Samaneh Moafi is an Iranian/Australian architect and researcher. She completed her MArch with honors in the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Moafi has and continues to work with prestigious art and architecture practices in Australia and UK (e.g. Forensic Architecture). She has also taught at Universities such at UTS, the Architectural Association, the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and Royal College of Arts (RCA).
Domestic Architecture, Governance and Conflict in Iran
Supervisors: Dr Pier Vittorio Aureli, Dr Adrian Lahoud
In this research, I frame housing as an element within the apparatus of governance in Iran. I ask what happens to the architecture that is produced in such framework when the project of governance undergoes a change. I begin my investigation with the largest state-initiated housing project in Iran, the project of Mehr (2006-2013). Today, following the recent political changes in Iran, the project of Mehr has been discussed as a social and urban problem. I frame the problems associated with this project as echoes of an earlier project from a recent past —the project of Shahraks (1960s-70s). In doing so, I investigate housing in 2 moments of political change in Iran. Following this research, and by deploying design as a methodology, I opt to rethink the project of Mehr using a feminist framework.
