AMIR HARIRI

How do certain visceral qualities of urban decay influence our experiences, memories

and, ultimately, our sense of history? To try and answer these questions, I use a multi-
disciplinary approach to study specific locations purely through the opacity of distant

and fragmented recollections; an attempt to record the subconscious impressions
seemingly ignored spaces leave on us. Formally, my studies delve into the relationship
between physical decay and deconstructive abstraction. By studying synthetic systems
under duress, I try to showcase the interplay between geometric rigidity and the
organic authenticity of decomposition.
Having been exposed to revolution and war as a teenager in Iran, my childhood
encounters with death and destruction have allowed me to draw parallels between
building deconstruction and the despair, yet resiliency, of their exiled inhabitants.
These moments, which span fluidly from demolition to renovation, form the foundation
of my imagined dwellings. My goal is to help awaken a new appreciation for
forgotten spaces. By blurring the boundaries between progress and ruin, I am making
an observation regarding the misguided inevitability of evolution. This post-futurist
viewpoint is a corollary to the idealist mid-century thought and its embracing of
Utopian visions