Abbas Gharib

Abbas Gharib
June 2008 Verona, Italy
Born	(1942-06-16) 16 June 1942 Tehran, Iran
Occupation(s)	Architect, Designer
Years active	1962–present

Abbas Gharib, (born 16 June 1942) is an Italian based architect of Iranian origin. His approach to planning and design, which goes beyond the traditional modernist format, makes him known as an influential figure in the research, practice and teaching of post-contemporary art and architecture.

Life and career

The choice of Venice

In 1958, after an extensive trip through the main European Capitals and cities, was particularly impressed by the wealth of art and architecture heritages of Italian cities. in 1960 therefore, he returned to Europe, mainly to Italy this time, moving from the north to the south through the peninsular country. The beauty of Venice and its cultural and artistic lifestyle, as well as the presence of the important figures like Peggy Guggenheim, Lucio Fontana, Allen Ginsberg, Ezra Pound, Carlo Scarpa in the Sixties and Seventies, influenced him to such an extend that he decided to settle there, getting out from his original area of intellectual comfort in Teheran: a decision which was basic to his successive formation.

April 1965 University IUAV of Venice, Italy

Education

He studied architecture at the University IUAV of Venice. While being qualified in urban planning in 1969, he never abandoned his interest for architectural projects and design. This dual interest is seen in his practice.
In the Eighties, the shift from bidimensional evaluations to the tridimensional value of complex projections is the most influential topic in his post graduate self-formation, on liberating from the gridded modernist crisscross platforms, for unconfined volumes with fluidity, dynamicity, flexibility and smooth curving qualities.

Professional practice

Once he became qualified in 1969, he practiced in Venice until 1973. After some experience outside of Italy (1974–1980), in 1981 he opened his office in Verona, Italy, under the name of Studio Gharib, Architecture & Design, where he still works, by reinventing the built environment, with the guidance for sustainable and innovative architectural spatiality. In the Studio, the influx of projects versus modern parametrics, turn out to be a drafting method with cinematic sequences where the method of static drawing became the method for successions of construction. In collaboration with individuals with highly professional attitudes, the Studio has ventured into a wide range of disciplines and tried to break the boundaries imposed by traditional professional constraints. This unconventional approach to design has produced a spirit of independence which is reflected in the research and is carried out in the created works. In fact, forms of spaces and objects are reflected in the numerous designs for the architectural competitions, professional projects and buildings within a true multi-disciplinary approach.

Project criteria

Contrarily from the modern movement applications, being self-referring and abstract, as far as his concerne, the post-contemporary movement instead, in his vision, is having large affection for the shifted contents in politics, economics, sciences, technologies and social movements, which interactions generate sophisticate results at a complex level.
The Studio, therefore went from the classical notion of modern rationalism to the concept of anthropo-geo-morpho-genesis, i.e. from the idea of morphology to the advanced science of morphing and topology. The transformation of the project criteria,consequently for both planning of the architectural spaces and designing of the physical objects is based on the epistemological changes in sciences and technologies, the renovated attention paid to the interactive relationships between the space and the context that surrounds it, the recognition of the interactive dynamics between the natural and cultural, social and economical components of the context, and the option for the digital implementation of the projects, within tridimensional spaces, instead of linear, flat and bidirectional projections, typical of the modernistic methods.

conferences and lectures

• "19 th century interventions in Vienna: Reading of the Ring", lecture at University IUAV of Venice, Italy, 1971;
• "Topics of the New Architectural Trends”, lecture at University of Tehran, Faculty of Architecture, Iran, 1973;
• "Tribal memory in the architectural thought", at the International Congress of Architecture, Shiraz, Iran, 1975;
• "Monuments of underdevelopment", lectures at University IUAV of Venice, Italy, 1976;
• " Self-expressive buildings", lecture at the University of Tehran, Faculty of Architecture, Iran 1978;
• "Post-modernism, deconstruction and folding in architecture", at the cycle of conferences organized by the Ministry of Housing and Construction, Tehran, Iran, 1985;
• "The Toppled Garden" lecture given to the “Società Letteraria” , Verona, Italy, 1992;
• "The Mirror Garden", lectures at the "Course of garden arts", University IUAV of Venice, Italy,1993;
• "Lines, thoughts and design assumptions", lecture at the "International day of furniture’, organized by 'Abitare il Tempo', Verona, Italy,14–18 October 1993;
• “Post contemporary: danger and opportunity”: lectures at the Institute for Urban Studies in Architecture USA Institute, Verona, Italy 1994;
• "Space: continuous, cohesive, and heterogeneous", lectures at the Institute for Urban Studies in Architecture New York, N.Y., USA;
• "Space: continuous, cohesive, and heterogeneous" lectures at Teague University, Department of Architecture, Teague, Korea, 1995;
• "Space of the urban-place", at the international design seminar for the new building of the University IUAV of Venice, Italy, 1996;
• "Paradigms of complexity in architecture new trends", lecture at “AGAV” Conference, the Young Architects Association, Verona, Italy, 2000;
• "Design, Design system, and Design of professionalism", lectures at Verona Fine Arts Academy Cignaroli, Verona, Italy since 2010;

Awards

1971

• competition for a new student hostel building, Piovego Padua, Italy , second prize;
• competition for the sculptural work in the psychiatric hospital, Marzana Verona, Italy, second prize;

1975

• competition for the urban and architectural planning of the seaside city of Rudsar, Rudsar Caspian Sea, Iran, third prize;
• competition for the new headquarters of the Iranian National Insurance Company "Bimeh", with Shahab Katouzian, first prize;

1979

• competition "the Sun and the habitat" for the use of alternative energy in residential and educational buildings, Valpantena, Gruppo Ferro", Verona, Italy, first prize;

1980

• first European competition for the use of solar passive energy, Giudeca, Venice, Italy selected project;

1982

• competition for the new headquarters of "AGEC", Verona, Italy, selected project;

1983

• competition for the Center of Social and multipurpose recreational performances of Scaligero Castle of Villafranca, Verona, Italy, second prize;

1992

• regional competition for the furniture design organized by the association of industrialists of Treviso, Italy, second prize;
• competition for the transformation of the monumental furnaces of Asolo, Italy with the construction of the new administrative, production, and exhibition center of ceramic arts, third prize;

2001

• competition for the headquarters of the Center for the Development of High Technology in Iran: "Fadak",(Senior Design Consultant to Bahram Shirdel and Partners Office), first prize;

2006

• Competition for Center for the Study, Development, Exhibition and Promotion of Carpets and Rugs, (With Studio M. Eccheli & R. Campagnola), Tabriz, Iran, third prize;

2009

• competition of “Housing Development for the Mediterranean Countries” in Leverano of Lecce, Leverano Italy selected project;

External links

• Official website
• Susanna Grego, "Conversazione con Abbas Gharib", Architetti Verona 62 p. 34-35,[1]
• Abbas Gharib,Digital Scapes: Global Remix, 38° Maromomacc Italy,[2]
• Ad Abbas Gharib, Google Books; [3]