Melli Bank, University of Tehran Branch

The Melli Bank, University of Tehran Branch, was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, famed for his Sydney Opera House.

Kampsax, who were very active in the Middle East, had been awarded the contract for the bank and had already secured the services of Hans Munk Hansen who became project architect.

[2] Munk Hansen, who had considerable experience of working in the Middle East, encouraged Utzon to look carefully at Alvar Aalto's National Pensions Institute in Helsinki and at Le Corbusier's High Court Building at Chandigarh.

Based on Aalto's project for an art gallery in Baghdad, the roof is articulated with folded-plate beams of various depths allowing the light to enter though narrow slits before being deflected by the deep V-shaped troughs.

Utzon wanted the concrete flank walls to be left partially uncovered but shortly after his involvement ended, they were completely clad with travertine.