Architectural Interpretation of Kiarostami’s Poetic Cinema

Abstract

The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami is famous for mobilizing natural landscapes and Iranian vernacular architecture as the primary set for his films. These spaces function not only as visual motifs, but also as elements that shape the cinematic spaces of his films, recount the narratives, and foreshadow the plot’s conclusions. This thesis examines five of his films to understand how natural and built spaces have been used in visual storytelling and to derive an architectural interpretation from his cinematic spaces. Positing that a film can be read through spatial experiences, this thesis aims to discuss and deconstruct the spatial composition of Kiarostami’s cinematic images, and then re-envision them through an architectural narrative. I discuss the way these spaces have been chosen, illustrated, and juxtaposed in sequential frames. Then, through a process that combines architectural design with cinematic framing and editing, I reconstruct and present spaces inspired by Kiarostami’s vision of place and space in a series of architectural vignettes. Through the act of investigating Kiarostami’s spatial language, this thesis introduces architectural methodologies as a tool for the analysis of cinematic narratives and concepts. The visualization of these narratives through my own interpretation transcribes Kiarostami’s approach to spatial storytelling into architectural place-making and design.