Tehran has been the capital of Iran since 1785, at which time the city had an important role in Iran’s cultural exchange with western countries, and while some western influences appeared in the homes of royal families in 19^th century Iran, the first true examples of European-style homes, and later, American-style homes, were for common workers. These homes appeared in the 20^th century.

One important question that this research seeks to address is of the relationship between modern architecture and the traditional lifestyle of the people of Iran.

The author’s work investigated this relationship by analyzing five important housing projects in Tehran that came into being from 1925 to 1979. This work features these five key housing projects chronologically, in order to best show the progression of the development of modern housing in Iran.

The oldest of the five housing projects, Daneshgah, was planned as an organized grid of city blocks, as opposed to the unplanned and sometimes confusing design of traditional communities. The houses, however, were traditional in their layouts, facades, and build. The final housing project, Ekbatan, featured in this work achieved the scale of western urban residential projects with regard to the number of apartments, like large American cities.

The occupants of the five projects featured in this work adapted their traditional ways of life to match this type of urban environment. In England, there were 200 years between the first attached house and the first gigantic suburban settlement, but in Tehran, urban planning advanced as much in only 70 years. In light of this fact, the future influence that modern housing will have on Iranian culture is yet unknown, and cannot be compared with the cultural influences of modern architecture in Europe and North America. In addition, despite having its origins in western architecture, the latest conventions in architectural science and urban planning are not always valid in Tehran.