“Funism is anything that can inspire joy or playfulness in the lives of others. It’s about trying to make the world a happier place. It’s an ideology. It’s a philosophy. Funism is like alcoholism, except you don’t have to have a hangover when it’s over. It’s cheaper than anti-depressants and has better side effects.”

In 2013 a major infrastructure development was taking place in Tehran-Iran. The Sadr Highway, one of the most crowded and centre based terrific paths of Tehran was expanded with an elevated second highway layer in order to help the terrific flow from north to south in rush hours. This great urban movement at the time of the AAVS studio in Tehran, was framed as a real-time opportunity for further design and explorations strategies within a 2 weeks’ workshop to seek dead and dilapidated spaces and activate them to bring back into the City.

The key themes were; Humour, Irony, Joy, Memories, Playfulness, etc.

The unit’s activity was split into 2 weeks, the first week we attempted to create through simple mean in situ installation which respond to conditions on site, this could be anything ranging from, sunshine, airflow, view, to the way the site is occupied by rubble or rubbish. The aim was to make a statement about the site and its present conditions. Through experiencing the site and potential locations, we have challenged the monofunctionally of the highway as a crucial infrastructure. The main methodologies followed was recording the site through footages and also interviewing the users (drivers and residence) for reflecting on the disruptive effects of the construction site.

STUDENTS

Sepideh Azin, Ghaflan Abadi, Ramtin Taherian, Amirreza Azadeh, Yalda Amin-Shahidi, Abolhasan Karimi, Amir Pourmohammad, Ladan Firouzbakht Sani, Arghavan Shahrokhi, Narges Rowshanzamir, Roxana Bakhshayesh Karam, Alireza Shojakhani, Yasamin Fathi, Oveis Shahnae, Sara Rashighi, Arash nikfarjam, Aida Sarboland, Negar Mansouri Asl, Raheleh Rahimi, Behrang Khosravi

http://tehran.aaschool.ac.uk/gallery/