Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement: Toward a New Perception and Reception
modern function.’48 Jānis Lejnieks emphasised her ability to work with cultural heritage, with its
story, which may also be a weakness in the situations when it is necessary to create something
fundamentally new.
Saeid Khaghani
Niloofar Rasooli
Tehran University | Iran
Conclusion
From 1918 to 2018 there has been a stark contrast between the development trends in cities and
in the countryside of Latvia, and the impact of the Modern Movement is dual. The architecture
created by women along with the principles of the Modern Movement also takes into account the
qualities of the surrounding context and includes the regional features. The Modern Movement
brought novelty to the work of architects and architecture became a result of teamwork. A female
architect can be a team leader or be part of a team. The work of female architects has a high
added creative value. Modernist architecture can be understood by analysing the construction
history of the building and its construction process. Only those buildings the emotional effect of
the architectural concept of which, the materials and the uniqueness of the solutions used are still
relevant today are being restored and preserved. The list made by the DoCoMoMo Latvian Working
Party with the most significant representative samples of the Modern Movement in Latvia should
be reviewed and supplemented with several objects designed by female architects.
This work has been supported by State Cultural Capital Foundation.
The Women Architects of Iran:
Their Practice and Influence (1940-1976)
Despite the growing number of women entering profession and practicing architecture in Iran
within recent years, still the lack of role model among female architecture students is observable.
Given that role models boost self-esteem by countering negative stereotypes that cast doubt on
a person’s abilities to perform well in the biased profession,1 the scarcity of female role models in
architecture can be profoundly damaging. Mainstream architectural history has failed to include
the contribution of women in evaluation of Iran’s modern architecture and as a result, their practice
has remained unknown to younger generation.
Through their absence from any historiography of Iran’s architecture, there are limited sources of
information about this first generation of women architects; either they are known by names or
they are linked to buildings, but their involvement remains uncertain. The only scholar regarding
women’s endeavour is Sirus Bavar mentioning the practice of these architects through narrating
the International Congress of Women Architects (1976) in Ramsar,2 however, referring to projects
designed and built in association of women and their co-workers, as the same cliché women’s
contributions is omitted. The study of gender as such in Iranian historiography still remains a new
frontier. Vanished within the patriarchal structure of Iranian modernity, the instrumental female role
in reformulating the life of a modern society has largely been ignored.
48 Lejnieks, Interview.
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1 Cf. Michela De Giorgio, “Donne e professioni,” I professionisti, edited by Anna Maria Malatesta (Torino: Einaudi, 1996),
455–456, vol. 10 of the collection Storia d’Italia: Annali; Despina Stratigakos, Where Are the Women Architects?
(Princeton: Princeton University, 2016), 35.
2 Sirus Bavar, Looking Towards New Architecture in Iran (Tehran: Faza, 2008), 364–377.
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The scope of this study is limited between two crucial backgrounds relating to women architects
in Iran: stablishing of Faculty of Fine Arts in University of Tehran (1940) as the first phase women
starting to enter architectural education to the holding of the International Congress of Women
Architects (1976), when it can be said that women in Iran had the first opportunity to gather together
and present their practices.
The women selected as the first generation of women architects of Iran in this study are Nektar
Papazian-Andreef, Keyhandokht Radpour, Mina Samiei, Shahrzad Seraj, Giti Afrouz-Kardan,
Nushin Ehsan, Nasrin Fagih and Leila Farhad who were the first woman awarded important
commissions, were involved in important governmental designs and practiced in different designs
and constructions like universities, residences, hospitals, libraries and urban designs, however,
comparing to their male co-workers, their practice never saw the equal and desired attention.
As Jullie Willies indicates that ‘the study of the history of women architects should be, by its nature,
a critical history’,3 focusing on the second Pahlavi period with a critical approach, this study is based
on the contribution of the first generation of women architects to the formation of early modern
Iranian architecture and tries to answer these questions: What was the context of their practice, for
instance, whether they established their own firms or preferred to work with their husbands, what
was the characteristics of their designs, and finally and more importantly, whether they succeeded
in forming any particular critical viewpoint in architectural landscape of modern Iran.
