The effort was to, while respecting the introversion aspect of the residential units, consider implementing a terrace to protect the disturbing severe direct sunlight in summer and benefit from the sunlight in the cold weather of winter because of the warm and dry climate of Shiraz. As a result, after the trial and errors on different materials, we chose the metal punched sheets with furnace colour coating. These tiles are connected to the terrace by the hinges and can bend on each other. When the hinges are closed, there is no visual connection from the outside; In addition, due to building front elevation which is located at the southern facade and also 80 degrees sun radiation in the summer noon of Shiraz, this type of facade controls the disturbing summer light.

We implemented green elements in the vertical wall of the facade to induce more “sense of home” and to link with natural materials which controlled light and view in residential spaces. Jasmine Dutch and Pich Amin-o-dowleh were our plant choices. The windows are framed with boxes that were extruded from the facade surface, created shadows on the windows and the south facade. The frames were installed in a scattered pattern due to the visual aspect of the design and prevent monotony on the facade

Floor Plans

At night, in addition to the brightness of the light reflected from the punched holes, the small square openings on these sheets with coloured lights on the grey facade were created and ultimately all of these factors help to create a wall with visual and functional flexibility in the facade.  Another notable point was the creation of an integrity between the residential building and the yard, which caused the sheets to extend along the walls. At the entrance, the flooring continues inside the yard to the sidewalk to emphasize its unique identity for the building.

Diagram 1

• Architects

  ASHARI Architects

• Location

  Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran

• Category

  Apartments

• Lead Architects

  Amirhossein Ashari

• Design Associates / Team

  Zahra Jafari , Afshin Ashari

• Area

  1140.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Parham Taghioff, AmirAli Ghaffari