The Traffic Culture Centre in Shiraz, commissioned by the Municipality’s Cultural Deputy, was envisioned as a major civic institution dedicated to the education and promotion of traffic culture, safety, and collective responsibility. More than a training facility, the project sought to establish a new cultural landmark that would bridge everyday mobility with the broader urban and social fabric of Shiraz — the “City of Secrets,” celebrated for its deep historical and cultural layers.
The design intention was to transform the inevitability of traffic into a cultural narrative. Rather than presenting mobility only as a technical or infrastructural issue, the centre repositions it as a shared civic experience, shaping behavior, awareness, and responsibility. The architecture reflects this by drawing inspiration from the basic elements of traffic culture — shape, color, signs, and movement — reinterpreted as architectural language. Forms are dynamic and expressive, referencing the aesthetics of futurism, where speed and motion become spatial metaphors.
Internally, the program includes administrative spaces, exhibition galleries, cinemas, cafés, and classrooms, conceived as a network of interactive environments where learning and leisure overlap. Circulation was carefully choreographed to echo the logic of urban movement: pathways, ramps, and nodes designed not only for efficiency but also to teach through experience. The act of moving through the building becomes an embodied lesson in orientation, awareness, and flow.
The project also engages Shiraz’s cultural continuity. By situating a highly contemporary form within a city of profound heritage, the design establishes a dialogue between tradition and modernity, permanence and dynamism. Just as ancient inscriptions across the Persian plateau celebrated knowledge as a sacred gift, the Traffic Culture Centre aspires to inscribe into the urban memory a new understanding of mobility — not as a constraint, but as a cultural practice essential to life in modern cities.
2014
Project Name: Traffic Culture Centre
Location: Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
Client: Cultural Deputy, Municipality of Shiraz
Consultant / Design Lead: Contemporary Design Atelier (CDA) – Amin Asali, Dr. Techn.
Project Type: Civic / Cultural Centre (Education, Exhibition, Leisure)
Gross Floor Area: 2500 m²
Site Area: 4000 m²
Floors: 3
Structure: Reinforced concrete frame
Main Functions / Program:
Exhibition gallery spaces
Auditorium / Cinema
Educational classrooms & training areas
Administrative offices
Café / Restaurant
Public plazas and outdoor spaces
Design Concepts Referenced:
Basic elements of traffic culture (shape, color, signs, motion)
Futurist aesthetics (speed, dynamism)
Urban interaction and place-making as a cultural platform
Client: Cultural Deputy, Municipality of Shiraz
Traffic center- Phase 0
Architect / Design Lead: Amin Asali, Dr. Techn.
Consultant / Firm: Contemporary Design Atelier (CDA)
Project Architects: CDA in-house team
Design Team: CDA design team
Urban Studies & Context Analysis: CDA research team (Phase 0)
Structural Engineering Consultant: A. Nesari
Mechanical / Electrical Consultant: A.P. Geramifard
Visualization & Graphics: CDA Studio Satt
H Satt
