perforated brick facade by mohat office brings texture to iran’s residential skyline

mohat office addresses lack of habitable spaces in iranian city

Mohat Office presents the Bonlad project to address the low-quality apartments in Ilam, an Iranian city that is currently facing architectural and social challenges. Under the direction of chief architect Mohammad Hadianpour, the team aims to create extensive, active semi-open spaces in an apartment building as a solution to the nearly full lot coverage and the lack of habitable areas in the city. 

The office navigates contextual constraints under the concepts of Spatial Border and uses the void and corrosion as a spatial system. The prohibition of direct views toward a neighboring government building led to the use of setbacks—step-like recessions in the profiles—and vertical porosities. Intermediate boxes and large terraces contribute to the vitality of apartment life, allowing openness and privacy at the same time. Tectonic considerations were also a vital part of the project, particularly in the detailing of the brick facade and vertical louvers. The construction process includes grooved brick patterns and accurate drilling for minimal errors.

BONLAD PROJECT EXPERIMENTS ON NEW APARTMENT BUILDING TYPOLOGY

Bonlad, designed for two brothers who wanted to live independently, is the experiment of Mohat Office on the typology of apartments that have a non-identical architectural language on their different sides. The Iranian firm places public functions such as commercial spaces and offices on the lower floors and carves horizontal and vertical openings on the upper ones, housing residential units. The roof level connects these units with open access to the sky. Bonlad avoids the use of direct openings on all sides, favoring a unified design that promotes heterogeneity through setbacks and controlled lighting. The large terraces, some up to seven meters deep, and vertical louvers filter natural light. With this typology, the Iranian firm aims for a contemporary take on traditional Persian architecture, introducing a ‘border’ tension between inside and out.

project info:

name: Bonlad
architect: Mohat office
chief architect: Mohammad Hadianpour | @mohammad_hadianpour
location: SaadatAbad, Tehran, Iran

photographer: Parham Taghioff | @parhamtaghioff

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.