Bringing the Pilgrims to Qom

March 25, 2011 | Maryam Eskandari

featured in PBS|Frontline - Tehran Bureau 

Islamic Republic of Iran push to develop Shia holy city of Qom as a top Middle Eastern destination.

[ dispatch ] Since the early 16th century, during the Safavid dynasty, the holy city of Qom has been a significant center of Shia theological education and a locus of pilgrimage. Recently, its development has become a top priority for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the past eight years, Iran has been expanding Qom, not only as an "Islamic Education Center," in competition with other such cities such as Najaf, Iraq, but with the goal of making it one of the major destinations in the Middle East.

After the late 1700s, when the city flourished as a center of religious learning under Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, little attention was paid to its development for more than century. However, in 1915, when invading Russian forces entered the nearby city of Karaj, many residents of Tehran province moved to Qom, spurring its growth into one of the region's major metropolitan areas. Consideration was even given to shifting the Iranian capital from Tehran to Qom. Over the past six years, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a vast amount of development money has been flowing into the city.

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/03/bringing-the-pilgrims-to-qom.html#ixzz1I11ml48P

Gender, Sexuality and Urban Spaces

This was a great, if in cohesive group of panelists. They’ve each done really interesting research on different architectural expressions of ‘women’s spaces’ in three different US institutions: contemporary Mosques, Gymnasiums at the turn of the century, and Settlement Houses in the early 1900′s.

Maryam Eskandari gave a very compelling presentation on the need to re-examine mosque typology and explore the gender hierarchy assumptions embedded in that typology. Essentially, her work has determined that mosques prioritize men’s space, making the front of the mosque inaccessible to women, and allocating the separate women’s prayer space as ½ to 1/5 the amount of space allocated to the men. She talked about radical activists in the US staging Rosa Parks-style interventions in this model. And, she advocated for the role of architects in changing the typology, making contemporary mosque design reflect the changing politics of the practice of Islam in the US where communities are more open to mixed gender prayer spaces.

read more @ Plural Titanium

Libya’s Architecture on the Brink

featured in NYC Elan magazine

Maryam Eskandari ​| March 3, 2011

In the past couple of years, Libya has been on the forefront on cutting edge architecture. Competing with other middle east countries, such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, Libya has been able to keep up with the “architecture boom” that has been on the rise in that region. However, several days ago, when the Security Council of the United Nation slapped a 15-0 vote sanctions on Libya in hopes to send a strong message to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi;  many of the architectural firms stepped up to support the United Nation decision. The western firms with on-going project have all vowed that they would never work in Libya, under Gaddafi’s regime and have suspended all projects.

The Stirling-prize winning architecture firm, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS), currently has several projects in the country. Of which, two are of the first sustainable design guides for the Libyan government. FCBS’s managing principle Julian Gitsham stated that the firm has stopped all projects even the most highest commissioned one – the current 60 hectars masterplan of the capital, Tripoli and the new eco town in eastern Green Mountain region. “We had stopped work [on the Tripoli masterplan] because we hadn’t been paid – that was a couple of weeks ago,” Gitsham told BD. “We are now not intending to re-start work because of what’s been going on.”

Following FCBS’s lead on is Edward Cullinan Architects, who is working on several sustainable developments. The firm has decided to pull out, stating that they would rather work in other “democratic regimes” despite the fact that the Libyan government was very much in celebration of prominent sustainable architecture and very cautious in regards to the environment.

Other firms such as Aecom and Foster and Partners have yet to decide what actions they plan on taking to support the United Nations sanctions. On Wednesday Aecom, the word’s largest architecture firm has decided to withdraw all staff and family members and are monitoring the situation that is being on folded in the country, while Foster and Partners are still “monitoring” the events. Foster and Partners was part of the first British trade delegation to arrive in Tripoli days after Tony Blair, the prime minister of England then, ended the two countries diplomatic freeze. 

Keppie, Feilden Clegg Bradley and Capita Symonds are all fleeing the country. Keppie announces that the company enjoyed doing significant work in Libya yet “Until the current conflict is resolved we are not in a position to make a final decision on future work in the country.”  While Capita Symonds staff where all evacuated when it’s Benghazi airport in the east of the country was destroyed by bombing.

The only firm that has been successful in Libya has been RMJM architects, which received the Islamic architecture award for their work in 2009 on the Zilten Campus at Asmariya University for Islamic Sciences. The 1million sq.ft. campus is located 75 miles southeast of Tripoli on a 202-acre site. The core academic functions are organized in four quadrants which allows for facultiy office and academic support. The new campus houses 4,600 students with full amenities of a university: academic and support buildings, conference and student center, administration building, library, recreation center and  residential halls.  

Not all firms have been fortunate as RMJM, but have stated that they will continue to protest  the embattled Gaddafi regime,  particularly in regards to human rights after the current government killed 230 people last week.