Heydar Ghiai



Heydar-Gholi Khan Ghiaï-Chamlou (23 October 1922 – 6 September 1985) 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. 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 aka Avicenne Foundation, amongst 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.

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

 * Tehran Senate House
 * Mashhad railway station
 * Tabriz railway station
 * Avicenne Foundation
 * Tehran Pars Drive-In Cinema
 * Cinema Radio City
 * Cinema Moulin Rouge
 * Royal Tehran Hilton Hotel
 * Farah Abad Palaces
 * Mashhad Hospital
 * Lavizan Hospital
 * Ghiai Palace
 * Various Private Villas