Women’s Architectural Education in Iran
The foundation of very first architecture school in Iran dates back to 1927,4 however, the opportunity
to study architecture was not provided for Iranian women until the stablishing of faculty of Fine Arts
in the University of Tehran in 1940.5 The school was under the tutelage of the French archaeologist
and architect Andre Godard and the Iranian architects, Mohsen Foroughi and Hushang Seyhoun as
the three directors who respectively followed the principles of École des Beaux-Arts of Paris as the
teaching model.6 The rigid structure of the education system was not changed for over the next 28
3 Julie Willies, “Invisible Contributions: The Problem of History and Women Architects,” Architectural Theory Review 3,
no. 2 (1998), 57–68.
4 This school was founded by Karim Taherzadeh Behzad the Iranian architect. The school provided training for male
students, however, due to the lack of budget, it was closed down during the second year of its education. Bijan
Shafei, Sohrab Soroushian and Victor Daniel, Karim Taherzadeh Behzad Architecture: Architecture of Changing
Times in Iran (Tehran: Did, 2005), 11–20.
5 Gholam Reza Khajouy, “The History of the Faculty of Fine Arts,” Architect 3 (1947), 111.
6 Gholam Reza Khajouy, “The History of the Faculty of Fine Arts,” Architect 1 (1946), 31.
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Chapter B: Women’s Legacy and Heritage: Protection, Restoration and Enhancement
years and dissatisfaction merged students to seek for better chances of education abroad.7 After
the management period of Seyhoun and alongside with the cultural transition of time, subsequently
educational curriculum and teaching staff undergone relative revisions.8
According to the published information in the third issue of Architect reviewing the status of
architectural students enrolled in the School of Fine Arts and Architecture at the Tehran University,
no woman did enter the school in the first three years after the establishment of the school.9 In
1943, the first woman gained entrance to the department; and in 1945, Nectar Papazian-Andreff
became the first Iranian woman with graduate diploma in architecture.10
Following the University of Tehran, other architecture centres were stablished, among which, Madrese
Ali Dokhtaran11 was the first single-sex school devoted to female architect students, opened in 1964
under the Farah Diba’s patronage, who was educated in Paris at the École Spéciale d’Architecture.12
This school offered disciplines within the curriculum ranging from the social sciences to the liberal
arts. In Addition, the college was also known for its unique program in women’s home economics
and interior design, initiated in 1967. Following the addition of this program, interior design became
a major division in several architecture schools.13
It can be said that before the transition in the teaching system in Faculty of Fine Arts, architectural
teaching experience was not sufficient for the female students. The majority of these women
completed their education in foreign universities. On the other hand, Nektar Papazian-Anderff,14
7 Over the period Dariush Mirfenderski directing the faculty, fundamental changes occurred, for instance the
curriculum thoroughly saw changes and Fataneh Naraghi, Mirfenderski’s wife, also started to teach interior and
industrial design at that time. “The history of Faculty of Fine Arts,” ammi.ir, http://ammi.ir/ammiprint?id=8575
(accessed January 27, 2018).
8 The transition stemmed from the post Second World War influences of American in Iranian politics, economy
and media that replaced the pre-Second World War influences of Germany and France in Iran. M. Reza
Shirazi,Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran: Tradition, Modernity and, the Production of The Space-inBetween (New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, 2018), 126.
9 Khajouy, “The History of the Faculty of Fine Arts,” 31.
10 Nectar Papazian-Andreff, “Address by the President of the congress,” Report of the Proceedings of the International
Congress of Women Architects: The Crisis of Identity in Architecture (Tehran: The Hamdami Foundation, 1977),
9–11.
11 Now Al-Zahra University.
12 Farah Pahlavi played an active role in promoting the culture and the arts in Iran from the beginning of her reign. She
took a direct interest in the Ministry of Culture and Art, her ministry encouraged many forms of artistic expression,
however, the majority of her time went into the creation of museums and the building of their collections. Baharak
Tabibi, “Propagating Modernities: Art and Architectural Patronage of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi” (PhD dissertation,
Middle East Technical University, 2014), 3–17.
13 Pamela Karimi, Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the Modern Era (New York, NY:
Routledge, 2013), 149.
