Iran Center for Management Studies

Tehrān, Iran

The aim of founding the Iran Centre for Management Studies (ICMS) was to create a small size but independent institution "devoted solely to management studies at the graduate level". The idea which gave rise to the original programme initiated from an institutional lack which existed at that time within the Iranian higher education system. Some members of the Ministry of Higher Education and the management education milieu became interested in creating a new model, and thus formulated general objectives for a new programme in 1971.

Compared to its innovated educational approach, the functional organisation of the ICMS was rather traditionally rooted in its reference to the old madrasa structure. This organisation, which was translated into the spatial programme of the architect's brief, consisted of:

· Student's units, constituting 16 clusters
· The Lecture room a common space where 60 to 80 students were to meet;
· The Library conceived as the focal element of the programme;
· The Refectory or the "Dining Atrium", another social space of the programme;
· The Administration section; and
· A sports area, technical services and a layout of gardens/orchards

The master plan of the campus consists of a rectangular garden space surrounded by the student housing units on all sides, by the administration building to the east, the dining room to the north and the classrooms to the west. The library is placed at the centre of the garden. Four gateways places at the end of each axis give access to the contained open space of the garden. This cluster scheme is located on the highest point, the hilltop of the site. The architecture is looks inward and there is a hierarchical continuity. The form of enclosed gardens, courts, porches, and covered spaces is more important than any indivdual volumes.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture