Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

Iran-based Bonsar Architecture Studio shared with us their proposal for the Tehran Business Hotel Competition, for which they received first prize. See more images and architect’s description after the break.

Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

Tehran Business Hotel was a private competition held in the spring of 2010. Despite the routine of competitions, the process for getting the building permit was done before it’s initiation. Since the owners weren’t satisfied with the design, they decided to start a competition in order to achieve a better one. As a result, the competition was to improve the previous design to get the building permit from the municipality rather than designing from the beginning.

Regarding the history of the project, we should find the weaknesses and constrains of the primary design based on the competition brief and try to take them as the starting point of the design process.

Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

Looking into the competition brief our team faced with three main challenges. The way we analyzed the challenges and later on the tools we used to solve them were the main approaches defining the design process.

The first challenge that came along at the very first glance over the program brief was that the building seemed to be two buildings in one. The first one was the hotel and its attachments and the second one was consisting of more public programs like conference center and commercials. As soon as the idea of duality in the building came up, the way we were going to bind the two buildings into one became an important issue to be considered.

Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

The commercial was one of the important parts of the project in client’s point of view, but its location, that was semi buried under the ground regarding the slop of the site, made it less important at the first sight. So considering the vitalization of the commercial was the other challenge that the design group was facing with.

The last challenge emerged from the program itself. As the ordinary program brief for hotels wasn’t suitable for the client expectations of Tehran Business Hotel, we revised the program and added new programs, specialized for the project, like working stations, private meeting rooms and traditional restaurant. These new programs have been defined based on the analysis we have done on the user types and their activities and needs during their stay.

Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

Besides the last three challenges, through considering the physical emergence of the project, we found out another important issue that should have been measured in the design process. The project is blocked just in the west side while it’s free in the other sides. As a result the west view would be ignored unintentionally. Regarding the difference in height that the project has with its periphery, which is emphasized as a result of being located on a hill, it would be visible from several parts of the city. Moreover, the client has mentioned that they wanted the building to be a land mark, which wouldn’t be possible without paying special attention to the huge wall on the west in the primary design. As a result the west elevation became an important issue to be considered in the design process.

Courtesy of Bonsar Architecture Studio

Architects: Bonsar Architecture Studio
Location: Gandhi St., Tehran, Iran
Client: Moshar, Biria and Partners
Project architect: Mohammad Majidi
Design Collaborators: Azar Farshidi, Mehran Haghbin, Hoda Sharifian, Hossein Salavaty Khoshghalb, Anahita Tabrizi, Nima Dehghani, Mehdi Kamboozia, Zahra Khaniki, Bahar Ehsan, Shahram Khosravi
Structural Engineering: Farid Farzadnia
Mechanical consultant: Ahmadreza Ghavami
Project Area: 12687 m²
Plot Area: 1000 m²
Project Year: June 2010