The Alley House / Marziah Zad + Raha Ashrafi + Mohsen Marizad

Text description provided by the architects. The design of Alley House has grown in response to two fundamental aspects of Iranian culture and way of life.

On the other hand, historically conservative social structures have nurtured an introverted architecture that prevents outsiders from even glancing at someone else’s house. But on the other hand, rapid urbanization that began in the 1970s has led to the development of accelerated housing models, with little integration of Iranian cultural preferences into their architecture. Instead, Iran’s housing patterns followed general standards for apartment buildings, with large south-facing windows and a large footprint to ensure a real estate profit. As a result, what we see in all cities across the country are cramped, flat buildings with large windows covered in heavy curtains.

In response to this predicament, the design of the Alley House presents a proposal that preserves the necessary introversion of culture-based architecture while creating connections to the unique outdoor environment of each space and the activities that comprise it from the interior.

To do this, engineers created a tire system. Rather than facing the street directly, these frames are rotated to face the sides of neighboring apartment buildings. The frames are then arranged on top of each other to provide indirect lighting across terraces that frame views or support a particular experience through their connection to the environment.

The title “The Alley House” has both functional and conceptual origins. Functionally, the title was derived from a decision the architects made early in the design process to connect two parallel streets via an alley on the ground floor of the project. To support the aesthetic of an alley within an apartment building, urban and industrial materials such as flamed granite stone and perforated metal panels were used. The public road allows public access during the day. Allowing public access through private property is a unique convenience because property owners often prefer security and privacy over providing easy access to neighbours.

But the title is conceptually derived as well. The concept of an alley archetype is deeply rooted in Iranian culture. The alley, understood to be a narrow street surrounded by fruit and nut trees, was raised from the ground floor to the long narrow terraces created in the upper levels of round frames. An offset from adjacent walls that was necessary to allow indirect light to wash the interior while ensuring privacy for the residents creates a narrow “alley” that is then lined with trees and flowers to recreate the corridor’s original style aesthetic in a traditional Persian urban design.

The building consists of two apartments. The interior design includes blank spaces between floors covered by a grid to allow for visual connections between levels while allowing floor space to be used in this small 26 x 55 foot lot. The result is dynamic interior connections between spaces for families and unique connections to the exterior adjacent to each interior space.

The materials used in the project were chosen to be natural, environmentally aware and local to the local environment. Qom is a barren city, where brick is the primary building material in traditional architecture. However, for decades, stone has replaced local bricks in architecture in Qom, with developers and buyers alike seeing stone facades to be more luxurious and expensive. The architects’ priority in using locally sourced and environmentally conscious materials led to an exploration of brick laying patterns for a distinctive and unique facade, which separates itself from old school or vernacular building in general.

In this project, the architects sought to refer to the roots of Iranian culture and architecture while using traditional and local building materials in a new and aesthetically pleasing way. The red brick facade is simple and imaginative in the urban environment in which it settles, demanding attention while concealing the liveliness of the interior.