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Reviewing literature of contemporary Iranian archi1ecture dealing with the specific concepts of «tradition» (sunnat) and «modernism» (having two faces: one as, a school of thought and the other as seeking new ways of responding to the society's problems without chaning its fundamental principles and values) demonstrates a confusion of subjects, and irrelevant translation of foreign words. This is because of the fact that the theoretical basis of architecture is hidden from the 3OCiety. This article is written to represent an introduction to the determination of boundaries and meaning of the concepts and to recognize the effects of ideas and points of view en the past and present architecture of Iran.
The main headings in this article are as follows: basis of Ira aian traditional architecture, basis of modernism, effects of modernism of Iranian architecture,6 and conclusion.