Modernism

Three PhD Candidates will discuss aspects of their projects that reflect the influence of modernism on the ways of thinking about architecture and changing the existing built environment. The presentations look at how modernist ideas started to travel and found expressions in three different parts of the world.

Ayman Alanssary
The emergence of the modernist architectural concepts in the Arab world  
The core modernist architectural concepts started to emerge in the Arab world at the turn of the twentieth century. Their emergence was part of wide transformations at the architectural, urban, and cultural levels. These transformations introduced a shift in the ways of thinking and writing about architecture and the city in the Arab world. This presentation introduces the primary sources and framework of an ongoing research that looks at the resonance of the modernist architectural thinking in the Arab world.

Azin Saeedi
The shrine that transformed
From 1925 to 1979, modernistic attitudes transformed the architecture and urban fabric of Iranian cities. Cities with revered shrines- Shiraz with the Shah-e Cheragh dating back to the thirteenth century and Mashhad with the ninth century Ali al-Reza’s shrine- were targeted and soon changed dramatically. To highlight the shrines as monuments in the urban fabric, large areas of historical value were demolished to create empty spaces around these buildings. My studies show there is a link between the manner these sites changed. In the seminar, I will discuss how the modernism applied to the Mashhad’s shrine spurred imitations in Shiraz and changed the physicality of the Shah-e Cheragh and its nature as a small and local mausoleum that it once was.

Maryam Fayyaz
Frank Lloyd Wright in Post-War Australia
Frank Lloyd Wright has been silently admired in post-war Australia by architects who desired correlation to the rustic landscape as opposed to the plain aesthetic of the machine. The influence is however generally negated behind an argument of individual intuition and programmatic outcomes. Previous studies relied primarily on descriptive devices to establish the dialectic, whereas my research employs empirical tools of comparative diagramming plan geometries using emergent computation of cellular automaton. This comparison is expected to bring forward the underlining conformities/diversities in the planned composition of the two sources. Thus, enabling us to understand the narrative of influence and the extent of continuity of design principles. In the seminar, I am going to discuss the work of prominent Sydney architects Peter Muller and Bruce Rickard in relation to Wright's philosophy and techniques of the plan.