Tehran, a competition from the past

The objective of our entry is the proposal for the multi-storey building A located in Teheran.

Our concept is based on a configuration of volumes that reacts to

a) The Volumetric constrains

b) The neighbouring buildings, the force of their cubic volumes.

The first issue was more or less the “iceberg barrier” that an architect confronts from the zoning envelope in urban environments. Gradually for us the evolution of a setback building transformed to a key issue of the hole project, mainly because the necessity of the setback regulations reflect this move towards an already acknowledgeable urbanism.

-Straight Up-

In 1915 the Equitable building with 39 stories

is declared as the most valuable office building in the world;

apart from its scale the configuration of a solid base

and the binary system of two towers on top, was rather intriguing.

( at least to us)

Teheran 2009-03-26

The basic formation of our building is “control

led” by the void between the couple formed by our two major elements. With this solution we tried to built a solid boundary with the city, supporting (enhancing) the perspective of both crossing roads and thus reinforcing the “corner” of a city block.

The Monolithic structure with its membrane-skin facilitates the commercial and (the majority) of office spaces. One 70% of the whole building is covered with this “Persian” lattice. (Which is a completely subjective interpretation of a Islamic facade filter) Only that this filter is more a scaling device that helps the building merge into a huma

n environment. However, the domination of this goose flesh volume is being challenged by the secondly (and mostly complementary) “crest” of a variety of “harmonious” relations of regulating elements¹.

¹ Regulating elements are the vital volumes o

r objects that balance “battle of masses in space”.

So this antithesis between the monolithic geometrical figure and the “impulsive reaction” of the collection of volumes bear the basic compositional idea.

The building, the public

One other point of departure that we have to un

derline (briefly) is the investigation of form as a –potential- public space. Therefore the “in between” space is supposed that forms a variety of such public spaces. For example the alternative walk path through the building from the south entrance towards the north exit near the north-west edge of the plot, is a potential public by-pass of the southwest corner, during this walk the subject penetrates freely the boundaries between public and semi-public and entering isn’t anymore a process entering a lobby –elevator-office but rather a new space , with succession of shadows-light and close perspectives of the hole structure forming(?) a semi public square that will try to coexist with the existing urban structures, a transition space.