Architecture & [Inter]National Branding

The World Exposition, known in the media and for the global community as the World Expo, is coined by some, as the Cultural Olympics of Nations. Building on the first-hand experience of designing for the Iranian Pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020, the module is an exercise in evaluating different agencies that Architecture as a discipline has in the realm of national branding, while responding to the global theme of the Expo. The question at hand is, “How to maintain specificity in a hyper-connected and superbly flattened world?” or in other words, “How to be architecturally local and global at the same time?”, in designing a national pavilion.

The module will initiate with an over-all report on how the idea of Iran Pavilion in Dubai 2020 Expo emerged from trans-disciplinary conversations, how it was developed to an architectural project, how it was built, and how it is being received by the general public after the inauguration ceremony.

The seminar will then lead to a short exercise in which each student is responsible to critically evaluate one national pavilion against both its branding strategy of the nation-state that it represents, and the over-all theme of the Expo; “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. This initial study will be followed by the design exercise which is focused on delivering an alternative design for the studied national pavilion by the student.

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Option Studios

In collaboration with : Miami School of Architecture

Instructors : Nashid Nabian, Rambod Eilkhani

Teaching Assistant: Avisa Yazdani

Students : Amirhossein Laouti, Avin Hashemi, Elham Pedrami, Faezeh Besharat, Mehrnaz Panahifar, Narineh Davoodians, Nasim Kheibari, Pantea Khalafi, Ramtin  MirMohammad Sadeghi, Rana Abbasi, MohammadAli Raoofi

Special Thanks to : Hossein Madani, Ali Mansoori