Lead Architects: Ali Soltani, Atefeh Karbasi, Ali Dehghani
Photo credits: Farshid Nasrabadi
We were invited to design this office building for the factory in 2010, shortly after the completion of the structure, ceilings and internal walls. Working within the already fixed elements such as columns, stairs and the elevator shaft was a challenge to start with.
Visiting the site, designers were immediately impressed by the rocky mountainous environment to the east and partly north, whose qualities informed and inspired our design. We started by introducing new steel-framed addendums to the original concrete structure to achieve harmony with the mountain as well as offering improved views to it. This replaced the monotony and static qualities of the original design with plays of forms, and created a variety of views out of these twists. This was also followed by creating a range of terraces for offices and service areas.
The choice of materials, the formation of volumes, and the distribution of functions were all designed to suggest a rise of the building from the context facing the town to the south. The main part housing offices, canteen, services and security, is finished with matching color with the mountain whereas the southern part dedicated to residential, management and conference hall activities, is highlighted with modern materials and a panoramic, continuous views towards the town. Thus, the natural and modern materials create a whole by interlocking into each other.
The internal partitions previously erected in offices were also removed to achieve more flexibility in the organization of space, with the windows to these parts, together with those in the ground floor canteen designed as series of multiple but small frames replacing some undesirable views to the east with that of the mountain and the clear sky.
This office block is designed in such a way that it will not alienate hikers enjoying surrounding nature and landscape: it is as if the building is emerged from the mountain and it its companion.
