‘extraterrestrial’ by mohammad hassan namdari imagines ancient iranian heritage on mars

the collection presents iranian structures of the past with the red planet as their background, thus revealing a visual oxymoron.

mmd_hsn edited by myrto katsikopoulou January 6, 2022 2 min

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iranian heritage on mars

mohammad hassan namdari introduces ‘extraterrestrial’, an artistic project that brings the precious achievements of iranian architecture to mars. the collection presents different ancient iranian structures with the red planet as their background, thus revealing a visual oxymoron that surprises the viewer. binding past and future together, the project discusses concepts such as history and legacy, while questioning the potential of human life and identity.

all images courtesy of mohammad hassan namdari

past, future, legacy and unity

the extraterrestrial series tries to put some of the precious achievements of iranian architecture into the photos taken from mars by NASA’s perseverance rover to challenge our analyst minds. ‘what will be the origin of future human being identity be? the earth? maybe.’ mohammad hassan namdari mentions. ‘man will seek his future as much as he has sought his past, and these two are common to the unity of nations.’ the architect adds.

through this project, namdari hopes that viewers observe both the past and the future as valuable legacies and will feel connected. ‘as the past connects us together, the future will be our common denominator which shows the people of the future the result of today’s achievements, and we all will be a part of history.’ he says.

putting the heritage of the past into the land of mars practice of visual oxymoron 4
ancient windmills of nashtifan, razavi khorasan province, iran
the arg-e bam, bam, kerman province, iran

putting-the-heritage-of-the-past-into-the-land-of-mars-practice-of-visual-oxymoron-2-61d61893008d6 — gonbad-e qabus (tower), gonbad-e kavus, golestan province, iran

tāq kasrā, asbanbar quarter of ctesiphon, al-mada'in, modern iraq sarvestan palace, fars province, iran haft badgir cistern, ashkezar county county, yazd province, iran naqsh-e rostam, northwest of persepolis, fars province, iran

project info:

name: extraterrestrial
architect: mohammad hassan namdari

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.