Finalists: Individual Dwellings

Finalists: Individual Dwellings — 17th Memar Award

Ten projects reached the finalist stage in the Individual Dwellings category of the 17th Memar Award (1396 / 2017) — works that did not place in the medal tier but were judged by the jury as among the strongest single-family houses, villas and small residential blocks of the year. The ten range from a 48-square-metre infill house in Isfahan to a 2,600-square-metre villa in Damavand, and span Isfahan, Kish, Alborz, Abhar, Damavand, Mazandaran, and the Tehran outskirts. Several are urban courtyard houses; others are weekend villas on rural sites. The texts and facts below are transcribed from the original 17th Memar Award supplement (Memar 106, Mehr–Aban 1396).

Kooshk House, Isfahan

Sarsayeh Architectural Office — Behnam Sefidi

Location: Najafabad Road, Bagh-e Talar-e Mehrabi Street, Hafez Alley 2, Kooshk, Isfahan
Client: Mojtaba Lotfi
Design associate: Hengameh Akbari
Construction: Mohammad Ehsan Bayanzadeh, Farhad Bahramipour
Structure: Mahmoud Najafi Almousavi
Electrical: Mohammad Neshastehgar
Mechanical: Mohsen Fazileh
Photo: Farshid Nasrabadi
Site area: 3,000 m²
Total built area: 470 m²

Distance from nature is perhaps the bitterest illness of life in Iran's metropolises. The small town of Kooshk, in Isfahan's western neighbourhood and surrounded by green gardens, is an ideal candidate for a calmer life outside the city.

On that basis, the client wanted to build a new house on the foundations of an old building still standing in the garden. The first step took us toward dissolving the boundary between inside and outside, integrating the building with the surrounding nature. We pursued the idea of nature flowing from outside in, and a facade of solid and transparent surfaces that lets the kooshk-house open and close to nature as required.

The plan's main geometry comes from a forty-degree rotation of the main entry axis against the garden's primary axis. The house turns toward arriving guests, and at the intersection of those two axes — at the heart of the kooshk-house — we placed our own small piece of nature.

Volumetric study and curved pool detail — Volumetric sketch and a detail of the curved pool — the rotated forty-degree axis becomes the architectural gesture at the entrance.

Night view of the wood-and-concrete house lit from within — The house at night — the upper concrete box hovers above a warm-lit ground floor of wood and glass, the pool catching the silhouette of the surrounding trees.

Through Gardens House, Isfahan

Bam Architects Office — Babak Peyvasteh & Maliheh Salimi

Location: Hashtgerd Village, Bam Architects neighbourhood plot, Bahmanabad, Isfahan
Client: Bahman Hafshejani
Construction: Bahman Hafshejani
Supervision: Babak Peyvasteh
Structure: Mansoor Karampour
Mechanical: Ebrahimi
Graphic: Babak Peyvasteh
Photo: Tahsin Baladi
Site area: 360 m²
Total built area: 122 m²

Years ago the site was a piece of farmland — barren, vacant, indifferent. Then it began to find new neighbours: a quiet rural village formed slowly, and a sense of identity, even of small-scale community, took shape with every new addition.

The design took its cues from the surrounding rural fabric — earthen walls, mud-brick courtyards, perforated brick screens — and reinterpreted them in a contemporary key. The plan locates the main living spaces around a private courtyard; the brick screen toward the village street admits filtered light and breathes with the climate.

The result is a small house that listens to its village context without imitating it. Sheep still pass on the street outside, and from the courtyard the cooler, denser sky of Bahmanabad opens overhead.

Sheep walking past the earthen-walled village street view of the house — The house seen from the village street — sheep pass the earthen walls, the house held back behind a discreet entry door.

Inner courtyard with tall sliding glass and timber screen — The inner courtyard — full-height sliding glass dissolves the line between courtyard and living room.

Perforated brick screen filtering light into the interior — The perforated brick screen — a reinterpretation of the village's earthen-wall language as a contemporary climatic filter.

Interior living room and kitchen with brick walls — The interior — exposed brickwork and a compact kitchen island, the courtyard view framed beyond.

