CRISTIANO LUCHETTI

Published on Compasses 034_2020

"Modernity" seems to have represented the first real phenomenon of cultural globalization in architecture. The urban, typological, and constructive research of the modern movement arose to give a political response to the social changes introduced by the industrial revolution. Thanks to the eminently pragmatic nature, "modern" ideas rapidly spread throughout the world during the twentieth century. The so-called "migration of the German masters" in 1933 to North America profoundly impacted the professional practice and teaching of architecture across the American continent. After the Second World War, through the cultural exchange linked to colonization (in fact still ongoing), the Middle East, Africa, and the rest of the world adopted the basic principles of the "modern architectural revolution." Often, modernization took place to the detriment of classic construction methods and local architectural languages. As a result, vernacular traditions have suffered the impact of these architectural proposals implemented under the impulse of rapid and uncontrollable urbanizations that are at the origin of the apparently unsolvable problems of contemporary metropolises. The interesting architectural phenomenon of the Iranian "palazzina" can be understood as an integral part of this historical process, and it could represent its Persian application. It positions itself in the complex scenario of the recent years' rapid and uncontrolled growth of the Middle Eastern country's cities. The term "Palazzina," however, exists only in Italian. A direct translation refers to the more generic name of "building" both in English and in Persian ( ساختمان )[1]. More in-depth research allows finding more detailed definitions such as "apartment block" or "apartment house." However, these words do not appear to be associated with more specific terminology. The reason is to be found in the fact that the "palazzina" is configured as an exclusively Italian architectural category. It was born at the beginning of the twentieth century in Rome, with specific programmatic features that generated various typological solutions. Indeed, it is useful to remember, that the building does not initially have a particular typological solution. "The building is not a typology but a building quantity, as it was born in legislation as a purely dimensional fact: the height, the width, the number of floors. »[2] Therefore, within predetermined limitations and physical quantities (permitted volume, maximum height, etc.), the designer is called to define the various typological components, i.e., the relationships between the designated internal and external spaces, or the position of the vertical circulation, the arrangement of the units or the partition of the exterior facades, and so on.

At this point, it should be legitimate to wonder: Why the Iranian multi-family residential building cannot be called with its proper name of "apartment building" or "multi-story residential building"? Because I believe it is legitimate to highlight that there is more than one feature in common with his Italian alter ego. First, as already mentioned, we should take into account its purely quantitative and non-qualitative origin. Throughout the world, Iranian cities have also experienced a rapid and impressive urbanization process. Since the 1979 revolution, the Iranian population has doubled. [3] In particular, Tehran has gone from 1.5 million inhabitants in 1956 to 15 million in the current metropolitan area. The modes of living in Iran did not change according to the new housing models' new lifestyle. However, recent years' demographic explosion still caused a very high demand for new residential units and, particularly, for "apartment buildings." [4] The long commuting times between the residences and workplaces caused by the urban sprawl have pushed the young families to abandon the traditional "extended families" homes looking for houses with a smaller surface in more convenient locations.

With the request for new types of apartment buildings, the urban fabric has generally changed. It has evolved from a structure consisting of mainly irregular blocks to one designed by organized urban grids. In addition to this, the population influx from the countryside caused a sudden surge in land value with a consequent increase in the allowed building densities. [5] This urban transformation process was facilitated by new regulations such as increased heights, allowed volume, etc.

The building can indeed occupy now 60% of the available lot. This directive has drastically modified the traditional architectural approach in the design of residential buildings. The gradually disappearing homes of extended families were based on hierarchical parameters that responded to strict spatial requirements to guarantee external and internal privacy. [6] The courtyard, which was the spatial "core" of the extended family, is nowadays usually replaced by a front yard. Such semi-private space is located between the volume and the street access to provide a physiological distance from the driveway [7]

Continuing with our comparison, we can note that the Roman "Palazzina" is also the result of evolution. It derived from the previous "Villino" that underwent a morphological transformation due to the need for increased functional capacity. In this case, the Iranian apartment building also responded to the change in the housing models necessary to accommodate the needs of the undergoing transformation of society. Therefore, the comparison between the two architectural phenomena may not be entirely inappropriate, especially if considering the originality of the spatial and formal research undertaken by the generation of architects called to invent new typologies, which today contribute so substantially to the transformation of their urban landscape.

The high quality of contemporary Iranian architecture has not been an element of a novelty for a long time. The historic economic isolation imposed by the United States on the Middle Eastern state has not produced as much cultural isolation, especially from an architectural perspective. To an important tradition, a new generation of architects added experimentation using modern languages, built numerous buildings, and communicated through the most popular digital platforms and the alternative channels of social networks.

