A New Stadium in Tehran:A critical review

A New Stadium in Tehran: A critical review

By: Ali Kiafar, PhD, REFP

It has been in the news that the Iranian government is planning to build a new stadium in Tehran. And it is to be designed by the Chinese. It even has been reported that negotiations are well proceeding with a private Chineese company for this purpose. There are at least two major problems here. On one hand, it is very troubling that the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, with a capacity of 100,000 spectators, has been seriously neglected for quite some time. By several reports and declarations of knowledgeable people the beautiful stadium designed by Iranians — Aziz Farmanfarmayan Consultants with the prominent architect Nader Ardalan as its lead designer — and completed in 1971 has fallen into disrepair and decay. And now instead of any meaningful attempt for rehabilitation and restoration of it, one of the largest stadiums in the world, Iran is considering building another stadium in Tehran. And the new one to be designed by non-Iranians.

On the other hand, the irony is that the Chinese are to design the next sports stadium in iran. But at least for the last two decades the Chinese themselves have turned to non-Chinese architects to design their own stadiums: The Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron designed the 80,000 capacity Beijing National Stadium, completed and opened in 2008.

The office of the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid is currently designing a 60,000-seat football stadium as part of the features of Hangzhou International Sports Center.

It’s so disheartening that Iran with its great centuries-old culture and architectural heritage has become scavenger of others, at least as it comes to designing a new stadium in its capital and for its people. Furthermore, it is a great disgrace that with so many talented and experienced designers and architects in Iran and of Iranian descent around the globe, Iran is panhandling the outsiders to design a building that can — and should be — an icon of culture and beauty for Iran and Iranians. If there has ever been any doubt that the Iranian architects could be the best choice to design the intended new stadium, at minimum an international design competition could have been — and still can be — undertaken to solicit and receive design proposals. And then through a fair and unbiased process the best design can be selected for such a unique project. That is the only way that the design of a new stadium should be approached if the true intent is to provide an opportunity for the best outcome to be achieved.