Ivan-Khaneh, Isfahan

Piramon Architectural Office — Behrouz Shahbazi

Location: Shahinshahr, Aramoon St., No. 56, Northern Sharghi 8, Isfahan
Client: Dr Mehdi Amuyi
Design associates: Ahmad Musavian, Masih Moshkforoush
Construction: Dr Mehdi Amuyi
Presentation: Erfan Shafiee, Mehdi Tavakoli
Structure: Surani
Photo: Hossein Farahani
Site area: 273 m²
Total built area: 410 m²

The pattern of contemporary Iranian architecture has, in many of its decisions, lost its memory of the ivan — that semi-enclosed transitional space between courtyard and room that once organised the Iranian house. This project took the form of the ivan and used it as the generating spatial idea, then arranged the rest of the house around it.

The site is thirty metres deep and eight metres wide, with a one-metre slope from north to south, and a courtyard at the centre. Around this central court, three interlocking spaces are organised: an inner court, the ivan, and the living room. The ivan, by its angle and proportion, frames precisely what the house wants you to see of the courtyard.

This double-courtyard arrangement also lets the project address the needs of different family members in different ways, with a range of activities and degrees of privacy.

Wood-clad interior of the ivan looking out to the courtyard — The ivan — wood-lined walls and a deep ceiling frame the view to the inner courtyard.

Ground and first floor plans showing two courtyards — Ground and first floor plans — two interlocking courtyards with the ivan as their pivot.

Exterior facade of the white house with the ivan opening — The exterior — the deep cut of the ivan opens the white facade.

Interior with traditional rug on the polished floor — A living-room view — the polished floor and traditional rug under the deep ceiling of the ivan.

Raj Villa, Kish Island

Creation of Sustainable Design Office — Iman Memar & Ali Rahi

Location: Shahrak-e F3, No. 587, Kish Island
Client: Masoud Rajabi
Supervision & construction: Creation of Sustainable Design Office
Project associate: Mohammad Salehi
Structure: Hosseini
Electrical: Akbar Moradi
Mechanical: Payam Mantashlo
Graphic: Ali Rahi, Iman Memar
Photo: Mohammad Hassan Ettefagh
Site area: 252 m²
Total built area: 420 m²

The design of villas on Kish Island generally faces two distinct conditions: the architecture's contact with the public exterior, and the architecture's contact with the climate. Within the modest dimensions of this villa, an attempt was made to satisfy both.

To control the first condition, the project's outer envelope is a quiet white volume that turns inward; openings are limited and oriented away from the busy beachfront context. Inside, a private courtyard with a small pool and a perforated red-brick screen on its western face does the climatic work: vertical fins ease the prevailing west wind, filter the sun's sharper angles, and cast deep shadow across the courtyard floor in the heat of the day.

The interior is held quiet against this layered envelope. The few colour and material accents — wood, terracotta, blue tile — come from a Persian Gulf vernacular tuned to a contemporary register.

Raj Villa entrance — white volume next to perforated red brick screen — The entrance — the quiet white volume sits beside the perforated red-brick screen that filters the western sun.

Ground floor and first floor plans — Ground floor and first-floor plans — the courtyard with its small pool sits at the centre, the white envelope folded around it.

Courtyard pool at night with white volumes — The courtyard pool at night — the white volumes and the perforated brick screen carry the lighting.

Interior view — minimal white interior with vertical light slit — An interior view — the courtyard's light enters through the vertical slit; finishes are kept quiet against the layered envelope.

No. 39 Villa, Alborz

Saeed Mirmohamad Sadeghi & Ladan Zarei

Location: Hamiseh Sabz Town, Karaj-Qazvin road, plot 39, Alborz
Client: Babak Javan
Construction: Saeed Mirmohammad Sadeghi, Abbas Zolghadr
Construction manager: Abbas Zolghadr
Project control: Nasim Misaghi
Design associate: Banafsheh Zareie
Structural design: Abbas Zolghadr, Nasim Misaghi
Mechanical: Aref Samadi, Meisam Sadeghi
Electrical: Ali Chahardeh
Cold & heat consultant: Ebrahim Mohajer, Sara Hosseinmehr
Green space construction: Damoun Service
Construction support: Mahsa Babaee, Mehdi Mohammad Kelaye
Photo: Ali Daghigh
Site area: 380 m²
Total built area: 380 m²

The villa is sectioned across a slope: terraces step down to a long lap pool on the south while the daytime spaces step back into the hillside, gathering daylight without losing the river view. The split allows quite different climatic conditions across the same plan, with the pool terrace open and the upper living spaces sheltered.

