The Anatomy of Power: Transformation of the Human Scale in First Pahlavi State Architecture

This study interrogates the transformation of "human scale" in the state architecture of Iran's First Pahlavi period, not as a mere stylistic choice but as a spatial-power mechanism for modern subject formation. The central question is whether the physical transformations of these buildings were functionally aligned with the state-driven processes of social discipline and nation-building. Adopting a qualitative, multiple-case study design, the research examines three emblematic structures: Tehran Railway Station, the Higher Normal School, and the National Police Headquarters (Shahrbānī Palace). Data were collected through field observations, secondary documents, and library sources and analysed within an integrated theoretical framework drawing on Foucault, Lefebvre, Bourdieu, and postcolonial studies. Findings reveal that the spatial organization of these edifices through the elimination of pause spaces, monumental scale exaggeration, choreographed circulation paths, and hierarchical sightlines-shifted from a "lived-world scale" to an "institutional scale." Moreover, the paper uncovers two previously neglected layers: acoustic power and gendered scale, demonstrating how space simultaneously invited the female body into the public realm while subjecting it to a system of hierarchical male gaze. While acknowledging alternative interpretations, the article argues that the state architecture of this period created a structure of objective possibilities aligned with state discipline, and yet, drawing on de Certeau's "tactics" and Lefebvre's "representational space," it shows that users were never entirely passive subjects.

کلیدواژه ها:

Human scale ، First Pahlavi architecture ، Disciplinary space ، Production of space ، Modern subject formation ، Acoustic power