Kamran Diba
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Kamran Diba | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 March 1937 |
| Education | Howard University |
| Known for | Architecture, museum director |
| Relatives | Empress Farah Pahlavi (first cousin) |
Kamran Diba (Persian: کامران ديبا, born 5 March 1937)[1] is an Iranian architect, visual artist, and museum director. Before the Iranian revolution Diba worked entirely in the public sector in Iran.[1] He resides in Paris, France.[2]
Kamran Diba was born on 5 March 1937 in Tehran.[1] He is a cousin of Farah Pahlavi, the former empress of Iran.[3][4] He studied architecture at Howard University, and graduated in 1964.[1] He did a post-graduation year studying Sociology.[1]
In 1966, he moved back to Tehran and joined DAZ Consulting Architects, Planners and Engineers.[1] He is known for designing the new campus of Jondishapur University in Ahvaz, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art[5] (in collaboration with Nader Ardalan),[1][6] and the Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran. In 1986, Diba received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Shustar New Town in Khuzestan.[7]
In 1967, Diba, Parviz Tanavoli, and Roxana Saba (daughter of Abolhasan Saba) founded the Rasht 29 Club on a northern street near the Amirkabir University of Technology (formerly the Tehran Polytechnic).[8][9] Rasht 29 Club was named after the street address, and it was a popular hangout amongst artists of the time.[9]
Diba served as the first Director of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art from 1976 until 1978.[7]
In spring 1977, he was a visiting critic at Cornell University.[1] inter alia on behalf of Oswald Mathias Ungers. That same year, 1977, Diba left Iran and moved to Paris, as well as spending time in Washington, D.C.[1]
Diba was also an artist and had a handful of painting exhibitions in Iran.[1]
