Benetton Releases Shortlist for ‘Designing in Teheran’ Competition

Following up on a story we told you about back in early January, the clothing company Benetton has either picked the worst time or the best time to unveil the shortlist of their Designing in Teheran architecture competition, which will result in two new towers being built in Iran’s central city. Three finalists were selected for each of the two buildings (so six in total) and each of the shortlisted design are certainly stunning (Bustler has a huge collection of them all on one page), but given the recent activity in Iran, no matter how much additional press they can syphon of for themselves because of that recent focus on the country, does Benetton really want to a) step into an extremely unstable area where foreigners from the west aren’t looked upon very highly at the moment (in at least half the country) or b) be seen as “the company who opened up a shop so Iranians could get right down to what they’re desperately wanting right now: expensive shirts”? The whole thing seems a little wonky in the logic department. But hey, we’re writing about the company for the second time this year, so good or bad, we guess the PR is working.

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