The jury of the 10th Memar Award (2010) selected the projects below as Semifinalists in the Residential and Public groups, with short notes on each.
Semifinalists — Residential Group
Weekend House, Shiraz
Ali Sodagaran, Nazanin Kazerounian
Nader Tehrani: This project could be set alongside Two Brothers, Two Offices — extremely well-built and handsome, but it takes no particular stance and solves no particular problem. Mojgan Hariri: The moment I saw this project I thought of Swiss architecture and the Ticino valley.
Location: Sadra, Baharestan garden-city, Shiraz · Site area: 1,000 m² · Built area: 140 m² · 2005–2010
Mohammad Shahr Villa, Karadj
Makan Rahmanian, Kamran Heirati
Hadi Tehrani: It's a fine villa to live in. The courtyard is handsome. Mojgan Hariri: In our own practice we have a constant debate — at what point does a piece of work become a work of art? Nasrin Seraji: The project is good and well-built, but it leads no architectural discussion anywhere. Nader Tehrani: I don't agree with you at all about the execution.
Location: Shahrdari Blvd., Nayestan-e Sevvom, Karadj · Site area: 4,000 m² · 2008–2010
Pipe Shelter, Karadj
Barsav Architecture Group, Alireza Asadpour
Nasrin Seraji: I'm undecided about it. I don't like its look, yet as a very simple space outside the city, for an afternoon away, it could be an interesting spot. Mojgan Hariri: I worry that if we keep this project, the message we send is that sustainable architecture is allowed to be ugly! Hadi Tehrani: To me it isn't ugly — it's beautiful, in fact. It's the kind of architecture that grows beautiful out of sheer ugliness, like an Alfa Romeo.
Location: Golha 4, Viladasht, Karadj · Site area: 350 m² · Built area: 35 m² · 2010
Linear Villa, Rouyan
Hossein Mahmoudi
Nasrin Seraji: If the same attention given to plan and terracing had been given to the roof, this could have been a fine project. Mojgan Hariri: The designer is not entirely aware of what they have produced — the project may even have been somewhat accidental. Nader Tehrani: I don't think it was accidental at all; every architectural tactic for building a good house has been chosen deliberately. Hadi Tehrani: To me the project looks very foreign — like a Tuscan villa in Italy.
Location: Abpari Road, Pi-Mood village, Rouyan · Site area: 1,000 m² · Built area: 250 m² · 2004–2005
Semifinalists — Public Group
Shirkam Golestan Dairy Products Factory
Padyav Part Architecture Group (Bahram Shokoohian)
Nasrin Seraji: The important point here is that architecture should not happen only in offices and prestigious buildings — it should also happen in places where nobody expects it. Hadi Tehrani: True, but the design itself isn't very good. Nader Tehrani: The biggest criticism levelled at industrial buildings is their scalelessness and their disconnection from their surroundings — and this project deals well with both.
Location: Minoodasht industrial estate, Golestan Province · Site area: 2,240 m² · Built area: 1,136 m² · 2004–2006
Building Engineering Organisation of Qazvin Province
Parisa Alimohammadi, Alireza Taghaboni
Mojgan Hariri: This project is brave and strong in its form — especially in its choice of materials and the diagram of the combined volumes. But the detail of the junction between the two volumes is wrongly resolved. Gisou Hariri: The clarity and simplicity in material choice, the change of windows and the laying out of the brief are all very commendable. Hadi Tehrani: The interior spaces are also of a very fine quality. Nader Tehrani: The two public spaces created in the gap between the volumes are notable.
Location: Shahid Beheshti Blvd., opposite Red Crescent Building, Qazvin · Built area: 2,500 m² · 2006–2009
Dental Office, Shiraz
Seyed Hossein Mirzaei
Hadi Tehrani: The positive note of the project is its narrative reading of dentistry inside the design. Mojgan Hariri: That dental offices everywhere in the world are dull doesn't mean this one should be interesting. Nasrin Seraji: Even the curves are two-dimensional — like a dental crown rather than a tooth itself. Gisou Hariri: To me it has a Disneyland feel. Nader Tehrani: I have two problems — the literalness of the tooth metaphor, and the missed opportunity to work in three dimensions.
Location: Afifabad, Qasr-e Dasht St., Shiraz · Area: 110 m² · 2007
