Termeh Office

This project is located in Hamedan, one of Iranian historical cities. Hamedan has an active urban space that is characterized by squares and an important north-south urban axis which connects them together. This axis crosses the site from the western side.

The brief was to design a two-floor building with commercial functions: a retail space on the ground floor and a private office on the first floor. In terms of the urban skyline, the second floor (roof) follows its neighbor’s height, with a 2.5 meters height wall. So, this project encompasses three different characters on three levels with different communication with the urban space.

Since this project has different addressees for each function, the idea was to connect the functions separately and directly to the urban space. Furthermore, we need to find a vertical access solution. The separation between the retail & office functions was recognized as the most critical part of this project, which was implicated as architectural element to generate the form. That separation was materialized in the slab, characterized from one side as the office floor and from the other side as the retail space ceiling. The ceiling slab in the retail space bends and acquires the function of stairs that connect the office directly to the walkway in front.

The roof was devoted to the office, as roof garden for business ceremonies and outdoor parties. The facade is a continuous covering system, which is made of local bricks patterned with local and traditional brick layering techniques, in order to match the urban context.

The building is designed to connect with the city’s public space and is influenced by Hamedan’s many public squares, which are linked by wide boulevards. One of these boulevards runs along one edge of the building, so the architects decided to emphasize the connection between the interior of the building and the street by bringing the roof down to meet the pavement.

Ahmad Bathaei & Farshad Mehdizade Architects