AYTAM CARPET WEAVERS HOUSE

Even though the physical program of the project differed many times from the order time to delivery time our sympathy for young weavers did not fade.
Kids and youth accompany their mothers in carpet weaving and play along the sound of woven knots (REGS).
Kids who won’t remember the first time they sat before a carpet to weave, being brought up in carpet workshops when many of them played in between scaffolds in homes, their life is weaved with carpet. They imagine their dreams on knots and rows of carpets.
That’s the way it is, and that’s why we predicted a raw tridimensional (cubic) fabric for the volume of the project that could help the little weaver to portrait her dreams on, this way a white canvas will be provided for her to draw dreams on. Our liberal 3D architecture prepares a plain field for her to practice imagining fancy pictures.
The imaginary architecture for orphan weavers’ steps softly in the neighborhood with all the necessary building features and modern considerations. Additionally architectural quality presents by cutting and scaling volume for having yards and terraces in different levels.
This project came to reality; durable with its simple and efficient details, homogenized rows and columns of brick laid on top of each other’s head. This economy project (100 $ per meter) was built all by local labors and local materials.
Especially the bricks from a traditional supplier in the area form an Iranian Building, which accommodates various programs.
At first the program was three residential levels, then the second physical program became: workshop on the first floor, charity office on the second floor and residential on the third floor, now charity has decided to postpone moving into the building, so workshop and residential areas occupy most of the space. This is the reason building has two separate entrances apart from parking entrance. Beneficiaries will have flexibility to have several programs keeping their religious perceptions.
Charity people think carpet business will be dead in near future, so their final plan is using the building as residential, we dream in contrast, a mixed use (living and working). Our fantasy is to project some carpet maps on the facades, to present the notion of a fancy Iranian architecture.
We will have an art installation there some day.

Location: Khansar / Iran
Year of Construction: First Phase: 2010 / Second Phase: 2013
Client name: Vali-Asr Charity
Floor area: 1245 square meters
Cost: 180 000 $
Accessibility: visit by coordination

Lead Architects: Mohammadreza Ghodousi, Parsa Ardam,Fateme Rezaei
Supervision: Kamran Khazraie
Construction: ZAV Architects
Sturcture Engineer: Nader Shokoufi
Mechanical Engineer: Ali Ghanizadeh
Electrical Engineer: Ali Piltan
Photographers: Soroush Majidi, Fateme Rezaei

AYTAM CARPET WEAVERS HOUSE by ZAV Architects in Iran won the WA Award Cycle 44. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.