Zaitoun Residential Complex

ZAITOUN Situated in a 32,000 m2 site, Zaitoun is a 225000m3 sculpture designed and constructed in one piece for 491 low-income urban dwelling families. Zaitoun is a small neighbourhood located in the city of Isfahan, Iran and has been designed with the intention of reviving the feelings once awakened by the Persian architecture of the historic city of Isfahan. Through texture, color, material, smell, scale and feel, this neighborhood-project has brought back to its inhabitants the forgotten sense of belonging they once had to their neighbourhood. The unique corners, memorable structural elements and unrepeated passages encourage one to discover a new way home after crossing the entrance bridge every time. The hope of losing oneself in the small alleyways, finding a new corner to contemplate for a while or a new shade to lie under may lead you to an old playmate, a relative or a neighbour who lives two courtyards away; next to the water fountain or by the plane tree over the archway.

Zaitoun is a citadel, a citadel free of walls, surrounded by a moat with four gates and four bridges which control and grant access to the interior. Zaitoun has four gardens connected to one another through a series of shady passages. Zaitoun is a fort for pedestrians. In long hot summers of Isfahan, as you walk through each gate there is a garden waiting for you filled with flowers, water fountains and local Plane trees casting their shadows.

The iron chariots (cars)are kept in the concourse level to keep the life of the inhabitants and the streetscape of the citadel in peace and free of visual, noise and air pollution, allowing the children to play and make memories.Zaitoun designed in 1999 & has been occupied since 2005.

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MOVIE

SARVA architectureMASOUD MOHAMMADIMANI MANI