Hossein Amanat

Hossein Amanat (, born 1942) is an Iranian-Canadian architect. He is best known as the architect of the Shahyad Tower (renamed as Azadi Tower after the 1979 revolution) in Tehran, Iran, the Baháʼí Arc buildings in Haifa, Israel and the House of Worship in Samoa. He has also been designated as the architect of the Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá currently under construction near Acre, Israel.

Life and practice

As a young graduate from the University of Tehran. This first architectural project led to the opportunity to create some of Iran's most distinctive projects with reference to traditional Persian architecture. Amongst them are the initial buildings of the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, the Persian Heritage Center, the Faculty for Business Management of the Tehran University and the Embassy of Iran in Beijing, China.

As a member of the persecuted Baháʼí Faith, Amanat fled the country during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He is the brother of Abbas Amanat, a professor of history and international studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Since moving to Canada in 1980, Hossein Amanat designed the three administrative buildings on the Baháʼí Arc in Haifa, Israel, the Baháʼí House of Worship in Samoa, the Jiang'an Library for the Sichuan University, the media library for the Beijing Broadcasting Institute. He designed religious and cultural centers for the Baháʼí Faith near Dallas, Seattle and Washington, D.C., several multifamily condominiums in Santa Monica, and mixed-use high-rise buildings in San Diego and Burnaby.

On 7 May 2019, the Universal House of Justice announced Amanat as the architect of the future Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá near Acre, Israel. Pasargad Archeological Museum (1973) Sharif University of Technology (1975, formerly Aryamehr University), Tehran, Iran Faculty of Business Management University (1980) Iranian embassy in Beijing, China (1983), Beijing, China Seat of the Universal House of Justice (1983), Israel Bahá'í House of Worship Samoa (1984), Apia, Samoa Center for the Study of the Texts (2001), Israel International Teaching Centre (2001), Haifa, Israel International Archives extension (2001) Bahá'í Faith world administrative center 2001 Horizons tower 2001 Plano Bahá'í community center 2004 Sichuan university center library 2005 Bellevue Bahá'í community center (2006) Baha`i community center (2007), Loudoun County, Virginia Legacy (2008) Bayside (2009) Amanat office (2009) Beijing broadcasting institute library (2011) zonda (2016) Arris (2017) Savina (2017) One 88 (2018) 777 front (2019) Awards 2025, recipient of the Bita Prize for Persian Arts 2024, recipient of the Doctors of Letters Honorary Degree from The University of British Columbia 2001, American Concrete Institute Award 1995, Excellence in Building Design, Marble from Greece Competition 1985, Tucker Award for Architectural Excellence 1975, Royal Pahlavi Medal for Design 1971, Medal of Art, Iranian Ministry of Education

Gallery