Elham Geramizadeh, Ehsan Hosseini — Logical Process in Architectural Design
The project is set in the historic Jolfa neighborhood of Isfahan, at the closest distance from Jolfa Square and the area's historic churches.
In the old Jolfa neighborhood of Isfahan, at the closest distance from Jolfa Square and the historic churches, where the porous old residential fabric has given way to small plots with new building regulations, designing an infill house that derives its existence from its courtyards is a challenging proposition.
Cut-away axonometric: the house is organised vertically around a sunken courtyard that gathers the interior spaces around itself.Basement floor plan: the sunken garden anchors the lowest level.Ground floor plan: entry, garage and rear courtyards.First floor plan: private rooms arranged around the central void.
A miniature collage of experiential sequences, the presence of time in the irregular connection of spaces, the interweaving of front and back, inside and outside. The project site's location within the historic Jolfa district imposed height restrictions on the house. The house sank into the ground so that a sunken garden — bright and cool — would gather the interior spaces around it. The southern breeze cools in the shadow of the sunken garden and, passing through the interior spaces, finds its way out through the rear courtyards.
Longitudinal section through the central courtyard.Street-facing brick lattice and timber screen.Cross section: the sunken courtyard with its tree forms the experiential heart of the plan.The entry: a discreet door at house number 26.Cross section showing the interior arrangement against the brick walls.Facade detail: the brick lattice gives way to a cantilevered window box.Section: the central stair threads past the courtyard tree.The sunken courtyard hosts the daily life of the family.Detail section showing the rooms and the brick lining.A miniature collage of experiential sequences: the family in the sunken courtyard.The white stair traces a diagonal against the brick wall.Daily passage through the vertical sequence of spaces.A double-height room opens onto the lattice-screened courtyard.The sunken garden, gathering interior spaces around it.Living space with full-height glazing to the sunken garden.The interior turns continuously toward the central void.Stair and railing detail: glass meets brick and marble.A vertical sequence opens between rooms with the stair as the connector.An upper bridge connects rooms across the double-height living space.One of the rear courtyards: the southern breeze passes through them on its way out.Brick continues from outside to inside; the wall is the constant of the house.A second courtyard glimpsed through the window.Light from the courtyard falls down through the stair shaft.Looking down into the sunken courtyard: the heart of the plan, seen from above.The very private courtyard, gathering light and air into the house.Exterior brick surface continues the language of the historic neighbourhood.A brick wall enters the marble interior, blurring inside and outside.Dining room beside the brick lattice screen.Kitchen, with a direct connection to one of the rear courtyards.The brick lattice carries light deep into the interior.Bathroom seen across the bedroom level.The very private courtyard — Designing experience: the project took shape based on designing sequences of the house's continuous spaces.
