WHY SO SERIOUS?

Why So Serious is a visual project that uses humor to question rigidity, authority, and power in architecture and everyday formal settings. A playful, Naughty kid character is placed inside rigid, monumental, architectural environments to highlight the gap between human emotion and authoritarian systems and designs. Inspired by Persian culture, where humor has long been used to cope with pressure and hardship, the project treats joy as a form of resistance and rebellion. The project asks why the spaces and symbols that shape our lives leave so little room for play.

1. Joy, Happiness, and Humor in Iran

In Iranian culture, humor is deeply intertwined with joy and happiness. While joy (شادی) represents fleeting emotional sparks, and happiness (سعادت/خوشبختی) represents long-term inner fulfillment, humor serves as a bridge between them. Humor creates micro-experiences of joy, which sustain individuals on the path toward deeper happiness.

Across centuries shaped by political turbulence, censorship, and collective hardship, Iranians developed a subtle, layered, and often self-mocking wit that allowed them to soften pain, challenge authority indirectly, protect dignity, and maintain emotional connection. Yet there are moments when even this cultural defense collapses. In the face of the recent massacre in Iran, the space for humor has closed; grief is too immediate, too heavy, and too sacred.

Below are some pictures from the movie Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, portraying a young girl’s life in Iran with ironic visuals and subtle humor.

2. Process

In Why So Serious?, I created a character to embody my inner child, rebelling against my architecture background and mindset. This character breaks the rules, playfully reimagining the long, rigid days spent on trivial projects for ego-driven architects. Developing the character was pure joy. The project has two elements: the character, which comes from me, and the context, which already existed. I simply collaged them together. The hope is that the result could one day remind architects in their offices: you are not the center of the world, why so serious?

Here are some of the character alternatives I explored through sketches.

3-Final Character

4-Product

The final product of the project is intentionally non-commercial. It is not a conventional object or architectural artifact; rather, it is a campaign, a series of posters, visual interventions, or Temporary installations that carry the project’s message into public or semi-public spaces. The posters act as both artwork and communication tool, delivering the manifesto to architects, designers, and the wider public.

By merging personal expression with cultural and architectural critique, Why So Serious? positions joy and humor as forms of resistance, emphasizing that even in contexts shaped by authority or hardship, moments of play can disrupt the status quo, challenge ego-driven systems, and open space for reflection and emotional connection.

The best part of this project is that I can keep creating it forever, wherever I see architecture, urban infrastructure, or design that I want to question or critique.

Placing these playful interventions in formal, work-focused environments creates a fun contradiction; it breaks the usual seriousness. It might even give people a moment to reconnect with their own sense of joy.