Villa Alborz

Location: Hashtgerd, Alborz Province, Iran

Client: Mehrshad Alborz

Material: Concrete & Glass & Metal

Design date: 2005

Built area: 200m²

Studio: Art of City Engineering Consultants

Architects: Babak Motalebnejad, Morvarid Ghasemi

Structure Consultant: Mehdi Kermani, Hiva Mardoookhrohani

Modeling and Rendering: Mohammadhasan Tavangar

Graphic: Nasim Fathi

Story:

The design concept of Alborz Villa has an internal contradiction, which is the origin of the idea. Considering the pristine and beautiful nature of the Alborz foothills and, more than that, the land slope with beautiful wildflowers, it did not appear that adding any paradigm of this nature can cope with it or coordinate with it in camouflage. Therefore, from the beginning, the main idea formed based on a distinct volume from the surrounding environment to have an added achievement for the landscape while Respecting the context's integrity.

The desire to simplify the main volume and avoid exaggeration in nature led the design to choose a simple cube as the initial base of the building envelope so that the volume with a transparent and reflective shell could represent the surrounding nature and blend in without distortion.

One of the site's advantages was the accessibility to the highest point, which gave the audience a commanding view of the valley, and it would be a pity that this mesmerizing view remained neglected. Accordingly, the cubic volume was consoled on the ground slope to intensify this suspension over the site and inflict the slightest changes. On the other hand, the volume was first divided into three parallel cubes to make it feasible to penetrate its depth and provide as much transparency as possible inside the space and the nature's penetration between the volume pieces. In the next step, two side cubes were turned outwards so that the whole villa could benefit from a broader panoramic view in different directions.

Turn a cube into three also helped to divide activities. One volume was allocated to rest areas,  one to meeting spaces, and another to leisure spaces. As a result of the activity separation, each volume became smaller or larger along the longitudinal axis in proportion to the spaces required for its activity.

Finally, three concrete jackets covered the bonding point of the volumes with the ground to cover the structure and visually strengthen its linkage with the context. In connection with each other, these three concrete jackets formed joint communication spaces between the three volumes, such as the entrance and the partition hall; on the other hand, they limited the commanding view from the public passage leveled with the building.

After the design idea was formed, the challenge ahead was constructing a 14-meter cantilever without a retaining wall or scaffolding and Slope Modification. Nonetheless, the access route and the site's slope prevented heavy machinery from erecting the prefabricated building. Hence, the engineering solution of building construction was a critical part of the design process.

The required piles to maintain the three aforementioned concrete jackets are first constructed in the upper part of the site in the vicinity of the access route. The number and depth of piles depend on the length of the consoles. In the next stage, the bottom of the pods and then their outer envelope in the form of in-situ concrete boxes is constructed, making the fixed connection of the three main cubes to the ground possible. Then, the bolted metallic pipes structures of the cubes are strengthened by connecting to the jackets. In the following stages, side beams are assembled to construct floors and ceilings, and finally, it is completed by installing side glass envelopes.