Abstract

Problem statement: Although critical architecture became a fundamental subject in architectural theory during the final decades of the twentieth century, its relationship with and mechanisms within contemporary Iranian architecture have not yet been systematically examined. This has often resulted in conflating the notion of the critical with symbolic representations and reducing it to manifesto-driven approaches.

Research objectives: Drawing on the theories of Peter Eisenman and K. Michael Hays, this study seeks to elucidate the possibilities for the emergence of the critical in contemporary Iranian architecture. It argues that being critical is manifested not through the direct representation of concepts, but through the spatial organization and formative logic of architectural form.

Research method: The study adopts a qualitative and interpretive approach based on spatial analysis. The selected case studies are Jadgal School, the House of the Poet, and Ava Plat. Based on the study’s conceptual model, these projects are analyzed along three axes: “the formative logic of form and the position of singularity,” “the relationship between form, signs, and cultural structures,” and “the critical function of form.” The analysis examines the formation of form, the internal relations of space, the projects’ relationships with cultural and semiotic significations, and their capacities and limitations for producing a reflective distancing from established spatial, cultural, and institutional relations.

Conclusion: The findings show that the critical capacity of contemporary Iranian architecture becomes possible not through literary metaphors or passive compliance with context, but through the rearrangement of spatial structures and the production of tectonic tensions. These capacities, however, remain conditional and relative and are continually constrained by programmatic requirements, the consumer economy, and the logic of representation.