Designed by Iranian architecture practice OJAN Design Studio, Character Café & Gallery is located next to one of the main streets of Mehrshahr in Alborz province, with the area of 530 square meters. This old building was a two-storey construction with poor infrastructure, a complex plan and numerous arched openings. Due to lack of budget and accelerate runtime, we tried to create the least amount of damage and alteration to the old building by applying a flexible idea and creating a new definition for the archshaped openings.
So we redefined Sabat which is an element of historical crossings of Yazd city in order to change the depth of opening and creating elongation in the form of arches.
image © M. H. Hamzehlouie
By this changes, we have transformed those arches to the corridors to create circulation and emphasized the importance of crossing among spaces to give our audiences a sense of curiosity and let them to experience the presence of Iranian historical cities. This idea became concept of designing Corporate Identity, furniture and accessories like bar counter, cashier desk and library of management office. The main entrance of the project is formed along the walls of the courtyard that is made by concrete and rusted sheets with some slots to create a visual connection with the interiors of project's courtyard. These slots have been provided an opportunity for plants to be present.
image © M. H. Hamzehlouie
Character Café and Gallery has two courtyards in the front and back of the building. Front yard's seats are surrounded by greenery and relaxing sound of water and the backyard has its own seating area next to pine trees and dense greenery. Ground floor is designated to main lounge, bar and service area, and it has access to the management office, control room and terraces with the folded ironic stair. Considering preservation of this complex plan was one of our most important presuppositions in the design of this project, so we decide to apply different colors in hallways and other spaces in order to give the audience a better understanding of spaces.
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