14 After two years in Faculty of Fine Arts, she attended the Atelier of Perret Remondet Herbe where she gained an
equivalent PhD degree from L’École Des Beaux Arts in 1956. Andreff, “Address by the President,” 10.
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Nushin Ehsan, Keyhandokht Radpour and Guity Afrooz Kardan were the only women of presumed
generation who studied architecture in Faculty of Fine Arts. Andreff, Ehsan and Radpour furthered
their studies abroad. In an interview published in Honar e Memari, Radpour declared that the reason
behind leaving faculty of fine arts was her dissatisfaction of teaching methods.15
International Congress of Women Architects (1976)
Before the International Congress of Women architects, women’s participation toward profession
was not observable in published media in Iran. In addition to this, the whole society of architects
was addressed by male propositions. Published in the first issue of Architect, Women are absent
from the very first published list of registered architects with the Iranian Society of Architects.16
In following pages, advertising for photography of built structure is recommending its services to
‘male’ engineers and architects.17
The congress of women architects’ role in historiography of female architects of Iran is crucial since
through the related published documents, the status of female architects in can be investigated.18
The congress was part of a series envisaged to be held every four years after 1970 and was the first
opportunity for women architects of Iran to be acknowledged in more considerable way.19 A number
of Iranian women architects, subsequently, were carefully chosen and invited to attend a meeting
at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. As the executive committee to establish the
framework to conduct the event, Azar Faridi, Noushin Ehsan, Guiti Afrouz Kardan, Leila Sardar
Afkhami, Nasrin Faghih and Shahla Malek were elected among them.20
‘Identity’, ‘the Crisis’ and ‘the Role of Women in the Crisis and Search for Identity’ were three
15 ‘I entered faculty of architecture in university of Tehran in 1954, after one year and half, displeasure of architectural
teaching method, based on French style and, the inspiration of my friends made me left my studies unfinished in
Iran and continue my education in California.’ “Keyhan Radpour,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 76.
16 “Akhbare Anjoman,” Architect 1 (1946), 39.
17 “Photouniversal advertisement,” Architect 1 (1946), 40.
18 Congress was advertised months in advance in a 1976 issue of the Iranian journal Art and Architecture.
19 The congress of Isfahan held in 1970 with the participation of architects including Louis Kahn, Pauid Rodulf and
Richard Buckminster Fuller based on the problems of agriculture, urban development and environmental planning.
Three years later in 1974, the second Iranian International Congress of Architecture and Urban Planning was
presided over by the Farah Pahlavi under the principal subject of ‘The Role of Architecture and Urban Planning in
Industrializing Countries’ with the participation of practicing distinguished Iranian and foreign architects in Shiraz.
Tabibi, “Propagating Modernities,” 146.
20 Tabibi, “Propagating Modernities,” 151.
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Chapter B: Women’s Legacy and Heritage: Protection, Restoration and Enhancement
subthemes of formal congress held with the companion of national21 and international women
architects.22 Due to the third sub-theme of the ‘Role of Women in the Crisis and Search for Identity’,
Denise Scott Brown presented the various forms of discrimination she encountered as a partner
in the profession ,23 however, it was decisively mentioned that the aim of the congress was not
to encounter overt discrimination against women architects neither was it a search for an equal
recognition for women’s practice in architecture of Iran.24
Through the attempt to deny discriminations facing women architects in Iran, as Pamela Karimi
mentions, editorial strategy of Hunar va Memari by including first-hand accounts of women’s
experiences with home-building, encouraged women to identify themselves as housewives.
Because the issue limited women’s participation in public discourse to domestic architecture, their
identification as housewives was strengthened.25
While foreign participants complained about their public status and recounted how they had
suffered in their profession, Iranian women architects’ attempt was to exaggerate in their prestige.