Two materials carry the project — a warm cedar cladding above and a quiet stone base below. The wood reads as a single ribbon along the upper volume; the stone anchors the house to the slope.

The interior is held minimal so that the river and the trees do the talking. A long polished corridor links the rooms above, while the lower-level terrace can be opened entirely to the pool.

Villa No. 39 — long pool reflecting the wood-clad upper volume — The long pool reflects the wood-clad upper volume — the villa sectioned to keep the river view across all rooms.

Stone-clad interior with wide window — The stone-clad lower interior — a wide window holds the view across the pool to the trees.

Long polished corridor between the rooms — The polished upper corridor — a single ribbon that gathers the rooms along the slope.

Pool and villa at night, lit interior visible — The villa at night — the warm-lit upper volume hovers above the cool blue of the pool.

One-None-Stone House, Abhar

TAO Office — Hamid Naserkhaki & Banafsheh Darvish

Location: Khoramdarreh, Abhar, Zanjan province
Clients: Sabineh Nazari, Reza Arablou
Design team: Sina Mostafavi, Nioyusha Zaribaaf, Mohsen Nouri, Ali Tabatabaei
Construction: Borhan Nouri, Amir Hassanpour
Supervision: Hamid Naserkhaki
Structure: Pedram Zarpaak
Mechanical & electrical: Mojtaba Moayerinezhad
Graphic: Sepehr Omidvaar
Photo: Masih Mostajeran
Site area: 400 m²
Total built area: 940 m²

The site sits among the hills above Abhar. Old loose-stone retaining walls and a few weathered farm buildings still mark the slope, and the project takes those as its starting point: not stone but the absence of stone, the gaps and joints that hold the village together.

The plan is a small village of its own — four interlocking volumes around two narrow alley-courts, each volume a different proportion and orientation, like the asymmetric build-up of a hill settlement. Around the courts the walls are local stone; the upper volumes are quiet timber-and-render that read against the orchard.

The result wears the patina of the slope without imitating it, and the courts let the wind and the sun work the interior much as they would in the old village above.

Stone and timber volumes among hillside trees — The interlocking volumes — local stone below, quiet timber above, set into the hillside above Abhar.

Warm interior with timber ceiling and dining table — The dining hall — timber ceiling and warm stone wall, the courtyard view framed at one end.

Narrow alley-court between two stone volumes — A narrow alley-court between two stone volumes — the village pattern carried into the plan.

Floor plan and section diagram — Floor plan and section — four interlocking volumes around two narrow alley-courts.

Diapason Villa, Damavand

Lotus Architecture Studio

Location: Damavand area, Tehran province
Client: Private sector
Design team: Negar Yaraghi, Mitra Mohammadi, Babak Rostamian
Construction: Mahmoud Ansari, Mohammad Akrami
Structure: Behrang Bani Adam
Mechanical: Sarmasaz eng.
Site area: 2,600 m²
Total built area: 650 m²

The villa lies long across a flat garden in Damavand. A glassy daytime hall opens onto a pool that runs the length of the plot; bedrooms are pushed to either end, away from the public side.

A reflective dropped ceiling in the living room mirrors the garden and the pool back at the inhabitants, and minimal interior detail keeps the orchard reading into every room. The result is a holiday villa whose interior dissolves into its garden whenever the weather allows.

Stone and timber alternate in long horizontal bands across the facade — a Diapason tuned to the rhythm of the orchard.

Long pool reflecting the lit villa at night — The long pool reflects the lit villa at night — the dropped ceiling above the living room mirrors the garden back inside.

Floor plan showing long pool and living hall — The floor plan — a long pool runs the length of the plot, the living hall opens to it across full-height glazing.

Open living hall with dining and pool view — The living hall — dining and lounge held loose under the dropped ceiling, the pool view continuous beyond.

Stone-wall interior detail with timber floor — A stone-wall interior detail — the wood floor carries the garden's rhythm inside.

