Termeh, award-winning dialogue between past and present in Iran

Iranian architecture firm Farshad Mehdizadeh Architects with Ahmad Bathaei have designed a retail building in Hamedan, Iran that stands out boldly for the way it engages with the city's history and the location itself. It has won the 2016 Architizer A+Award (Office - Low Rise category)



Termeh is the name of the award-winning multipurpose building in Hamedan, an ancient Persian city on the Silk Road, 300 km west of Teheran, in the middle of very fertile farmland. In response to this very special historical backdrop - the tomb of scientist and writer known in the west as Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina) is one of the many sites of cultural interest to be found here - architects Farshad Mehdizadeh with Ahmad Bathaei needed to consider the urban fabric, in terms of both volume and height, and materials.
The result is a building with basement garage composed of two boxes stacked on top of each other. 

The architects disengaged part of the first floor to create a kind of wave that spills out from the ground floor ceiling to form the entry to the first level office. It also acts as a kind of ingress, expanding the public space in front of Temeh and down from the office box and reconciles its link with the neighbouring buildings. The office rooftop has been purposed as a rooftop garden, designed as a real outdoor room offering views over the majestic panorama of the Zagros mountains.

Farshad Mehdizadeh and Ahmad Bathaei opted for the consummate local material  - bare brick - for the skin, laid according to the traditional patterns. What we have here is a contemporary building that fits in harmoniously with the city and its history, earning Termeh a 2016 Architizer A+Award (Office - Low Rise category).

Christiane Bürklein

Project: Farshad Mehdizadeh Architects with Ahmad Bathaei
Location: Hamadan, Iran
Year: 2015
Images: Hoorjandi Photo, Parham Taghiof