Theoretical Background of " a House for an Architect" Workshop

The Architecture Studio of Amirabbas Aboutalebi who has accepted the offer to Design a House for a former colleague presented the idea of running a competitive workshop. The site was located in Yazd within a ten-minute ride from the historical context of the city. The client was obligated to execute the winning project of the workshop and pay for all the publication costs of the current issue of Villa magazine in return for 100% discount on the design contract fee. The mentioned idea was voluntarily supported by the ponderous Magazine of Andishe Iranshahr for the upcoming reasons:

  1.  Expanding the field of architecture competitions out of Tehran
  2.  Encouraging young couples throughout the country to employ contemporary architects for building their future homes
  3.  Encouraging architects, especially younger generations to attend architecture competitions
  4.  Devising a proper contract for this certain project in order to build the winning project and ceremony after execution
  5. Propagation of the concepts of the contemporary architecture of Iran while attempting to update them

These concepts are included as following:

  • The conscious articulation of space, light and air
  • Designing each and every space according to a specific definition while prompting their composition and distinction
  • Trying to design an integrated structure, compliance and spatial articulation which reflects the architecture of the region, General lifestyle of the community and the meaning belonging to the society in which the project will be built.

From the set of contemporary Iranian architecture strategies, health standards, energy saving, and each panelist’s personal perspective ten major criteria were devised by which the projects would be evaluated:

  • Considering the interests of the employer
  • Considering demanded updates of Iran’s Architecture 
  • Considering the pace of life in a house during several decades
  • Susceptibility to climate and climate change
  • being easy to build and preferably by application of local technology
  • Beauty and originality in design
  • The clarity and comprehensibility of the project
  • intelligent use of space and compatibility
  • Promotion of Physical and Psychological Health of Residents

A group of energy analyst experts interacted during the workshop with all the participants in order to analyze the following elements in each group’s projects according to the received data and the progress of the design process:

  1. Provision of natural lighting for interior spaces.
  2.  Amount of received energy from the Windows 
  3. Total amount of energy loss from the walls, floors and ceiling
  4.  Hours of comfort around the clock and during the year
  5.  Considering corridors and connecting spaces inside and outside of house
  6.  Location of wet zones in the floors
  7.  Location of the engine room