Iranian-Islamic Architecture in Residential Complexes. Tehran: Shahid Rajaee University Press. [in Persian]
Zarkesh, Afsaneh. 2011. Factors Affecting the Architecture of Private Buildings in the First Pahlavi Period. Book of Month: Art Magazine (160): 98-108. https://www.magiran.com/p939451. [in Persian]
Zibiyanejad, Mohammad Reza. 2009. Differences, Identity and Gender Roles. In the collection of articles on Identity and Gender Roles (first edition). Tehran: Center for Women and Family Affairs of the Presidential Institution. [in Persian]