Questioning Authenticity and Cultural Identity of Contemporary Iranian Architecture Based onShaygan's Writings

According to cultural studies, modernity exposed cities and countries to Multiculturalism and Identity Crisis. Some scholars believe that the result of cultural mixing is the fragmentation of identities. On the other hand, some scholars, such as Shaygan, emphasize on the need to accept modernity and cultural communication with the west, therefore, to have a unique inclusive culture. In Shaygan’s view, the companionship of different fragmentations is called “ChehelTekeh” which means forty-piece, a kind of carpet with different shapes. Based on this view, in the contemporary history of Iran, as it faces modernity, architecture has no result other than schizophrenic enchantment resulting in the perception of Iranian architecture without any logical and coherence. Shaygan claimed that some religious aspect of life in Iran’s culture after modernity is similar to a schizophrenic culture so the spirituality of having religious beliefs in life does not act as a unifier of culture. This study examines the concept of value and Authenticity in the contrast between Iranian modernity and contemporary forty-piece architecture. Research Method Due to re-reading the concept of authenticity is a descriptive-analytical method and based on logical reasoning that has used data collection tools including library and documentary studies. The research findings show that there is a kind of schizophrenic gap in the way intellectuals and contemporary architects of Iran perceive social and cultural realities. This is because, unlike European society and architecture in which we see a clear line of changes in its history, in Iran modernity has a different appearance, so inventions in Iran’s contemporary architecture are not coherent, representing authenticity.