Mino-An

Mino-An (officially "Mino-An Residential Apartment, Zambaq-e Pardisan Project") is a renovation of a thirty-year-old duplex apartment in Shahrak-e Gharb, Tehran, designed by CrossArchitecture (Mehrdad Makaremi). This renovation is not merely a physical intervention but an endeavour toward a critical engagement with the concept of change in architecture and a re-reading of the relationship between past and present. The aim was to redefine the experience of dwelling — a process founded on peeling away layers, revealing, and reinventing.

The unit's distinctive situation — semi-private green space and independent access — disclosed the potential for a villa-like experience within the heart of a residential complex. The design began by liberating larger plan modules through the relocation of the entrance, staircase, and minor service spaces. Revealing, through the removal of layers that had concealed the structure, was not only an aesthetic gesture but a strategy for organising a fresh spatial arrangement in which traces of the past remain woven into the fabric of the spatial experience.

The project's key element is a wooden volume that extends across both floors, organises horizontal and vertical circulation, and distributes greenery throughout the home. Wooden baskets, like nests perched on concrete branches, envelop the house's primary spaces while simultaneously transforming into circulation axes, gathering spots, seating alcoves, staircases, terraces, and furniture. The concrete structure and brick walls serve as unadorned relics of the past; the wooden volume arrives as a new guest, generating a fresh order; and metal panels act as functional complements — together composing a multilayered narrative of the coexistence of memory and imagination.

At the 25th Memar Award, Mino-An achieved the strongest consensus in the Renovation category: 3 of 5 jurors gave it first place, and all 5 jurors placed it in their top two. It received 13 points — the highest score in Renovation.