Heydar Ghiai


Heydar-Gholi Khan Ghiaï-Chamlou was an Iranian architect. He graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in 1952, and was known as a pioneer of modern architecture in Iran. Ghiai’s architectural style blended traditional Iranian motifs with modernist principles, evident in iconic projects such as the Senate House of Iran and the Royal Tehran Hilton Hotel. As a professor at the University of Tehran, he had a significant influence on the emerging generations of Iranian architects. He designed the Senate House, the Royal Tehran Hilton Hotel, several train stations, cinemas, various civic and government buildings and the first series of state of the art hospitals. In France, he designed the Cité Universitaire, also known as the Avicenne Foundation, among others.
In 1968, he was nominated architect to the imperial court of Iran and commissioned the vast project of a complex of imperial palaces situated in Farah Abad.
As a professor of architecture at the University of Tehran, he taught several generations of architects.
Heydar Ghiaï-Chamlou was born in Tehran on 23 October 1922, decisively settled in France later, where he died on 6 September 1985 in Cap d'Antibes.
The firm of Heydar Ghiaï & Associates has now been renamed Ghiaï Architects, based in San Francisco headed by his son Yves Ghiaï and his grand daughter Anahita Ghiaï.

Architectural philosophy

Quotes

  • "Proportion is not a principle of architecture, but a principle of Life."
  • "Man has a basic need for certain shapes, imparted to him by his civilization and corresponding to his immediate needs. In them he discovers himself."
  • "I know a place where glass and concrete brush against the light, sparkling with delight."

List of projects