How modernization encounter tradition: Iranian housing development in the Second Pahlavi period in Tehran (1940-1970)

Abstract

Iranian domestic tradition such as privacy and hospitality plays a significant role in shaping the Iranian traditional housing. However, studies on modern architecture have rarely focused on the house architecture, which has been adapted based on domestic tradition. The aim of this study is to understand how some features of local traditions, like privacy and hospitality, influenced housing development during the modernization period in Tehran. To this end, through a qualitative approach and data collection methods, this study identifies traditional values in modern housing. By categorizing the new house typology into detached houses, row houses, and high-rise apartments, the study discovers how architecture enables the consideration of privacy and hospitality in the physical form of modern houses. As a result, the new organization partly belonged to the traditional architecture and partly became unique as an Iranian modern house.