Type of project
Residential Complex
Year
2019
Tag
Metal Reflection Cement Housing Geometry
Status
Invitation to contest – accomplished
Location
Teheran, Iran
The call for tenders for the Nasrin Residential Complex was for the construction of ten luxury residences in the centre of Tehran.
We studied the location and, strongly guided by the lot’s size and the city’s building regulations, decided that a tower would be the ideal building typology. The project endeavours to stage three acts of the same performance: the interaction between natural light and the building in the changing of the hours and seasons, the evocation of elements of typical Persian architectural culture, and the idea of turning the building into a sort of plant organism, a kind of trunk inhabited by life.
These effects are obtained using a system of full and empty spaces, projections and recesses, created with alternating loggias and terraces, representing the geometric abstraction of tree bark, embellished by the presence of moss or other living organisms, and highlighted by the arboreal arrangements of the terraces.
Burnished brass-coloured perforated metal cladding covers the entire building on the outer edge of this volumetric rhythm. At night, the cladding completely covers the trunk, almost like a protective layer; but during the day, it can be opened up and modulated into an infinite number of variations, giving the building an iridescent and metamorphic appearance.
The selection of the metal finish was motivated by the prevailing colour temperature of the light in Tehran.
The large subtractions of volumetric mass are three-dimensional inlays of Persian ceramics, which indicate the double-volume entrances and terraces.
It is an iconic building that, when inserted into the Tehran skyline, represents a perceptual shock to the sense.
