Iranian architects bagged 3 of the total 15 awards at the seventh annual Middle East Architect Awards 2014. The winning projects, professionals and companies were revealed at a gala ceremony at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai on November 19. In all, 9 projects by Iranian architects were nominated for this year’s awards.
Nextoffice Company headed by Alireza Taghaboni won the award for best Residential Project of the Year for its ‘Sharifiha House’ project. ‘Borj Ekhtiarieh’ by Xema Design Office and ‘Kuhsar Villa’ by Nextoffice were other Iranian projects competing for the award.
‘25 MM’ by Xema Design Office headed by architect Reza Mafakher won the best Public Sector Project of the Year award.
‘Shams Monument’ designed for the mausoleum of Shams-i Tabrizi in Khoy by the BNS Co. won the best Community and Cultural Project of the Year award. The ‘Urban Gallery of the Ardebil Grand Mosque’ designed by Memar Studio also competed for the award.
Other Iranian companies nominated in various categories included: Behzad Atabaki Studio for the Commercial Project of the Year Award for its collaboration on Niayesh Office in Tehran; Hajizadeh & Associates for the Hospitality Project of the Year Award for the Amiran Hotel & Commercial Center in Neyshabur; and L.E.D Architects headed by Shahab Mirzaean for the Young Architect of the Year Award.
Movable Rooms
The prize-winning Sharifiha Project is a seven-storey building with three “moveable rooms” in the north of Tehran. The project differs in many aspects from a typical construction and its modern architectural features are not limited to the movable rooms.
The building has a home gym, a pool, two kitchens and a few outdoor terraces. The optimal use of space is unique compared to the land area.
At the press of a button and three rooms inside began to rotate towards the street and create new spaces or terraces. Each of the rooms which appear like wooden boxes from the outside, are on a rotating base.
Hot and Cold
During the cold winters, the rooms can be closed to prevent heat loss. And in the hot summer months, they can be turned outwards to be filled with fresh air. Depending on the needs of the residents, the building “adjusts itself”.
And, whether you have visitors or not, the guest rooms on the second floor can be modified for different purposes.
Similarly, the office room and breakfast lounge can be changed according to the fancies of the residents.
A spokesperson of the designer firm said, the ideas for the unique construction came from the “traditional home” concept, where there are two main rooms, one for summer and the other for winter use, according to the UK’s Daily Mail.
“We began with the idea of flexibility and we think it will be interesting that the rooms have different views; also the climate in the capital, which in summers is hot and in winters’ cold, led us to ponder on how we can keep the rooms both cool and warm, in the two extreme seasons,” he added.