In recent years, there has been no edition of the most important international awards that have not seen the participation and often Iranian architects' success. In their common research, there are fundamental characteristics of an actual "movement." As such, it would need a name that identifies it, but it might be necessary to analyze the recent Iranian architectural production more thoroughly and not only one specific 'typology' as in this text. However, this cultural phenomenon is not entirely surprising, even if it is certainly singular. Especially when compared to the global international context, where there is a tendency to assert individualism ("neo-subjectivism") that is increasingly exasperated and it aims to the definition of its own, unmistakable, "branding." In addition to sharing an evident, and perhaps proud, connection with their cultural origin, all Iranian architects must deal with the embargo's political phenomenon. How the global scenario, in which Iran is often perceived in a problematic way, can affect its architects' creative production is hard to say. It is not for us to go into considerations that we cannot support a specific competence. It is, however, easy to assume that international political choices and the yoke of the embargo have an important influence on many aspects of everyday architectural practice. Among many, perhaps the most evident factor is represented by the impossibility of supplying products from abroad. Therefore, this limitation, and consequently the resulting scarcity of choice of materials, constitutes the design agent that pushes to research and reconfigure traditional architectural techniques in a unique contemporary key. An example of this approach is manifested in the renewed interest in the use of wood, exposed brick, and other stone cladding systems. Once replaced by the more "modern" plaster, these materials are available on the internal market. It is time for them to return as protagonists, even of the most advanced digital numerical control experiments.

The projects on the following pages were selected through a "call for contributions," and we believe they represent the state of the art of contemporary architectural production concerning the Iranian "Palazzina." We chose to publish the most interesting built buildings among the many high-quality submitted contributions. Many projects that are currently still in the concept or construction phase would have deserved to be included. We reserve the right to publish them later, possibly when they are completed.

It is interesting to note that, as usual, scarcity constitutes an essential driving force behind creative research. In this case, as already mentioned, materiality becomes one of the fascinating fields of architectural study. Wood, brick, and local stone take on different roles in the design of the Iranian "Palazzina." For example, the facade's brick coating, through parametric control, "ripples" and takes on three-dimensional values. It establishes new perceptual relationships in reading the elevations of the Park Residential building designed by BonnArq Architects. In other examples, bricks replace the traditional wooden shielding of the openings to ensure the interior spaces' privacy. The inventive use of the material informs the architectural language. From being "heavy," it turns into "light" through perforations of the surfaces or the assembly of panels placed to protect the generous openings as in the Kohan Ceram Central Office & Residential building designed by Hooba Design. The Saadat Abad Residential Building, designed by Mohsen Kazemianfard, uses this solution to establish a vibrant relationship between the external and internal space to create the facade of what the designer defines as a "soft border" plan. Traditional Persian gardens are sources of inspiration for the Pardis Khaneh building's typological organization designed by Keivani Architects. In this case, the designers criticize the classic separation between external and internal spaces designing the building as a spatial extension of the adjacent public green areas. The movable wooden panels determine the facade's degree of porosity while contributing to the building's sustainability through the control of solar radiation.

Stereometric carving is another strategy, mainly when buildings express the stone's potential materiality. The Meygoon residential complex of New Wave Architecture is an example. The structure, entirely covered in stone, conforms around a full-height central space, arranging the residential units towards the surrounding mountainous landscape. The suggestions and contradictions of the informal and often self-built architecture of the local urban context are reflected in the volumetric fragmentation and cladding of the Ham-Sayeye-Park Apartment facade by White Cube Atelier, and in the apparently uncontrolled proliferation of balconies in the Cedrus Residential conceived by NextOffice. Masih Fazile manifests the Iranian society's ongoing transformation and its search for new housing types in the "Small House" project. An ancient suburban villa now no longer meeting a contemporary family's needs acquires new spatial and functional identities through its conversion, transforming the building into semi-independent residential units. Lastly, Habibeh Madjdabadi's original "Approximation House" reveals a potential still unexpressed in the continuous research of this generation of architects who are authors of an effective and consistently high-quality architectural production.

[1] https://www.wordreference.com/iten/palazzina

[2] A. di Bello, Le tipologie edilizie intensive in La casa bene primario. Le case degli italiani. L'evoluzione delle abitazioni popolari e borghesi, a cura di R. Lemme, Gangemi, Roma, 2010 p.109

[3] D. Diba, Iran and contemporary architecture, in Mimar Magazine, Volume 30, 2003.

[4] O. Heydaripour, et al. A Survey on Privacy of Residential Life in Contemporary Apartments in Iran in «International Journal of Scientific Study» Number 3, June 2017, 254-263.

[5] F. F. Arefian, S.H. I. Moeini, UrbanChange in Iran. Stories of Rooted Histories and Ever-accelerating Developments Heidelberg: Springer International, 2019

[6] M. M. Shabani, Relation of cultural and social attributes in dwelling, responding to privacy in Iranian traditional house, in «Journal of social science and humanities» Volume 6, Number 2, 2011, 273-287.

[7] H. Soltanzadeh, From house to apartment, in «Architecture and Culture Quarterly», Volume 7, Number 23, 2005 142–154.