An article by Associate Professor Antony Moulis (The University of Queensland) and Dr Peyman Akhgar (Griffith University) that reveals the substantial role of Beaux-Arts training in the expression of Iranian twentieth-century modernism has been published in the prestigious Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH).
Titled “The Beaux-Arts System and the Construction of Iranian Architectural Modernism in the Twentieth Century” (JSAH, vol 84, issue 1, University of California Press), the article emerges from a long-held interest of both authors in reframing the legacy of the French Beaux-Arts system of architectural education in terms of its value as a design method. In taking Iran at mid-century as a case study, the article performs careful historical work, offering important lessons on the utility of design technique in the globalised context of architectural practice while also re-theorising operations of cultural exchange in nation building.
Published since 1941, JSAH has long been regarded the leading English-language journal on the history of the built environment. With only four to five long-form scholarly articles included per issue – on topics from all periods of history and all parts of the world – JSAH supports research that engages the discipline of architectural history within a larger intellectual context.
The article includes the work of Iranian architect Houshang Seihoun, which is featured on the journal’s cover.
