Ali Lavasani: Why hasn’t the architectural activity progressed significantly in recent decades and with what methods can we help the growth of architecture?

Art Online Architecture Group: Ali Lavasani, the architect and founder of Aladesign Architecture Studio, has written a note about the necessity of reconciliation between architecture and other art fields and made it available to Art Online. The description of this note is as follows:

“The question arises, why hasn’t the architectural activity progressed significantly in recent decades, and with what methods can we help the growth of architecture? The reconciliation of architecture with other arts can help to promote it, which I will address in several cases for the reasons of this claim:

1. In architectural competitions, especially cultural or conceptual competitions, only judges with architectural experience are used, and this is a weak point for such events. In the selection of judges, the presence of artists from other fields such as sculptors, painters or even theater, cinema and literature artists should be used.

2. The presence of artists in architecture meetings and events is completely felt, and this presence requires the invitation of the organizers of these programs from this group. The continuous meetings of architects and artists lead to the improvement of the quality level and the formation of creativity in architecture.

3. In universities and educational centers, there is no platform for the communication of architecture students with students and professors of art fields such as sculpture, painting, etc., which reduces creativity in students of this field. In addition to paying attention to the design of spaces, students should pay special attention to the arts involved in design. For example, in the architecture of the Qajar period, the arts of tiling, painting, moqranskari, etc. were used, but in the present time, this interdisciplinary connection has become very weak.

4. There should be a platform for full-time or part-time presence of artists in architectural offices. For example, it is better for architecture and interior design offices to consult and collaborate with painters and sculptors in designing, because the facade of the building is considered an object for the city space. In the entrance or interior spaces of shopping centers and lobbies of residential complexes, there is no prominent object. For example, at the entrance of the Avacenter shopping center, the cinema campus, etc., the lack of an object is completely felt, and with the presence of this object, the entrance and the building get a more correct definition and more attention is paid to the architecture of that building.

For example, the American sculptor Richard Sera changes the atmosphere of the Bilbao museum with his art, or the Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor greatly influences the environment’s architectural atmosphere with the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago. This connection also makes architecture an indicator.

5. Visiting galleries, museums and cultural spaces by architects and architecture students is a way to strengthen artistic taste and creativity.

Of course, in recent years, in the interior design of some cafes, the art of some famous sculptors and painters has been used.

Finally, the connection of architecture with art and artists of different disciplines is one of the most basic needs of today’s architectural society, which, if realized, will lead to the flourishing of new fields of architecture.”