Aban House

Aban House in Isfahan was born from the architects' experience of expecting their first child. Mohammad Arab and Mina Moeineddini of USE Studio decided to leave their 130-square-meter apartment and build a home in the historic fabric behind the Abbasi Jame Mosque, seeking refuge from the frenzy of modern urban life. They found a 250-square-meter irregularly shaped lot, thirty meters long, narrowing from ten meters in the north to seven and a half meters in the south, echoing the organic labyrinthine fabric of its surroundings.

The designers drew inspiration from the contrasts inherent in Isfahan's historic urban tissue — light and shadow, fullness and void, constriction and openness — all in continuity and harmony. They questioned whether architecture should align itself with the accelerating pace of contemporary life or serve as a balm for its social ills, ultimately creating a space where some of the lost peace and stillness could be recovered. The house engages in direct dialogue with the four-hundred-year-old turquoise dome of the Abbasi Jame Mosque visible from its northern end.

Built on a site area of 250 square meters with a total built area of 400 square meters, Aban House won First Place in the Individual Dwellings category at the 18th Memar Award (2018). The child who was destined to live behind that blue dome was named Aban, and the house they built became Aban House.