Lahijan Entrance Square Main Elementgo back to all projects

  • About the project

    Huts on the Heights of Imagination

    Lahijan, a city enveloped in tea gardens with a rich history and lush nature. What element can represent the identity of a place? An element that can convey a sense of meaning with the people's first encounter with the city and be inviting in a way.

    The project process was shaped based on this question: "What comes to mind for a viewer when they hear the name Lahijan? Or how can Lahijan be expressed in a form?"

    To find the answer to this question, we not only interviewed the residents of this city but also travelers and passersby. The answers were varied: from tea factories to cookies... from the large pool to the tomb of Sheikh Zahed... from green hills to rural cottages.

    In response to our fundamental question, we considered the tea-filled hills that house cottages with sloping roofs as a familiar form with a historical background that is still evoked in the minds of the audience as one of the city's symbols.

    In the next stage, by eliminating the curved form of the hills and simplifying the cubic modules of the cottages connected to each other, we created a structure that, in addition to geometric harmony, conveys signs of the city's symbolic elements.

    main render

  • wanted to ask you, when you hear the name Lahijan, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? When I think of Lahijan, I imagine green hills with little houses that have sloping roofs

    a picture about lahijan huts

  • We're doing a survey to understand the perception of Lahijan among the people of Gilan. When I think of Lahijan, the image that comes to my mind is tea plantations and the villages where tea is grown.

    a picture about lahijan hills

  • As someone who isn't originally from Gilan but visits there occasionally, what comes to mind when you hear the word Lahijan ? For me, the north of Iran, whether it's Lahijan, Gilan, or Mazandaran, is always associated with villas, gabled houses, and rain.

    a picture about lahijan city

  • diagram 1

    Stage Zero


    Lahijan: A place of green hills...
    with cottages with sloping roofs....

  • diagram 2

    Stage one


    What if instead of that hill, there was an "empty space"?
    Hanging huts, on top of imaginary hills...

  • diagram 3

    Stage two


    Outlines that evoke those huts...
    Huts on the heights of imagination.....

  • render 1
  • render 2, Lahijan Entrance Square Main Element
  • render 3, Lahijan Entrance Square Main Element
  • floor plan
  • sections
  • diagram A

    step 1


    In order for the height of the field to be higher, it was necessary to fill the ground to a height of about one meter.
    To reduce costs, we excavated part of the project and used the same soil to provide the height of the floor platform.

  • diagram B

    step 2


    We envisioned the project structure as modules of cubic frames that function as Vierendeel trusses. They are placed at three points on the ground. We considered the size of these cubes to be four meters.

  • diagram C

    step 3


    In addition to the structural frames (which are naturally heavy), we placed a number of similar cubic modules (made of lightweight sheets). These modules are suspended and, together with the main structural modules, shape the form of the element.

  • diagram D

    step 4


    To reduce material consumption and achieve a more sustainable structure, we employed a novel roofing system. By eliminating the roof load and replacing it with lightweight beams, we significantly reduced the overall structural weight. This approach not only maintained the visual appeal of the sloping roof but also increased the structure's lifespan and reduced energy consumption.