In response to interviews of Hunar va Memari, For instance, Rosamaria Grifone Azemun menioned
that ‘this Congress would prove the lack of sexual discrimination’.26 In the same manner, Guiti
Afrouz Kardan, the representative of Iran in the International Congress of Women Architects stated
that considering the issue of sexual discrimination in the developed countries, mentioning a Swiss
participant of the congress who won an architectural competition in her country was banned from
construct her project just because she was a woman, it was ‘a privilege to be a woman architect in
Iran’.27
21 Rosa Maria Grifone Azemoun, Laleh Mehree Bakhtiar, Noushin Ehsan, Francade Gregoria Hesamian, Moria Moser
Khalili, Keyhandokht Radpour, Shahrzad Seraj, Mina Sameie, Leila Sardar Afkhami, Guiti Afrouz Kardan, Nasrin
Faghih, Zohreh Chargoslo, Mina Marefat, Yekta Chahrouzi, Silvana Manco Kowsar, Anne Griswold Tyng, Laila Farhad
Motamed, Nectar Papazian Andreff; Azar Faridi. “Report of the Congress by the Secretary General,” 1977.
22 Guest included Indira Rai and Eulie Chowdhury from India; Alison Smithson, Monica Pidgeon, and Jane Drew from
England; Denise Scott Brown, Joyce Whitley, Ellen Perry Berkeley and Ann Tyng from U.S.A.; Nobuko Nakahara
from Japan; Marie Christine Gangneux and Delatur from France; Anna Bofill from Spain; Gae Aulenti from Italy;
Bola Sohande from Nigeria; Mona Mokhtar from Egypt; Hande Suher from Turkey; Nelly Garcia from Mexico; Hanne
Kjerholm from Denmark; Laura Mertsi from Finland and Helena Polivkova from Czechoslovakia. “Official Invited
Guests for the International Congress of Women Architects,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 17.
23 Denise Scott Brown, “Sexism and the Star System in Architecture,” Report of the Proceedings of the International
Congress of Women Architects: The Crisis of Identity in Architecture (Tehran: The Hamdami Foundation, 1976), 39.
24 Hunar va Memari alerted its readers that the volume had no intention to motivate competition between male and
female designers insisting in the equality of talent among men and women. The editorial confirms that women’s
compassion towards her family is the only thing that keeps her from being more productive.
25 Karimi, “Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran,” 152.
26 “Rosamaria Grifone Azemun,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 24.
27 “Guiti Afrouz Kardan,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 84.
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Chapter B: Women’s Legacy and Heritage: Protection, Restoration and Enhancement
In response to the conservative approach of Congress, Mahnaz Afkhami28 in an article published in
the Tehran Journal stated that she preferred the theme of the conference to relate more specifically
to the problems encountered by female architects in Iran.29 According to this, Anet Lazarian
Shaghaghi interpreted the difference in the status of women architects in Iran and abroad. As she
truly mentioned, relatively limited number of architects in Iran was the cause of less discrimination
against women in favour of men. Whereas in the western countries, young architects must study
and serve apprenticeships for as long as ten years before establishing successful practices.30
Women’s Contribution in Modern Architecture of Iran
The first generation of women architects in Iran practiced architecture in three varied ways. The
majority of them involved with their husbands: Andreff became involved in the establishment
of Moghtader-Andref Consulting Architects in 1960 and Modaam Consulting Architects later in
1967 and in 1972. She also participated in the establishment of Artek Consulting Architects in
collaboration with her husband. In the same manner, Leila Farhad’s joint work with her husband
Amir-Ali Sardar Afkhami. Meanwhile foreign women practitioners married to Iranian architects,
Franca de Gregorio Hessamian, Rosamaria Grifone Azemoun and Moira Moser Khalili participated
in Iran’s architecture in associate with their husbands.
Architects like Nasrin Fagih and Guiti Afrouz Kardan participated in various architecture firms in
association with male co-workers. During 1970s, a number of female-owned architectural firms
were emerged gradually among them Banu (ladies) Consulting Architect was the first small selfemployed female-owned firm formed by Keyhandokht Radpour, Shahrzad Seraj and Mina Samie
in 1974.31 B.E.B. Tehran Architectural and Planning Consultants was another female directed
architectural office formed by Noushin Ehsan.32
The primary attempts among the practice of women architects can be classified in two different
categories: Most of the works can be placed in the modern style category, however, Ehsan and
Afkhami had the attempt to reference their practices to the traditional architecture of Iran. The
motif-based plan of Mahshahr Hotel in Noshahr consist of two parts, Bedrooms organized around
28
29
30
31
32
The former Secretary General of the Women’s Organization of Iran and the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs.
