Ahmad Jafari

Ahmad Jafari
Born	Ahmad Jafari 3 March 1938 Arak, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Alma mater	Tehran University University of Utah
Occupation	Architect

English: New Orleans Square Sketch, Magic Kingdom, Florida, 1972

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, France, Paris, 1972

Canada Pavilion Sketch, Epcot, 1977

Canada Pavilion at Epcot, Walt Disney World in Orlando

Morocco Pavilion at Epcot, Walt Disney World in Orlando

Paris Fantasyland Sketch, 1986

HongKong Disneyland Sketch, 2001

Ratatouille (film), Front Elevations, 2009

Ahmad Jafari (Persian: احمد جعفری ‌Born 3 March 1938 Arak, Iran) is an Iranian architect Based in USA and Iran.

Early life

Ahmad Jafari was born on 3 March 1938 in a small city of Arak in Iran. He graduated from Tehran University with a Masters in Architecture on 1962. On 1963 he moved to the United States. He studied Architecture at the University of Utah and worked in an architectural firm as an intern architect in both Utah and California. After a few months, he left university and joined the Disneyland engineering department as an architect in 1966. He served The Walt Disney Company as an Architect and Art Director from 1966 to 2004.

Val H. Usle, executive director of architecture at The Walt Disney Company awarded Ahmad for "Recognizing 36 magical years with the walt disney company" quoting:

"All of us still see your 'design' fingerprints scattered in the parks throughout the world... your creativity has helped define the Disney built environment. It is indeed a very small club of people can claim to have had such involvement and influence."

Awards

• Disney Legend Award ^[1]
• Thanks for Imagineering the Dream. Walt Disney Imagineering. Retirement Award only 4 ever awarded at that period.
• WED(Walt Disney Imagineering) and MAPO(Walt Disney World Monorail System) engineering. 15 years of service.
• 25 years of distinguished service.
• 30 years of distinguished service.
• Recognizing 35 magical years with the Walt Disney Company.

Career

• Mehrabad International Airport and Azadi Sport Complex. (1969-1968) Head Architect at Farmanfarma Architectural firm.
• Designing, and producing the 10-year Master Plan for Disneyland. (1969)
• Promoted as lead designer for Disneyland project, working with studio and Disney directors and WED(Walt Disney Imagineering) architect designing the projects for Disneyland. (1971)
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Lead Architect alongside art director at that time, Mr. Tony Baxter. California, USA. (1972-1976) ^[2]
• Epcot. Florida, United States (October 1, 1982).^[3]
  • Canada Pavilion at Epcot, opening on (1977- October 1, 1982), He was the project design architect.
  • Morocco Pavilion at Epcot, opening on (1980- September 7, 1984), He was the project design architect.
  • Afriqa Pavilion at Epcot, He was the project design architect.^[4]
• Tokyo Disneyland. Lead designer and site theme inspector. Urayasu, Japan. (1982- April 15, 1983)
• Disneyland Park (Paris) (Euro Disneyland). Chief architect for Western Land and Adventureland. Marne-la-Vallée, France. (1986 start design,1988 moved to France- opening on April 12, 1992) ^[5]
• Fantasyland Pre-opening site inspection. (1992)
• Activated CDM Group in Los Angeles, USA. (2000)
• Tokyo Disney Resort, Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta. Chief architect and art director. (2001) ^[6]
• Animal Kingdom Resort Area. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, (Chief design director working alongside executive director, Joe Rohde, art directors and architects). Florida, USA. (2001) ^[7]
• Hong Kong Disneyland. Concept chief design director and design developer. Lantau Island, Hong Kong. (2001-2004)
• Saraya project Gulf, working with Hettema Group as a design director. Aqaba, Jordan. (2004- 2007)
• Legend project in Dubai.
• Sea World project in Dubai.
• Major project in Kangwon Land Korea
• Consultant for WDI designing the Ratatouille (film) project for Paris Disney. (2009)
• Main Street, Shanghai Disneyland Park, consultant for WDI designing main entrance and Main Street for Shanghai Disneyland Park and design development with Gensler firm in Los Angeles. Shanghai, China. (2011)(Open date in June 16, 2016)
• Ocean Park Project, Iran’s first outdoor themed water park. Tehran, Iran. (2013-2016) Hezaro Yek Shahr Project, Tehran's first theme park. (2013-2016) ^[8]

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References

1. "Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog". gatlinburg.blogspot.nl. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
2. "MEDIA MAGIC: septembre 2014". media-magic.blogspot.nl. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
3. "http://disneyandmore.blogspot.nl/2011_10_02_archive.html". disneyandmore.blogspot.nl. Retrieved 2016-08-27. External link in |title= (help)
4. "The Equatorial Africa World Showcase Pavilion That Never Was". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
5. "Histoire des attractions - Imagineering - Disney's Magic". disneyfantasy.kazeo.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
6. "Ideal Buildout: March 2014". idealbuildout.blogspot.nl. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
7. "Have you EVER noticed at WDW (part XVIII)....(last post on Animal Kingdom)". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
8. "اکران یک انیمیشن قبل از کچل‌شدن رامبد جوان/ ساخت دیزنی‌لند در ایران!" (in Persian). 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2016-08-27.