Iranian Sustainable Building Scientific Association International Journal of Urban Management and Energy Sustainability 2538-1628 6 3 2025 07 01 Evolution in the Figure-Ground Relationship of Public-Government Buildings in the First Pahlavi Period (Case Studies: The Museum of Ancient Iran and the Post Office Building, Tehran) 200 217 729634 10.22034/ijumes.2025.2069633.1323 EN Nesa Hajmoradi Department of Architecture, Ha.C., Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Gholamreza Talischi Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran 0000-0002-0173-2719 Seyed Jalil Mousavi Department of Architecture, Ha.C., Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Kianoosh Zakerhaghighi Department of Urban Planning, ST.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 0000-0002-7963-0499 Journal Article 2025 05 12 The rapid urban modernization developments during the first Pahlavi era, breaking away from historical patterns, transformed the physical appearance of Tehran in an unprecedented way. In the meantime, modern public buildings, as symbols of modernity, played a pivotal role in redefining the spatial organization of the city. One of the prominent manifestations of this transformation is the change in the figure-ground relationship of buildings with their urban context. The research method is a combined approach based on a comparative approach and a case study in three basic steps: identifying public government buildings built in a specific time period; analyzing the spatial configuration and evaluating the degree of physical-functional adaptation and the relationship of spatial structure with functional logic. This research aims to reveal the hidden logic of spatial organization of modernization projects, and provides an analytical framework for evaluating the physical-social effects of landmark buildings in historical contexts. The study was conducted using space syntax analysis methods, figure-ground analysis, and historical and field documentation of the sites, and in this regard, Depth-Map software was used to analyze the spatial configuration and impact of public buildings during the reform period. The findings and conclusions show that the construction of public and government buildings during the first Pahlavi period led to the strengthening of macro-connectivity in the urban context, and the increase in local connectivity and high connectivity, the continuation of cohesion and dynamism at the micro-scale are clearly visible. https://www.ijumes.com/article_729634_14da0561304915be1d97821d3a8287cb.pdf