Metro Station Chaharbagh

Metro Station No. 01 (MetroBam complex) is a commercial and public-transit building on Chaharbagh Abbasi in Isfahan, designed by Studio B A (Babak Karimpoor). The project consisted of designing atop a four-storey concrete structure that had been built as a consequence of the metro line passing through Chaharbagh and then abandoned for years, while a private investor sought to complete it under a BOT arrangement.

The MetroBam project is fundamentally a confrontation in pursuit of the architect's social responsibility. All the confrontations stem from the complex circumstances behind this project: the nature of the transfer conditions, uncertainty in the physical programme and future uses, economic justification, the type of existing skeleton and structure, and the rush for rapid utilisation.

Through studying architectural patterns of the surroundings, it became clear that Pahlavi-era structures had featured elongated colonnaded porticos facing the street, which had been demolished and replaced. The complex's design is a continuation of this forgotten architectural tradition — one that strives, in harmony with the Chaharbagh context, to express the architecture of its own time while answering the needs of today.

During the 25th Memar Award jury deliberations, juror Ehsan Hoseini praised this project: "Apart from a section the municipality built as the facade of Chaharbagh, this is the only building constructed on the main section of Chaharbagh-e Abbasi. They essentially decided to bring the void to the Chaharbagh front and create a kind of condensed concept of a small Chehel Sotoun, with a portico or entrance iwan. I think this was a good decision." The project received a unanimous 10 points and placed 2nd in Public Buildings.