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Architects: Experience Studio
- Area: 460 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Deed Studio
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Manufacturers: Setareh Shomal
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Lead Architect: Hossein Soodavi
Text description provided by the architects. The Baghshahr Villa project is located on a 25 x 60-meter plot of land with a slope of approximately 7% in a villa area facing the plain from the mountain. The area is characterized by high villas with varied materials, irregularity, and multiple types of architecture, including other villas. The project's diagram is a critique of the organization of the plan among domino structures, which has influenced other types of architecture, such as other villas, and the urban structure as well. The project design process started with a diagram instead of a physical site due to the circumstances, and the initial idea of its formation was to get rid of spatial concepts. Hence, the spaces defined per the program were independent and wholly free.
The criticality of the change in the development strategy lies in the potential to generate diverse spaces through the program, user, or architect's desires. This approach then led to the formation of project spaces. The project diagram had no restriction on the unit’s shape and dimension, and the program outlined by the client was the only dimensioning parameter for each unit. The fundamental issue in the project was how to organize the units within the site. One of the treatment techniques was placing the units separately on the site, and finding a means of communication between them. Interconnecting and sharing the spaces between the units, along with providing a response to inter-space connection needs, could create unforeseen spatial events in the external and internal spaces.
The project had many layout alternatives for the boxes, and the design ideas and the client's requests defined the development of the project to its final form. A pool was added separately to meet the client's additional program requirements. By developing the tangle of boxes, space was created between them and provided a different spatial experience for the user in each space and transition between them. Based on the view of the mountain and the city's south and north faces, the boxes were designed to be transparent. Additionally, the design got rid of inappropriate light from the east and west by preserving the rigidity of these walls, allowing adhering to the designer's view of the project idea to the initial diagram.
The way of organizing the units next to each other with open space and variations in the box's height according to the site's slope helped maintain the independence of each unit and fluid communication in both the plan and view based on the site by providing multi-directional views. The project's structural system consisted of concrete walls and concrete slab roofs. This system met the structural requirements and was the best option for the architectural diagram as well. The project architect designed the project structure, which was then subject to an iterative process given to the structural engineer for calculation. The resulting structure reinforced the design ideas and required no additional material, with exposed concrete deemed the best option.
The hangers under the ceiling were raised to enhance the interior aesthetics. The intertwining of the boxes both inside and outside creates a unified view from independent units that are spatially connected through this intervention. Additionally, a metal staircase was installed to connect the space of the third box with the other two boxes. The "residual space" or "in-between space" is the most appropriate term to describe the random space created between the boxes, where the external space is transformed into an internal space by placing transparent layers at the beginning and end of it. Interestingly, this transformation happened during the construction process rather than in the design process.
Exposed concrete plays a vital role in the lighting and installation systems of the project, becoming an object under the ceilings, which is repeated in all areas of the project. Other furniture items were placed as objects, such as cabinets, a TV table, a fireplace, and a library placed on the concrete wall in the living space. The strategy continued in all areas, using concrete structures and independent elements of furniture. Finally, wooden parquet was chosen as the project's flooring to create a warmer overall space, providing a balance to the hard concrete structure juxtaposed with the luxurious objects. This design resolved the concern of adherence to the diagram and maintained material integrity to gain the client's satisfaction.
