Milad Tower

Tilt your head back. Then tilt it a little further. A pale concrete shaft rises from the hill in front of you, smooth and grey, and it keeps rising long after your neck wants to stop. Near the top, a wide pod rests on the shaft like a bead on a needle. Above that, a thin antenna points into the sky. On a clear day the light catches the glass of the pod, and on a hazy day the tip seems to fade into the air.

This is Milad Tower, in Tehran's District 2, in the northwest of the city. It stands roughly 435 metres tall from its base to the tip of the antenna. That makes it the tallest structure in Iran. When it was completed in the late 2000s, it ranked among the tallest freestanding towers anywhere in the world. Even now, it is hard to find a corner of western Tehran where you cannot see it.

The name Milad means birth in Persian. The tower was planned as a telecommunications tower, a place to carry radio and television signals across a large and growing capital. But the planners also wanted it to be a public landmark. They wanted a place people could visit, not only a mast that engineers climbed. So the tower combines two jobs. It sends signals across the city, and it gives visitors a view of the city itself.

Look down at the base before you look up again. The foundation structure follows an octagonal plan, an eight-sided shape. Eight-sided forms appear again and again in traditional Persian architecture, in gardens, pavilions and the floor plans of old buildings. The design team chose this shape on purpose. A very modern concrete tower rests on a very old geometric idea. It is a small detail, and many visitors walk past it without noticing.

Now follow the shaft upward with your eyes. The shaft is made of reinforced concrete, which means concrete with steel bars inside it. Concrete is strong under weight, and the steel helps it resist bending. Tehran sits in an earthquake zone, and the city also gets strong winds. A structure this tall must handle both. The tapering form of the shaft is not only for beauty. It also helps the tower stay stable when the ground moves or the wind pushes against it.

Here is something many visitors do not expect. Building the shaft was not the hardest part. The real challenge was the head, the large pod near the top. Engineers had to build a heavy, multi-floor structure hundreds of metres above the ground. The pod holds around a dozen floors inside it. From the street it looks like a single shape, but inside there are many levels stacked on top of one another.

Those floors hold different spaces. There are observation decks, both enclosed behind glass and, at certain times, open to the air. There are restaurants, including one that slowly turns, so diners see the whole city pass by during a single meal. There are also technical floors for the tower's broadcasting work. Visitors and equipment share the same pod, separated by floors, like neighbours in a tall apartment building.

If you go up, the elevators do the work quickly, and your ears may pop on the way. Then the city opens in every direction. To the north, the Alborz mountains form a wall above Tehran. In winter and spring, snow often covers their peaks. To the south and east, the city spreads out in a grid of streets, rooftops and highways. On clear days, the view seems endless. On days with air pollution, the mountains may disappear behind a soft brown haze.

That haze is part of the real experience of Tehran. The city sits in a basin, with mountains to the north. In some seasons, air gets trapped over the city. So the view from the tower changes from one day to the next. A morning after rain or wind can be very clear. On a still afternoon, the view may feel closer and softer. Many local people say the best views come after a storm has cleared the air.

The tower does not stand alone. It is the centrepiece of a larger complex used for conferences, exhibitions and events. At its foot you will find wide plazas, terraces and paths. Families walk here in the evening. Young people take photographs against the shaft. Groups of friends meet at the cafés. On weekends and holidays, the area fills with people, and the conversation of the crowd rises around the base.

The neighbourhoods around the tower are worth a moment of attention too. District 2 includes areas such as Shahrak-e Gharb and Gisha, which grew rapidly in the later twentieth century. Large expressways run close to the hill, and you can hear the steady sound of traffic below. The tower rises above this busy road network. For drivers crossing western Tehran, it works like a compass. Many people use it to know where they are.

At night, the tower changes character. Lights wash across the shaft and the pod, and the colours sometimes change for holidays or special occasions. From far across the city, the glowing pod seems to float above the dark rooftops. Some photographers prefer the hour just after sunset. At that time, the sky still holds some blue, and the tower's lights have just come on.

Before you leave, stand still for a moment near the base and look straight up once more. Notice how the shaft seems to lean toward you as it rises. This is a trick of perspective, not a real tilt. Listen to the wind across the plaza and the traffic on the roads below. Then, as you walk away, turn around every few minutes. You will see the tower again and again, over rooftops and between buildings, following you through the city.