Designing in Dialogue
Niavaran Cultural Center, Tehran
The "Designing in Dialogue—Architectural Answers" international traveling exhibition, curated by the German architects’ practice von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), can now be visited for the first time in Iran. The exhibition will be on show in the rooms of the Niavaran Cultural Center from September 28 to October 19, 2018. The private view on September 27 will be opened by German Ambassador Michael Klor-Berchtold and will take place in the context of the "German/Iranian encounters", a series of events organized by the German Embassy in Tehran.
At the Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran, the exhibition presents the practical and theoretical aspects of the work of gmp over four stories with a floor area of over 500 square meters. The exhibits display the complex design approach required for architectural projects. Sketches and drawings illustrate the conceptual design ideas whilst models show the designs in their three-dimensional form; in addition, photographs and films document the completed buildings.
Under the guiding motto "Future prospects for Iran", the exhibition is dedicated to projects and designs gmp has developed and implemented in Iran in recent years, in addition to completed projects from all over the world. Key projects are the Shahr-e Aftab Trade Fair complex in Tehran which, in May 2016, was ceremonially opened by Iranian President Rohani and Tehran’s erstwhile Mayor Ghalibaf, as well as gmp’s masterplan for the former Ghale Morghi Airport. What a cultural center on this airport site could look like is demonstrated by the students’ designs for Tehran City Garden, which were produced during a 2017 workshop organized by the aac, the Academy for Architectural Culture (Hamburg) and the MAF, the Mirmiran Architecture Foundation (Tehran). Just like the concept for the Shahr-e Aftab Trade Fair in Tehran, the designs by gmp for the Azadi Stadium and for a new pilgrim terminal at Tehran’s airport have been created in the tradition of "designing in dialogue with the place".
Good architecture is created in a dialogue. And it takes social responsibility. An optimal solution for a building project can only be achieved when one asks the right questions. Often these are unusual questions, sometimes simple, and frequently they seem to want to combine what cannot be combined. How the process of designing in dialogue finds an architectural answer to these specific questions is demonstrated by the examples from the oeuvre of the international architectural practice von Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The practice is known throughout the world for its sustainable, logical architecture that seeks a dialogue with the respective place. The practice’s architectural approach is characterized by the Vitruvian criteria of durability, functionality, and beauty. Architecture can justifiably be called sustainable in the sense of durable when it takes into account climatic conditions and uses appropriate materials. And when the building has an envelope that accommodates the complexity of human living in as natural a way as possible.
Since its first showing at Ho Chi Minh City this architectural exhibition has already traveled to two continents: following its premiere in Vietnam, the exhibition went to Santiago de Chile, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, and others. The exhibition is aimed at both the general public and professionals. All texts are bilingual in Farsi and English; a program of lectures will accompany the exhibition. Entry to the exhibition is free of charge.
