The kitsch and concrete crisis in Tehran

The Daily Star ran a report by AFP on its pages on the growing trend of favouring "modern" architecture instead of the traditional Persian style. Some haven't taken very well to this latest show of richness. Maryam Kowsar, a Tehran-based architect, has been quoted and says, "They (the new buildings) look like prostitutes - suggestive, sleazy and loud."

The report also uses the prostitution/pornography analogy.

"Take one building that recently sprung up in swanky north Tehran: it has a facade of columns that point to inspiration from either Greco-Roman grandiosity or the ancient Persian city of Persepolis. But it also has a Chinese-style mock rock garden made of polystyrene out front, matched with electric blue neon lights that light up the rose-colored marble facade and reflective windows. If pornography was an architectural concept, this would be it."

Unfortunate, but I guess it's natural "progression".