Izad Shahr Villa, Mazandaran

Emarat-e Khorshid Consulting Engineers — Behrouz Mansouri

Location: Izad Shahr, plot 80, Mazandaran
Client: Mr Kalanaki
Design team & contract drawing: Hiva Mansouri, Farideh Jafarzadeh
Structure: Yaghoub Abed poor
Mechanical & electrical: Hoofar Esmaeili, Nina Amou Shahi
Local contractor: Negar Nabavi Tabatabaee, Ashkan Davoodi
Presentation: Bookeh Atelier (Farshid Rahimi, Farid Tavakoli, Erfan Khosravi)
Photo: Mohammad Ebrahimi
Site area: 900 m²
Total built area: 1,200 m²

The site is a dense suburban plot in Izad Shahr where the neighbours' two-storey villas crowd the boundaries. The design interlocks two two-storey volumes around a long pool on the eastern side, with the entry sequence threading between them.

Travertine cladding takes the project's exterior — quiet, weathered, durable on the humid Caspian coast — while a courtyard plan turns the rooms inward against the close neighbours. The pool reflects the second-storey overhang and shadows the inner facade through the long Caspian summer.

Inside, the rooms are organised around a calm L-plan; bedrooms take the upper storey, the day spaces the ground level around the pool.

Travertine facade — two interlocking volumes — The travertine facade — two interlocking volumes hold the entry between them.

Floor plan showing L-plan around the pool — Ground floor plan (1:200) — the L-plan turns the rooms inward around the long pool.

Interior pool courtyard with overhanging upper storey — The interior pool court — the upper storey overhangs, shadowing the inner facade through the long summer.

Bright interior with timber floor — A daytime living space — timber floor and wide window onto the pool court.

Rokhbar Residential Building, Isfahan

Nezam Askari Studio

Location: Hezar Jarib Street, Bahar-Azadi Alley, Plot 21, Isfahan
Client: Esmaeil Rokhbar
Design team: Maryam Asgari nezhad, Pouria Radmanesh, Mohammad Ranjbar, Parvaneh Mohseni, Behnaz Shamsaei
Construction manager: Nezam Askari
Superintendent: Mohammad Farzaneh, Mohammad Ebrahimi
Supervision: Nezam Askari
Structure: Toghi
Electrical: Hamed Goodarzi
Mechanical: Babak Izadi
Graphic: Parvaneh Mohseni
Photo: Farshid Nasrabadi
Site area: 244 m²
Total built area: 450 m²

The Rokhbar building sits on a narrow alley in central Isfahan, hemmed in by neighbours on three sides. The design responds with a deep central light-and-stair void that carries daylight to every unit, and a cantilever above the alley that wins back useful floor area without crowding the street further.

The facade pairs perforated brick screens with the cantilevered glass volume — the brick mediates between the project and the small-scale Isfahani neighbours; the glass marks the building's own voice. Inside, the central void becomes the social heart of the block.

The result is a small eight-unit infill block that treats its alley as a neighbour to listen to, not just as access.

Rokhbar Building — cantilevered glass volume above brick base — The cantilevered glass volume above the brick base — the project's voice over the small-scale alley.

Interior shared corridor of the block — The shared corridor — the central void carries daylight along the unit doors.

Building seen from the alley — The building seen from the alley — the perforated brick screen mediates the scale toward the neighbours.

Floor plan showing central light void — Plan level 2 — the deep central light-and-stair void organises the units around it.

House No. 102, Isfahan

Mohammad Tabatabaei Architectural Atelier

Location: Mehrazan Alley, Joohaghan Street, House No. 102, Isfahan
Clients: Mr Mahdizadeh & Ms Ghazavi
Design team: Mohammad Manshaei, Baharak Seifzadeh, Hadi Feghhi
Construction: Mohammad Tabatabaei
Structure: Omid Zaribafian
Electrical & mechanical: Daryoush Teymouri
Graphic: Hamid Reza Zareeian
Photo: Mohammad Golestan Nezhad
Site area: 48 m²
Total built area: 144 m²

A 48-square-metre infill plot in central Isfahan asked for a house that did not feel small. The answer is a vertical core: a top-lit stair runs the full height of the house, lifting daylight to the lowest level and offering a continuously varying section.

The plan separates a private street-side wing from a quiet rear wing, with the stair core between them. Each floor is a different proportion of those two wings around the stair, and the section becomes the house's main organising idea.

The exterior is a quiet wood-and-render volume that holds back from the alley; inside, the stair core lit from the roof becomes the constant point of orientation.