Presence in Hormuz 2: A multitude of small-scale domes built with the superadobe technique by ZAV Architects

The Tehran-based architectural practice ZAV Architects has recently completed Presence in Hormuz 2, a community of Superadobe earthbag domes that empowers its residents.

Community empowerment via urban development, Hormuz Island, Iran

Hormuz is a formerly glorious historic port in the strategic strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, South of Iran, that controls the shipment of petroleum from the Middle East. The island has outstanding colorful surreal landscapes. Oddly, the local inhabitants of the beautiful, touristic and politically strategic island struggle economically, getting involved in illegal trafficking activities using their boats.

Majara top view image © DJI

Presence in Hormuz is a series of urban developments by a semi-public institution that hired ZAV Architects, in order to empower the local community of the island. Its second phase is a multipurpose cultural residence called Majara residence (meaning adventure) that ties together the lives of local people and visitors both culturally and economically.

View of Majara Residence from upper path of the Soil Carpet Beach (South view)  image © Soroush Majidi

What’s to my benefit, what’s to the benefit of all?

In a country where the state struggles with political disputes outside its borders, every architectural project becomes a proposal for internal governing alternatives, asking basic questions: what are the limits of architecture and how can it suggest a political alternative for communal life? How can it attain social agency?

Architecture has the capacity be a mediator in the middle ground that converges the interests of different groups, from the state and investors to various classes and groups of people. Majara does so in bringing together the owners of land from the neighboring port of Bandar Abbas who organize an annual landart event in Hormuz, the investors from the capital city Tehran, and the local people of Hormuz as partners in the project.

Adjacency of accommodation units in the lower level of the site  image © Thmineh monzavi

Under the economic distress of sanctions, increasing the GDP generates social change, which in this project is achieved by: 1. Building economically, to the benefit of the client. 2. Earmarking a bigger share of the budget to labor costs rather than expensive imported materials, to the benefit of the local population, empowering them by offering training for construction skills. 3. An adaptive and future- proof spatial scenario that can respond to unpredicted need, to the benefit of the client and the island. 4. Using materials and human resources from Iran, to reduce construction and transportation costs and increase the GDP, to the benefit of the whole country.

View from the north-west toward the residence  image © Thmineh monzavi

Infinite Nader Khalili’s

Presence in Hormuz is a continuous process aiming at building trust rather than architectural objects, in order to encourage the participation of local people and the inclusion of their interests in any intervention in the island.
The project is a multitude of small-scale domes built with the superadobe technique of Nader Khalili, the innovative and simple technique using rammed earth and sand. Domes are familiar structures in the region. Their small scale makes them compatible with the building capabilities of local craftsmen and unskilled workers, which have been prepared for this project with previous smaller projects. Today they are trained master superadobe masons, as if Nader Khalili multiplied exponentially.

Majara Resudence (top view) image © DJI

Swelling Earth

The infinite number of colorful particles, be they soil, sand, gravel or stone, pile up and form the rainbow topography of Hormuz island. In this project a carpet is woven with granular knots inspired by the particles that make up the ecotone of the island. The sandbags that create the spatial particles (aka domes) are filled with the dredging sand of the Hormuz dock, as if the earth has swollen to produce space for accommodation.

“Charta” a semi-open space in the south of the site, for a gradual transition from closed to open spaces  image © Payman Barkhordari 

Charta square: Entrance area of the accommodation section  image © Tahmineh Monzavi

“Taniya” named the residence her own way: “Tiny colored houses”  image © Payman Barkhordari

View from the south-west, above the walkable rooftops image  © Payman Barkhordari

Stairways to the duplex accommodation units at Majara Residence  image © Soroush Majidi

Adjacency of accommodation units in the lower level of the site  image © Payman Barkhordari

Upper-level spatial unit colonies  image © Payman Barkhordari 

Solar dome (for sunbathing)  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Hall inside a unit  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Accommodation unit for four persons  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Locally produced furniture is used to furnish the spaces  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Interior space of Majara Residence priced 20 dollars a night  image © ahmineh Monzavi 

Entrance hall  Image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Visitors from different social classes in the restaurant of Majara Residence in coexistence  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Charta as an interstice space between inside and outside  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Group photo of different stakeholders and participants in the project  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

The building uses form and color to match itself to the natural landscape of the island. Since its completion, it has become the nest of bird flocks and home to local antelopes  mage © Payman Barkhordari

The building uses form and color to match itself to the natural landscape of the island. Since its completion, it has become the nest of bird flocks and home to local antelopes  image © Payman Barkhordari 

View to the eastern mountains  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

View of Qeshm Island from rooftop  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

Night view from east  image © Tahmineh Monzavi 

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Topographic Plan of Majara Residence in its Context

Space usage Plan

Section A-A

Section B-B

Section C-C

CONSTRUCTION TEAM

Project Constructor                  Amir Tehrani Nobahari

Construction manager               Hormat Ghasemi

Construction vice-manager      Ramin Koulaghani, Amin Timas

Mechanical constructor             Javad Irandegani, Hamid Haji Posht-e-Gol

Floor constructor                        Davoud Etemadi

Fenestration builder                   Mehra Company

Interior plaster                            Gholamali Abbasi

Exterior plaster                           Esmaeil Salimi

Construction painter                  Farzad Moharami

Logistics                                     Nabiollah Timas, Borhan Pouyan, Ali Ghanbari,

Ayoub Owj Hormozi, Khalil Owj Hormozi, Abdolhamid Hormozi, Davoud Hormozi,   Ali Ghalandari Zehi, Farhad Shadan, Assad Gedri, Abbas Gedri, Ali Ghazi, Majid Bazmandeh, Ali Nasernia, Rahmat Ghalandari, Davoud Mohtaji, Morteza Mohtaji, Mohammad Vahedi, Mosayeb Zarei, Kambiz Naroui, Yasser Naroui, Nassir Narouii, Din Mohammad Naroui, Mojtaba Farhadi, Abbas Nasaji, Esfandiar Khorshidi, Khoubyar Khorshidi, Jalal Bameri, Ghassem Bameri, Enayat Karami, Reza Amirian, Eshgh Ali, Nabi Akrami, Mohammad Moallemi, Sajad Gholampour, Seyfollah Rasouli, Ali Golzari, Soheil Khedmatkari, Hosein Zohouri