The Impact of Modernist Mechanisms on the Formation of Contemporary Schools during the Pahlavi Era
10.22034/csum.2026.244429
Abstract
The evolution of educational architecture in the transition to modernity, as one of the physical manifestations of social and political transformations, can be observed in the way the school space is organized and its spatial patterns are formed. In this framework, educational buildings are considered not only as buildings, but also as a medium for representing institutional changes and educational policies in the early Pahlavi period. Therefore, the present study, focusing on schools of the same period, provides the opportunity to examine the link between the mechanisms of modernism and its consequences in the spatial and physical organization of schools. This research aims to analyze the impact of the four mechanisms of modernism (ideological, spatial planning, aesthetic, and technological) on the formation of contemporary schools in the early Pahlavi period. The research method is historical-analytical with a qualitative approach and a multiple case study strategy. The research population was schools during the Pahlavi era, and through purposive sampling, three prominent examples of Alborz High School in Tehran, Iranshahr School in Yazd, and Shapur High School in Rasht were selected as units of analysis. Data were collected using a documentary-library method and through the study of secondary sources and visual documents, and analyzed using a combined theoretical framework (including the ideas of Gideon, Le Corbusier, and Foucault) and a researcher-made conceptual model. The findings show that technological and planning mechanisms have played the most important role in transforming the spatial organization of schools. Also, the relationship between indigenous identity and modern principles has appeared as a spectrum from formal imitation to contextual integration, and regional diversity has been the result of the interaction of two simultaneous processes of assimilation from above and adjustment from below. This research concludes that the early Pahlavi schools should be considered as an arena for negotiation and spatial translation of the discourse of modernism in the face of specific local conditions
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