Statement by Negar Akd and Sepideh Sahebsara: In a traditional site of Esfahan city in Iran, a house located behind the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, which was built 400 years ago in the Safavid era. The project‘s design corresponds to how traditional spatial relationships in a conventional Isfahan House can be transformed into a modern house within an old urban block, whilst maintaining the same traditional circulation concerns and essence of space.
The quality of life in a way that gives the best answers to the challenges on the site is one of the main goals of this plan. The design started with giving life to the path, in such a way that the path gives a definition and application beyond passing, and in every corner of this passing, something happens that stimulates the sense of life, so that the human life that spends half of its life on the way to It takes on a more beautiful meaning.
In this plan, three collective spaces, private, semi-private and public, are built, and the semi-private and public spaces located on the ground floor can be joined or separated by a movable partition.
In pursuit of a better answer to the quality of the space, the brick walls in the middle and sides of the house came to help, so that the light passes to the farthest parts of the house, and the southern view of the house made this answer bolder, the view of the square In the middle, the staircase and the rooms are enhanced by frames
The beautiful old palm tree of the house was not forgotten, and by creating glass walls on both sides, it gave the residents the possibility of visual and physical access, so that Palm could kindly gift his greenery to the house.
Of course, the western glass window could induce an unpleasant feeling to the middle floor during the daytime hours, so with the help of a wall behind the palm tree attached to the neighboring wall, an attempt was made to control this light.
The choice of light material inside and cream bricks outside, inspired by the cells facing the square on the second floor of Naqsh Jahan, showed introversion and in addition to matching the exterior texture with the site and maintaining modesty in front of the square, the light texture inside is small. It dimmed the site and brought a sense of open air to the audience, and showed off the low brickwork and greenery of the palm trees.
The external brick walls of the facade preserve the privacy of the interior of the house and create a beautiful play with light both during the day and at night. Therefore, the main goal of this project, with the help of Sohrab's poetry; where is the friend’s house?
Giving meaning to every step and every breath is to convey the sense of being to the one who is present by living in the present, at this moment and in this place. Whether at rest or in motion.
