Villa Terrace

Location: Ramsar, Mazandaran,Iran

Material: Concrete & Glass & Metal

Design date: 2022

Built area: 590m²

Lead Architect: Ramin Poorkeivan

Design Office: Poorkeivan Studio

Design Team: Shahin Afarin, Sadaf Shakeri, Sepideh Moghadam, Hanie Mohammadi, Elnaz Moghadam

Photography: Mahshid Karizi

Story:

Text provided by the architect:

Villa Terrace: A Layered Response to a Steep Coastal Landscape

Villa Terrace is located on a steep hillside in Ramsar, northern Iran, where the site has an elevation difference of approximately thirteen metres. The project responds to this topography by organising the programme across a series of stepped terraces that follow the natural slope.

The client selected the upper portion of the site to maximise views towards the Caspian Sea and the surrounding urban and natural landscape, despite the increased construction complexity associated with the terrain.

The principal design challenge was to accommodate the steep topography while maintaining climatic performance and providing direct visual and physical connections to the landscape. The project addresses this condition by arranging the villa as a sequence of interconnected terraces, each corresponding to a different level of the site.

Each floor functions as an individual terrace, with enclosed spaces positioned according to their programme. The swimming pool, gymnasium, breakfast area, bedrooms, and living spaces are distributed across these levels, allowing each programme to maintain a direct relationship with the surrounding landscape.

The north–south orientation of the site informed the placement of openings to maximise natural daylight and cross-ventilation. The terraces extend towards the sea while remaining open to the forested hillside. Air movement is further assisted by a central vertical void surrounding the staircase, which functions as a ventilation shaft and distributes airflow throughout the interior.

The façade reinterprets the standing-seam metal roofs commonly found in the architecture of northern Iran through a contemporary construction system. Grey standing-seam metal cladding forms the primary external envelope, establishing a material relationship with the regional building tradition while accommodating contemporary construction techniques.

From the northern street, the building presents itself as a two-storey volume. As the site descends towards the south, the stepped organisation of the project becomes visible, revealing the full extent of the villa and its relationship with the terrain. Each terrace frames a distinct view of the surrounding landscape while defining outdoor spaces at different levels.

The project combines a reinforced concrete structural system, curtain wall glazing, and a standing-seam metal envelope with passive environmental strategies adapted to the site's topography. The organisation of terraces, orientation, and natural ventilation strategy allows the building to respond simultaneously to the site's climatic conditions, views, and changes in elevation.

 Edited: Kiana Amir Mazaheri 

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