peyman meydani + behzad ayati weave narenjestan building's linear facade

peyman meydani + behzad ayati weave narenjestan building’s linear facade
all images courtesy of peyman meydani and behzad ayati

according to the minds of peyman meydani and behzad ayati, ‘the city of tehran is an absurd constructed landscape.’ urban density is achieved through massive deployment of mid-rise apartment complexes. thus, the exterior manifestation of the ‘narenjestan building’ from a street point of view is limited to a single two-dimensional façade – northern or southern depending on orientation of the lot in relation to the street. furthermore, due to particular dynamics of the real estate market, clients demand architects to design for the maximum allowed envelope to be built to boost the profit return of the investment. under such circumstances, instead of a volumetric composition or even a planar layout of the project, it is the main elevation, with the maximum depth of 20 to 40 centimeters, that has the most room for creative flexibility. ‘in fact, architects commit themselves to the somewhat strange task of a graphic designer that designs a two-dimensional composition layout at the scale of a four to five-storey building’, meydani and ayati add.

night view of the chessboard-like exterior

the approach towards this particular work solves the dilemma of minimal distortion by weaving components of the outer surface. the structure stands within a straight line without any back or front limitations. according to municipal lows and narrow width of allay, no strain was an obligation. the duo says, ‘producing a responsive façade to the specified requirements, which simultaneously does not disturb the urban context, is always one of the architect’s goals. while the width of the narenjestan building is not eye catching, the client wanted the maximum usage of building area so there is not any opportunity to build a façade with any solid combination; thus the exterior face of building is a part of flat surface with the length of allay and height of surrounding buildings.’

detail of the interwoven wires

in response to these observations and requests, the architects decided to imagine the project as a place of unifying the surrounded inconsistency. the work is located in an 8-meter-wide alley with a combination of various typologies with various materials and construction methods, which has resulted in situation that they classify as chaos. the main idea revolves around preparing a harmony between these different types of orders and styles. from the architect’s perspective, the only response is a plane which stretches in the outer face of the building. the horizontal and vertical elements originate from the main linear elements of neighboring architecture. as a result, the surface is indebted of the urban fabric and it is a place to moderate the linear combination of surrounding area and the requirements of the brief.

between two of the façade’s three layers

the façade has been produced from the interaction of three layers: two layers from the neighborhood’s existing architecture and one layer from the modular layout within. the realization of this concept is achieved by the usage of transparent and semi-transparent materials. combining the three systems produces a chessboard-like net, which is rescaled in some units according to the context.

interior view

transparent and semi-transparent materials were used

infographic of the layers and their corresponding meanings

axonometric diagrams

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.