Mosha House

Mosha House (Three Views), located in the Mosha plain north of Tehran in the foothills of the Alborz Mountains, won Third Place in the Individual Dwellings category at the 16th Memar Award (2016). The steep mountainous site, with its unparalleled scenery and sense of freedom and suspension, inspired the design.

The architects first examined the existing villa typology in the region, where buildings typically stretch across the width of the land, occupying most of the plot with the remainder given to connecting stairs between levels — a typology that ignores the site's potential and offers little more than urban apartment living. The architects sought to eliminate the boundaries between human and nature, pursuing a unity of interior and exterior and evoking the pleasure of suspension and freedom within the building's spaces amid the mountains.

The creation of three cube-shaped volumes along the site's longitudinal axis, with instantaneous rotation around a central staircase, was all that was needed to address the program and create a new structure. Three cubic volumes merge around a large shaft containing a wooden staircase. Taking advantage of the mountain views led to floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows, dividing the panorama into three different frames across three floors — living paintings that frame daily activities alongside them, blending interior and exterior. By the first painting at sunrise, one exercises and swims; beside the second, one socializes from dawn to dusk as light and shadow dance with the building's simple volumes; and at the highest, quietest part, beside the final painting adorned with mountains and stars, one falls asleep counting stars.