The Impact of European Expressionism Art Movement on the Architecture of Administrative-Service Buildings in Iran during the Pahlavi Era

The art and architectural movements, which represent two relevant categories, have been permanently presented together throughout history and affected by each other concurrently. Following the formation of the artistic currents, from the middle of the 19th century onwards in both the European countries and the United States, frequent artworks have emerged. Therefore, the pertinent schools of thoughts have led to specific changes in the art fields, including the architecture in Iran from the 1940s onwards. Probably, the most prominent artistic currents that affected the buildings of contemporary time was the influence of the expressionist current of art on the architecture of the Pahlavi era; an era in which architecture and modern art were moving forward in the same direction. The influence of contemporary Iranian architecture on newfound arts indicates the necessity of this research study.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of expressionism art current in contemporary Iranian architecture, and to identify the expressionist architectural patterns and their representation in Iranian administrative-service buildings.

Following the completion of the field observation, the case studies were selected, and then relying on the library data and reviewing the reliable documents, the effect of expressionism art flow on contemporary Iranian architecture was evaluated in the Pahlavi era by using a historical-interpretive method. This is followed by the analytical descriptive method to represent the research findings.

The results indicate that the components of expressionism style in all three aspects of ‘objective’, ‘functional’ and ‘physical’ dimensions are presented in the administrative-service buildings during the Pahlavi era. In this regard, the emergence of objective components appeared to be more significant than the other two components. The most frequently used architectural aspects of this artistic style in administrative-service buildings in Iran include: the simple and often elongated plans along with the building, the symmetrical facade composition, the gable roof, the specific form of porch, the vertical partition of the facade, the distinctive rhythm of the facade with rectangular and elongated windows, and finally the decorative balusters designs (ṭāramī).