845-unit residential complex Sadra

The aim of the project was to develop residential blocks with a very low budget without giving up the standards of quality and characteristics. The groups of 11 tower blocks make up a site of 70 acres in the disorderly precast concrete urban district of Sadra on the outer skirts of Shiraz; they bring a welcome new idiom into the area. They differ from the neighboring rows of buildings and pain-block houses by having considerably more stories and more substantial properties, giving them the character of squat towers.

In terms of urban planning the apartment buildings are placed around a central pedestrian access with social spaces and courtyards covered with greenery and water fountains. Two parallel rounds embrace the site allowing access from the main road to the apartment buildings. The volumes and elevations are not uniform in shape but have the same colors and floor plans due to enhancing views and efficiency in cost, complementing the heterogeneity of the surroundings and aiding the orientation of the residents and passers-by.

In contrast the rearward structural elements containing the living areas vary in their figuration, because the floor levels follow the tract of land and are disposed so their openings receive sunlight. All 845 units have balconies and loggias with generous windows. Day light can reach far inside via these intermediary areas. Every block is about 1026m/sq the floor plans are generally 55 – 80 m/Sq while in every floor there are 12 units decreasing to 7 units on higher floors.

Under the cultural diversity there lays a unanimous objective; to provide the largest possible amount of private spaces with the collective or public spaces that form part of the district, while On the one hand it is necessary to develop new models, in order to respond to the housing of such a busy city by creating green areas and avoiding density, on the other hand however the general public wishes to maintain traditional ways of life, and question the use of modern languages and materials that are foreign to the local culture.