Rafsanjan Sport Complex

The Rafsanjan Sport Complex is a sports facility in Rafsanjan, Kerman province, designed by Seyed Hadi Mirmiran of Naghsh-e Jahan Pars Consulting Engineers. Originally conceived as a museum, the form was inspired by the traditional ice houses (yakhchals) of southern Iran. Its opaque cone-shaped dome combines with transparent glazed elements to divide the indoor and outdoor swimming pools, while interior walls of brick and exposed concrete maintain spatial integrity across gymnasia, pools, saunas, and a restaurant.

The project received the Runner-Up award (score 25/35) at the 1st Memar Award in 2001, generating the most heated debate of all entries. Bahram Shirdel, its strongest advocate (score 7), called it "one of the few projects that has raised this architectural discussion very correctly," praising how elements like the wall and the conical form "have been presented as architectural statements." He noted: "I as an architect have learned specific lessons from it."

Kamran Afshar Naderi acknowledged that "a special space has been created" and the dual pool placement "raises a successful spatial discussion," but critiqued the unchanged form: "initially meant to be a museum, the form that remained fixed is approximately close to an ice house — from the design phase to execution, nothing changed." Iraj Kalantari questioned the broader pursuit of Iranian identity in architecture at this historical juncture, while praising the wall as an architectural element. Mohammadreza Joudat found the space-frame ceiling "illogical" for the scale, noting "a lack of overall coherence with its structure."