Residential · Competitions · 2022

Rooyesh Apartment

A living edge between home and neighbourhood.

Location: Manzarieh Street, Rasht, Iran
Principal architect: Mohammad Gholami | Sanaz Goodarzi | Zahra Gholami
Design team: Atefeh Nemati | Mohsen Rafiei | Rojan Moghim
Client: Ali Arehchi
Construction and supervision: Erfan Arehchi | Ali Arehchi
Structure: Alireza Veysi
Visualisation and presentation: Mohammad Gholami | Sanaz Goodarzi | Zahra Gholami | Rojan Moghim

Built area: 824sqm
Site area: 193sqm
Design year: 2022
Status: Built

01Question

Question statement

What can a single building give back to a crowded neighbourhood?

In Rasht, dense, low-quality blocks are steadily replacing gardens and old single-family houses. Most offer shelter and little else, with no conversation with the street or the people who pass by. Rooyesh starts from a win-win idea: on a lane only six metres wide, the design widens the relationship between the neighbourhood outside and the home inside, along the edge where the building takes its light.

01Question

Question statement

How can a hard boundary become an active, many-layered space?

The façade thickens into an in-between layer. Planted voids cut into the stone envelope, with terraces and screens, turn the line between inside and outside into a space of its own. Daylight reaches deep into the plan while views and privacy stay under control. Following the Gilani house, the plan links street, terrace and interior, so homes no longer turn only inward but take part in the life of the lane.

01Question

Question statement

How can a wall without windows still open to the city?

On the east side, local rules forbid openings facing the neighbours. A screen of laminated glass, laid in the traditional fakhr-o-madin brick pattern behind the party wall, creates a third façade: it brings in light and a filtered view of the city while respecting the rules.