Abdol-Aziz Mirza Farmanfarmaian

Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian (Shiraz, 1920 – June 21, 2013 Spain) was an Iranian architect, offspring of Iranian nobleman Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma and a member of the Qajar dynasty of Iran.

In 1976, the company known as AFFA (Abdol Aziz Farman-Farmaian and Associates) was created for the design of the Aryamehr Stadium (after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 renamed Azadi Stadium).

Abdol Aziz Farman-Farmaian was born is Shiraz in 1920 as the tenth son to Prince Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma, at the time Governor General of the province of Shiraz. In 1928, at the age of 8 he was sent to school in France, where he remained for his primary, and secondary school at Lycée Michelet in Paris until 1938. A brief trip to Iran during the short summer of 1935 was his first contact as an adolescent with his family.

His Baccalaureate degree was received in 1938. Abdol Aziz Farman-Farmaian and three other brothers were extremely lucky that their father, Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza, Had organized for them as guardian Mr. Desiré Roustan a leading French philosopher and writer. They in fact owe to him a happy childhood and excellent education away from home. Architectural studies were initiated in the École Spéciale d'Architecture, where he started to prepare for the Beaux Arts School .The onset of World War II broke the continuity of his studies and had to leave for Iran in 1940 where he stayed until 1945. During this period of worldwide uncertainty he worked at different jobs such as: Teheran Municipality, Karnsaks, and the Ministry of Culture (Vezarate Pishehonar).

In 1942 he married with Leila Gharagozlou and formed a family having a son. After the end of World War II Abdol Aziz Farman-Farmaian came back to Paris with his family to continue his studies and was admitted at the Atelier of Mr. Nicot at the world famous Ecole des Beaux Arts where he received his degree in 1950. The final project presented as his thesis was the design for a modern caravanserai to be situated in southern Iran. This project received the prize for “the best thesis (diploma) of the year.” In 1950 Abdol Aziz Farman-Farmaian moved back to Teheran for good until 1979, where he proceeded to create one of Iran’s most important modern-day architectural legacies.

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