Architect, Iran and United States On his return to his native Iran from the United States in 1964, Nader Ardalan influenced contemporary architecture in the country through his modernist designs and his concern with Islamic and regional expressions. These concerns have remained with him throughout his career and are reflected clearly in his work. Ardalan has been influential not only in his native country but also in the Middle East as an architect, urban planner, and theoretician. Ardalan is a designer influenced by the internationalist agendas of the 1960s, although his interests are wide ranging. He was also among those who formulated the “Habitat Bill of Rights” presented to the United Nations Habitat Conference in Vancouver in 1971, where issues of inequity between East and West and those related to culture were considered. His architectural and planning work reflects particular attention to cultural and ecological considerations. In Iran, this was made evident through his underst...