Public · Competitions · 2021

A Different Attitude

A floating village on the Anzali Lagoon where the homeless and the city meet again.

Location: Anzali Lagoon, Gilan, Iran
Principal architect: Mohammad Gholami | Zahra Gholami | Sina Kaspor
Visualisation and presentation: Mohammad Gholami | Sanaz Goodarzi

Design year: 2021
Status: Competition entry

01Question

Question statement

What is the role of architecture in creating empathy between two groups of society?

The brief asked how architectural components can build empathy and help revive the most marginalised members of the community, the homeless, given their social situation and the way architecture affects them. For a rejected person to return to society, housing and a job are not enough: being seen and noticed is what restores their confidence. For their self-esteem to rise, both they and the wider community have to go through a process of empathy.

01Question

Question statement

How can a settlement help people be seen again?

Two strategies shape the project: making connections and becoming noticeable. Shared spaces bring different classes of society together, while commercial units placed along the water give residents room to express their talents and to be seen by people working in the city and by tourists. Basic needs, a home, work and food, are organised around these shared spaces rather than hidden away.

01Question

Question statement

How can local architecture make it belong?

The vision is a self-reliant community with social stability that draws on the native potential of the site. The houses follow the form of the koumeh, the traditional reed hut of the Anzali Lagoon, combining the typical Gilani house and its stairs with local roofs and the lojan roof element. Built in wood with a zero-waste approach, the pattern can be extended to other places and change how society looks at these people.