Master's thesis
Title: Architecture, City, Environmental Wisdom. Supervisor: Eng. Bijan Fatahi. Co-supervisor: Eng. Morteza Kasmaei. School: Iran University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. Year: 1378 (1999). Born: 1352 (1973); matriculated: 1371 (1992).
In spite of the multiplicity of types and the variety of forms, uses, and roles, one can in a single phrase regard architecture and the city as the product of a timeless and universal intelligence in dialogue with its surrounding environment and with all the tangible and intangible aspects of that environment. In this study, while making a meticulous examination of fifty notable examples — from the earliest periods of human life to the major works of architecture — and setting the chosen concepts to work, the design of a fragment of a neighbourhood, comprising the necessary housing units, was undertaken on the uneven terrain around the Twin Rocks (Sang-Doqlu) in Golabdarreh, Shemiran.
The effort can be read as an opening to a codification of the principles and foundations of environmental design — design in step with sustainable development. The principal design challenges were: (1) attention to the natural features of the site and the resolving of the contradiction between the west-facing slope and the absorption of solar energy from the south; (2) consideration of the cold mountain climate in the formation of interior and exterior elements and spaces; (3) drawing on view and natural setting; (4) a fitting stitching of urban fabric to mountain nature; (5) creating an evocative experience in the passage from the city to the heights of the Alborz.
Sustainable elements of the scheme
A hanging garden on the roof as a heat-exchange regulator; a tent covering for the north-facing rooms; solar collectors providing space heating; the north-facing rooms acting as a thermal insulating buffer; biogas tanks set in the rear slope of each unit.
