10/2015 – present     
Doctoral candidate in Landscape Archaeology and Architecture

08/2015 – present     
DAAD scholarship: Graduate School Scholarship Program

2009 – 2012     
Master of Iranian Architectural Studies (M.Sc), School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Tehran, Iran. Thesis: "Persian View of Architecture & Nature: A Study on the Presence of Natural Elements in the Religious Architecture of Sasanians"

2005 – 2009     
Bachelor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Tehran, Iran. Thesis: "Architectural Design of Iran Zamin Residential Complex"

Conferences and Awards

2014     
Talk: "Historic Urban Landscape" Conference, in association with B.TU Cottbus, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. (speaker)

2013     
Talk: "Natural Elements in Zoroastrian Sacred Landscapes of Sassanian Persia" Substance of Sacred Place Workshop, KHI institute, Florence, Italy. (speaker)

2013     
"An investigation on Theoretical Geometry of Vaults and Domes", conference: "Traditional Structures and Technology: with particular reference to Domes, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran". (speaker)

2012     
"Theoretical Geometry in Persian Architecture" Nexus 2012 conference: "Relationships between Architecture and Mathematics, Milan, Italy". (poster)

2010     
"Dome and Vault Geometry in Persian Architecture" (selected paper) in Domes in The World International Scientific Congress, Florence, Italy.

2009     
First Award for article: "Water, Bread and Architecture of Shushtar" in Understanding Iranian Architecture Workshop, Shushtar, Iran.

2009     
First Award in photography, Theme: "House and Nature", in Understanding Iranian Architecture Workshop, Kashan, Iran.

2009     
2nd place in the graduates of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Tehran, Iran.

2005     
Ranked 19th among 10,000 participants in Architecture in Iran's National Master's Entrance Examination.

2004     
1st award in Photography competition: "landscape and Nature photography", Sharif University of Technology.

2003     
2003 Ranked 5th among 400,000 participants in Mathematics & physics field in National University Entrance Exam, Iran.

Archaeological Landscapes of Ancient Persia: Architecture and Landscapes of Fars Chahartaqs and their Relation to Sasanian Fire Temples

My research is on architecture and landscapes of Chahartaq monuments in south of Iran, more specifically in Fars province. Chahartaq is an architectural form commonly associated with fire temples, religious monuments related to Zoroastrian religion vastly built throughout the Persian empire during the Sasanian era. This dissertation discusses Chahartaq as a building type that might have different functions and focuses on the architecture and landscape of Chahartaqs to see their architectural variations and find out how they were related to the surrounding environment and natural features.

Simultaneously, through the study of religious and historical text related to Zoroastrianism and the Sasanian era, we get some information about the Zoroastrian beliefs, rituals and religious necessities in relation to natural elements, fire temples, and their landscapes. This allows us to better understand the importance of having special architectural and landscape qualities for buildings with fire temple function. This dissertation combines these groups of information to discuss the architecture and landscape of Chahartaqs and aims to find out which of these Chahartaqs were more likely to have functioned as Zoroastrian fire temples.

2013     
Sarvenaz Parsa, Farhad Tehrani. “An investigation on Theoretical Geometry of Vaults and Domes”, in Proceedings of Traditional Structures and Technology: with particular reference to Domes, Tehran: Divan, 2013

2012     
Sarvenaz Parsa, “Theoretical Geometry in Persian Architecture”. In Proceedings of the Nexus 2012: Relationships between Architecture and Mathematics, Milano: McGraw-Hill, 2012