Tabibi, “Propagating Modernities,” 164.
Ibid.
“Mina Samie,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 75–81.
“Nushin Ehsan,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 37.
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Fig. 1. Plan of Mahshahr Hotel.
From: “Nushin Ehsan,” Art and
Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 42.
Fig. 2. A villa in Isfahan.
From: “Leila Farhad,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 70.
the square formed yard are influenced by the plan of Karavansara, the traditional form of hotels
in Iran. In contrast, the facades and the materials are modern (Fig.1). The idea of centre yard in
octagonal plan as a motif can be traced in courtyard houses designed by Ehsan and Farhad (Fig. 2).
While Nektar Papazian believed that producing Iranian style shall be potent and informative, numerous
buildings designed by her participation was wholly in conformity with the modern architecture:
Functional plan, flat facades, concrete and steel structure. Among her recorded projects were the
Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine for University of Azerbaijan, student residences for
Jondi Shahpour and Pahlavi Universities, several centers for technical training and the Master Plan
of Tabriz She formed and Andref’s key projects included the Master Plan for Pahlavi University and
Jondi Shahpour University, Faculty of Agriculture and Central Library for Pahlavi University, Faculty
of Science and Technology of University of Azerbaijan and some more centres for technical training.
City planning projects were also a practice field for women architects since the fourth plan (1968–
73), new urban settlements were begun and existing urban centres upgraded. New master plans
and large-scale public building programs became a basis of public policy. While working as a
project manager at Organic Consultant, Faghih was attributed to the Isfahan Detailed Master Plan,
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Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement: Toward a New Perception and Reception
a project for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.33 Andreff set up practice to be involved in
the projects of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning for the Tabriz Master Plan; furthermore
Ehsan participated in Tehran master plan.
Luis Darmendrail Salvo
University of Bío-Bío, Concepción | Chile
Conclusion
The desire to construct role models for contemporary women practitioners and recover the
contributions that women have made to architecture of Iran would not be fulfilled except mentioning
this fact that the true status of women in architecture through early years would not be understood
until all the classes of women architects are included in research. By the time and considering
available pre-revolution documents, we shall highlight this fact that despite the contribution of
first generation of female architects in Iran and, the inequity was still the same for the working and
the poor class who were even deprived of basic education through cultural biases. The advertised
status of these women practicing architecture in Pahlavi was not the true face of the whole society
of female architects of Iran, however, their omission from any historiography of Modern Architecture
of Iran and, neglecting accompany of them, while mentioning their co-workers practices is the truly
naked fact about their status.
Beyond Architecture: Legacy of the First Female
Architects in the Modern Era of Concepcioón, Chile
To Luz, Inés, Gabriela, María Cristina, Betty, Angelita, Yolanda, Sonja, Anita and Ida…
We cannot consider architecture as a profession that is just about designing and building. It involves
a mixture of passion, strong convictions and an integral understanding of the topics and issues that
surround us as citizens and human beings. It implies a sensibility for the acts that are involved in
what we are creating. Creation may be a personal process but what we do has a repercussion in our
territories. Beyond the buildings that we see and use in our cities, there is a hidden layer were personal
struggles, ideas; political views and the architect’s personality are combined. If we appreciate that,
we can understand the works beyond bricks, stones or concrete, we can learn about what drove
the professional to create and also learn from them, in times were global issues are affecting all
of us. The idea of this article is to present the extended work of a group of female architects that
worked in Chile, specifically at the Concepción area, a zone marked by modern architecture, social
struggles, periodic reconstruction and urban memory loss. As the first female architects graduated
from Universidad de Chile in the early thirties decade, Chilean society was going through significant
changes.1 The Great Depression affected deeply the economy and lower classes; migration process
from countryside to large cities became a standard and modern ideas for architecture were some
of the topics that were in discussion at universities and architecture spheres. Modern architecture
33 “Nasrin Fagih,” Art and Architecture, no. 35–36 (1976), 86–95.
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1 The Architectural School of Universidad de Chile is the oldest one in Chile. It was founded in 1849 and it also
became the first school to allow women to study in the 1920s decade.
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