For most of his design career, the Iranian-born, Harvard-educated Mehrdad Yazdani has practiced at the intersection of the large office and the smart one, producing ptans for corporate and institutional cl.ients whose design expectations have setdom been challenged. All corporate architectural, firms proselvtize good design,' but Yazdani brings to practice at Cannon Design, where he a design principal, and the director of the Yazdani Studio, a particul,ar vision.

Yazdani came of age aesthetically during the 1980s, as architecture schools were emerging from the btandishments of Post Modernist historicity. He did not, however, resort to the obvious fall-back position of a retro-Modernist, but pursued instead a phil.osophical, calling that emphasizes difference over sameness, diversity over unity.

Since the outset of his professional, career, Mehrdad Yazdani has won the respect of critics and clients atike for his imaginative approach to the design of pubtic and institutional, buitdings.This first monograph of his work presents a collection of 23 projects, large and smart, buitt and un-built, illustrating Yazdani's responsiveness to issues of pubtic engagement, program comptexity, and site context, and addresses the rote that drawing and painting have prayed in guiding and inspiring his process.

006

Introduction

by Joseph Giovannini

016 - 13o

Project Essays

by Andrew B[um

Program Complexity

o16

Department of Water and Power

Central Distribution Headquarters

o24

EL Sereno Pool. and Recreation Center

028

KabbaLah ChiLdren's Academy

032

Sinai TempLe Akiba Academy Expansion

036

Hauptman-Woodward Medical

Research Institute

044

MotorcycLe HaLL of Fame Museum

Sensitivity to Context

o48

CentraLized Dining and

Student Services FaciLity,

University of CaLifornia, BerkeLey

054

GLendaLe PoLice Headquarters

058

CLark County Detention Center

062

Santa Monica PubLic Safety FaciLity

070

Yeshiva University of Los AngeLes

Boys High School

076

Oxnard House

080

Tomihiro Museum of Shi-Ga

Competition

Integration of Sketches

o86

Showscan CineMania Theater

O9O

Royal Theater Playhouse Competition

O94

Queensland GaLLery of Modern Art

Competition

098

Overtand House

PubLic Engagement

102

Lloyd D, George United States

Federal Courthouse

112

BeverLy Hills Pubtic Works Building

and Water Treatment FaciLity

118

Los AngeLes Metro Red Line Station,

Vermont Avenue/Santa Monica

Boulevard

126

Duxton PLain PubLic Housing

Competition

130

Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower

Competition

132

SeLected Projects

1988 - 2005

138

Design Recognition

14o

Acknowtedgments

14.1

Credits