Cloaked in Bricks designed by Admun Design & Construction Studio, During the last decades, Tehran population has grown enormously, as a consequence demand for housing has increased dramatically leading to high land prices. In such conditions, every foot of land equals the considerable amount of profit making a change in priorities. In contradiction to the past that the main center of attention was on human?s comfort and needs, unfortunately, making the most profit out of every project has become the number one priority, these days.
Photography: Parham Taghioff
The current housing developments tend toward a vertical growth and even though this pattern of housing is economically profitable for the builders and seems to be the only solution to the lack of sufficient land, it is extremely in contrast with Iranian lifestyle originating from their cultural and religious belief.
A key characteristic of Iranian vernacular residential architecture was providing privacy for the residents which in the past was achieved through an introverted architecture often formed around a central private garden with all the openings oriented to that and the windows were rarely exposed on the outer faces. However, in the contemporary residential architecture windows are opened to the public passage and with the vertical growth of the apartments, privacy has become a lost quality. An evidence of this claim is several balconies in the neighborhood covered by opaque materials blocking the view fr...