The Grand Me'mar Award 2002: Winners and Jury Selections

The Second Grand Me'mar Award — 1381 (2002)

What follows is the picture catalogue of the second Grand Me'mar Award, called in August 2002 with the support of Superpipe International for post-Revolution residential architecture in Iran. The jury — Mehdi Alizadeh, Hadi Mirmiran, Ali Akbar Saremi, Kambiz Nazaramoo and Kamran Afshar Naderi — over three long sessions on 19, 22 and 28 December 2002 chose, from the ninety-three accepted projects, twenty as good examples of residential architecture, and ranked the top five. The pages that follow present, in compressed form, the five places and the fourteen jury selections.

1st Place — Sadri Residence, Isfahan

Mohammad Reza Ghane'i and Ali Sheykholeslam (entry 105)

From the jury: 'This longitudinal division of the space — into, in effect, three large 'tunnels', themselves further subdivided — is a fresh and original device. On this restricted, narrow plot the architects have brought into being a very rich and complex space. By the way of its planning and the spaces it produces, this work goes far beyond a work that is merely beautiful: it is not only beautiful — it also looks critically at architecture.'

3rd Place — House of Navvab Safavi, Isfahan

Mohammad Reza Ghane'i and Ali Sheykholeslam (entry 104)

Afshar Naderi: 'This project too is built on the idea of the corridor, but, unlike the previous one, in its detailing it has tended toward ornament.' Mirmiran: 'The aim of the project is to add a hall and a swimming-pool beside an old building. The placement of this hall is excellent.'

4th Place — House No. 3, Shiraz

Mehrdad Iravanian (entry 102)

Mirmiran: 'The brave use of varied materials — from an unpolished timber beam to today's metal sheets — is one of the project's strengths and is admirable.' Afshar Naderi: 'This is a work of conceptual art, and its architect is one of the few who have a personal style of their own.'

2nd Place — Elahiyye Residential Building, Tehran

Behrooz Bayat (entry 132)

Mirmiran: 'This is a normal project, but all its parts are bound together. Its mark is the architect's mastery in producing unity, and his refusal to imitate.' Saremi: 'It is urban architecture and can become widespread.'

5th Place — Kamraniyyeh Residential Complex, Tehran

Faramarz Sharifi (entry 159)

Mirmiran: 'A faultless project. It has produced a pleasant central space, with the houses arranged around it.' Nazaramoo: 'The plans are designed with full care; there is no wasted space.'

Jury Selections

Lavasan Villa — Bahram Shokoohian

Manzariyyeh Residential Complex — Dariush Shahnavaz

Building No. 24 — Reza Aliabadi

Salahaldin Kola Villa — Shahriar Ghadimi

Building No. 81 — Reza Aliabadi

Pirayesh Building — Farbar Javaherian

Kordan House — Firooz Firooz

Elahiyye Residential Building (entry 150) — Behrooz Bayat

Malekar Villa — Rashid Khomarlou

Morshedzadeh House — Amir Hosein Taheri

Fashandak Villa — Hosein Naseri

Sa'adat Abad Building — Behrooz Pakdaman

Negaran Residential Building — Mohammad Reza Nikbakht

Pars 1 Residential Complex — Dariush Shahnavaz