Damascus-based design, research and consultancy firm Reparametrize Studio has unveiled plans to transform traditional Damascus House with smart technology in Damascus, Syria. 

The city of Damascus is the oldest inhabited capital in human history and has witnessed a cultural legacy throughout the city. Today it contains a large collection of archaeological sites and more to be the Islamic architecture, 100 archaeological sites that produced one of the most important formations of the city. 

Headquarter Of Bank-Al Cham

This architectural style, which reflects a realistic picture of the life of the Damascene society and also meets its cultural, social and economic needs, also addresses the environmental and climatic needs of place users through the material characteristics of the building materials available in the city. 

Damascus in the recent period began to lose its archaeological inventory and disappeared large parts of its spiritually and materially, the attention became physically ignoring the time track and the needs of the city.

"The Damascene house is one of the features of the Eastern architecture with the unique qualities that has acquired during the centuries of prosperity which have permeated the city of Damascus in aesthetic creativity and career distribution," said Reparametrize Studio.

"Reparametrize studio try to challenge the traditional ideas in design and architecture and push their boundaries to coexist in the new technological era based on modern scientific principles," said Ziwar Al-Nouri Founder of Reparametrize Studio.

"Our design for Al-Cham Bank came to restore the modern Damascus City with its lost architectural identity and convey its spirit to the customers and visitors of the bank. The proposed bank is designed to combine simplicity and beauty in the interior and exterior design of the building, taking into account the social and economic factor of the city," added Reparametrize Studio.

The design of the external facades of the building and the architectural composition of the block to express the scene in the Damascus architecture and the simplicity of the formation in the Damascus house from the outside, the limestone façade was designed to attract natural sun light and make beautiful patterns inside of the building it have a low thermal conductivity allowing the act of insulator in extreme weather conditions, while their high bending resistance allows thicknesses to be reduced, making the structures lighter and also taking into account the modern architectural language. 

The exterior windows were designed to perform the “Mashrabiya” Damascus function, made from Kerto-LVL wood which have an advanced properties in maintaining the structure and low impact on environment ,and using Low-E glass to reduce UV radiation and also installed in the front of the stairs and the secondary entrance with the application of the Islamic decoration which confirmed the visual identity of Cham bank.

"Buildings of the future integrate people and systems in a dynamic way, we also envision our future buildings with the spirit of heritage and its impact towards sustainability," said Bilal Baghdadi Co-Founder of Reparametrize Studio.

The interior design of the building was inspired by the language of the overlapping in the alleys of the Old Damascus City and its architectural details. The idea of the inner courtyard was also borrowed in terms of form, shape and function. The large courtyard with rich views of trees and fountains is designed in its center and designed on the ground floor. 

The element of shadows, lighting and natural ventilation in the inner courtyard using Thermal Convection System used in Traditional Damascus houses feeds all sections and interior spaces of the building .The visual identity of the Sham Bank has been taken into account by adding Islamic decoration and colors in the interior.

Emphasis was to enhance transparency and visual communication between customers and employees through open space “Courtyard” Design and using this design as a platform for smart Communication Techniques and facilitate the Surveillance and Protection System.

The design took into account the concepts of sustainability through the provision of lighting and ventilation, storage and reuse of rainwater and the identification of the entrance point and openings of windows.

"Smart buildings will address the challenges of open architecture design, Therefore we worked in our design of layered bridges that secure communication, taking into account the Layer security strategy that controls building monitoring," explained Reparametrize Studio.

Bank Al-Cham smart building is enhanced by a high performance structure cabling system, which is connecting each level of the smart building to Maximize efficiency and productivity, creating a versatile physical layer using wireless mobility, maintaining  safety and security through risk management. 

The studio's proposal is an open system platform which supports multi-applications for customers and investors, it is also forming virtual gateways to connect employees in the office by allowing BYOD and connecting to people around the world.

Reparametrize's works to pioneer a new methodology to regenerate the future of post-war smart city /Re-Coding Post-War Syria/ Research by the development of innovative, integrated and articulated design methodologies, they are leading experts in the application of computational design techniques in architecture to achieve intelligent, creative, and sustainable solutions.

All images courtesy of Reparametrize Studio 

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