Ahmadreza Schricker, the principal of Architecture North (ASA North), discusses his newest project, the transformation of the abandoned Argo beer factory in downtown Tehran into a new museum, artist residency and cultural centre. The project won the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The lecture is followed by a conversation amongst the participants: the architect, Mr. Farrokh Derakhshani, Director, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and Courtauld faculty members Dr. Robin Schuldenfrei and Professor Sussan Babaie.
Farrokh Derakhshani
Farrokh Derakhshani is Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He has been associated with the Award since 1982, where his work has brought him into contact with architects, builders, and planners throughout the world. He travels extensively in Muslim countries, and has organised and participated in numerous international seminars and colloquia dealing with contemporary built environments. He has collaborated on a large variety of publications and exhibitions on architecture, and has been involved in organising professional workshops and international architectural competitions. He lectures widely and has served as a jury member at schools of architecture in Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr. Derakhshani’s main field of specialisation is the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies, and his professional work has included the design and construction management of large-scale public works and infrastructure projects in Iran, as well as architectural design in Paris and Geneva. He also serves on boards and committees of a number of cultural institutions. In 2018, he was named an International Fellow of RIBA. Farrokh Derakhshani is trained as an architect and planner at the National University of Iran and later continued his studies at the School of Architecture in Paris (UP1).
Ahmadreza Schricker
Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North (ASA North) is an international architecture office. Founded in 2015, ASA North’s team of engineers, architects, curators and researchers collaborates with artists around the world to design and execute interdisciplinary projects that range in scale from exhibitions to private residences and urban master plans. ASA North is a more “traditional” architectural practice, while its sister studio, ASA South, operates in the “virtual” realm and is focused on innovation in art, technology, social interaction and lifestyle. Other projects by ASA North and ASA South include a 95,000-squaremetre virtual museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and designing the master plan for a 7,800-square-metre cultural station and textile museum in the city of Kashan, Iran. Before founding ASA North and ASA South, Ahmadreza Schricker graduated from Harvard University in 2008 and later oversaw multiple projects at Rem Koolhaas’s OMA in New York, USA, and at Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland.
This event is organised by Dr Robin Schuldenfrei (The Courtauld) and Professor Sussan Babaie (The Courtauld), in collaboration with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Argo Contemporary Art Museum and Cultural Centre
