Saadat Abad Recreational Center

The Saadat Abad Recreational Center, designed by Sam Tehranchi and his team at Design Core [4S], won joint fourth place at the 3rd Memar Award (2003). Located on Sarrafha Street off Darya Boulevard in the Saadat Abad neighborhood of Tehran, the building addresses the challenge of fitting a multi-level recreational program onto a compact 500-square-meter urban plot.

The jury recognized the architect's skill in handling the demanding site constraints with a bold formal strategy. The building's most striking feature is its flowing, horizontally banded white facade — a series of continuous curved aluminum panels that wrap around the structure like ribbons, creating a futuristic presence on the street. This sculptural envelope conceals a complex interior program of gathering halls, meeting rooms, and service spaces totaling 4,000 square meters across multiple basement and above-ground levels.

The architectural design associates included Nader Gholipour and Bihzad Barzegar, with construction supervised by Hossein Giahi and detailed drawings by Naser Naghdi and Mansour Naghdi. The construction period from January 2003 to March 2004 saw the realization of a building that pushes the boundaries of commercial architecture in Tehran through its dynamic formal expression.