‘Tehran is where my heart lies’

Erin McCafferty

• Last Updated: November 20. 2009 3:12PM UAE / November 20. 2009 11:12AM GMT

John Alexander Smith lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Dubai. In the living room is a large gold relief of a Buddha’s face that was bought in Thailand: “When the sun shoots its rays into the interior at around 7am, they strike the Buddha and illuminate the room. These moments are serenely beautiful.” Jaime Puebla / The National

Where did you grow up?

I was born just outside Edinburgh. My earliest memories are of my parents staying with my grandparents in a house on the edge of a village in an agricultural Presbyterian community called Westerton. They later found a cottage nearby and both memories have fused for me. I remember Welsh dressers and coal fires and, oddly enough, some Art Deco furniture. These are austere memories; there wasn’t a lot of money around in the 1950s, but they’re happy nonetheless.

In what cities have you lived?

I’ve lived in many amazing places around the world – Muscat, Tehran (my wife is Persian), Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tirana in Albania and, of course, Dubai, where I’ve been a professor at the American University since 2000. I have designed architecture and interior design programmes here and at the Canadian University. I believe I’m the first such professor in Dubai.

Do you enjoy moving on a regular basis?

I think when you’re younger moving is no hardship, but as you get older you become more settled. I have a family now – a wife and two boys aged 12 and 15 so I have to consider them too.

Where do you live at present?

I live in a spacious three-bedroom, seventh-storey apartment overlooking the playing fields at the American University in Dubai. It has a wonderful panorama of the city taking in the Palm Jumeirah, Media City, the Burj Al Arab, Ski Dubai and even the Burj Dubai in the far distance.

How did you come to be an architect?

I had a part-time job on a building site while I was still at school and became intrigued about what the architect did so I set about finding out. In the days long before the internet you had to go to the local library to source information. My curiosity satisfied, I rather liked the notion of becoming one myself. It was a departure from what my family had traditionally done, although my father had a builder’s background and my mother was a housewife. I had two brothers and one sister and I was the eldest child. As the eldest you’re expected to conform, but I disrupted the normal way of doing things and went to Aberdeen to study. Later I practised architecture in Edinburgh and this was considered slightly eccentric because it was city dwelling. I soon realised that the Scottish weather and myself would never be compatible and I decided to live abroad. In 1981 I travelled to Muscat where I knew an engineering colleague. I’d never been to the Middle East and it seemed terribly exotic as a destination.

How many houses do you own now?

We have an apartment in Tehran, a four-bedroom converted coach house dating back to the 19th century in Scotland, a London flat and are contemplating a wonderful house at Montville in Queensland.

How would you describe your decorative style?

When it comes to furnishing and decorating a room you should start with minimal objects. Then as time goes by you acquire things and gradually the room evolves into a visual statement. In the living room, for example, we have off-white walls, two comfortable Italian white sofas, an ample coffee table and lots of works of art on the walls. I think it’s now dangerously close to being cluttered. We’ve collected many things from our travels in the East – Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and, of course, Persian carpets and paintings. There is nothing from Scotland. I’m not particularly patriotic when it comes to interiors.

Your wife Fatemeh is also a designer and an architect. Do your tastes in furnishings and style differ?

I met my wife at Glasgow University 20 years ago where I helped supervise her PhD. Later she invited me out to Iran for a lecture tour. I fell in love with the extraordinary culture and of course I wanted to be reunited with her. We don’t have complete consensus when it comes to interior design. However, we do acknowledge the methodology of design by agreeing on simple things like white or off-white walls as a setting for various timber furniture and storage units and for displaying art. This frees up the central space within the room for statement furniture.

Are you a collector or a de-clutterer?

I’ve always been a collector and I used to collect antique books after university. In 1993 I was teaching at Tehran University where I was the first British professor since the revolution. By then I had discovered Persian paintings and my wife and I also began collecting carpets.

Which is your favourite room in your present house?

@Body-Answer2 :The lounge. I like to hang out here; sit on a sofa and read my books. What I particularly celebrate is that it can be enjoyed at different times of the day. We have a large gold relief of a Buddha’s face which I bought in Thailand. The window wall in the room is oriented north-east so we don’t get much sunlight, but when the sun shoots its rays into the interior at around 7am, they strike the Buddha and illuminate the room. These moments are serenely beautiful.

Are outdoor spaces important to you?

I write articles about garden design from a historical point of view and to me the garden is an extension of the house – a room outdoors. If you have a house and garden that don’t relate well to each other, it’s a missed opportunity. The positioning of rooms in relation to the sun is architecturally very important. In this part of the world the courtyard house, such as the outstanding Pirnia House at Na’in in Iran, is the ideal form and it’s something that has evolved over centuries. But the strange thing is that it’s very hard to get planning permission for one here in the UAE because of the plot restrictions. So many contemporary houses here are totally inappropriate to Islamic culture.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Our apartment in Tehran is in many ways our symbolic home. We stripped the whole place, painted everything white and inserted white furniture. Then gradually we built up a palette of colours and textures based on Persian carpets and miniatures. We’ve also collected art, in particular paintings, some antique, some contemporary. Unfortunately I don’t visit Tehran very much as it’s problematic getting a visa as a UK citizen. But it is where my heart truly lies.