The Mahoor Bazaar Adjacent to Saint
Mary’s Church
Isfahan, Iran
Commercial First Place
Ehsan Hosseini – Elham Geramizadeh
Year: 2014
Firm: Logical Process In Architectural Design
Firm Location: Iran
Team Members: Mohammad Manshaea, Amirali Purkian, Ashkan Shirani / Architect of Concept in
Adaptation with Historical Texture: Ahmad Montazer
The texture of Iranian desert cities comprises a complicated network of roads, squares, bazaar, mosques, houses, etc.
inspired by the climate and soil , over time, which has been adapted to the social life of different generations as well
as cultural, social and economic changes. The architectural style of every single building pursues the development
of urban spaces, where the void space and stream of life overshadow the mass and volume of the architecture.
The diverse structures of urban spaces, whether open or closed, tight or wide, and linear or central, form a melting
pot for intricate social events. In such an organic system, the sudden changes, urban lifestyles and new functions
have not discovered the ideal existing textural pattern, while the streets with heavy traffic, crowded shopping malls,
offices, etc. have fragmented the urban texture. Domes, minarets and trees that once demarcated the urban
skyline within the urban spaces have been erased from the city landscape trough the network structures of modern
urban construction. The project site proposed to us is situated where several houses from the Safavid era had been
demolished and replaced with a newly constructed street with commercial function. The idea behind restoring
the church dome to the city was inspired by an old square called Julfa in the vicinity of the site, which aligned
the urban open courtyard with the center of the dome. Therefore, an opportunity was provided to progress from
architectural scale toward urban design scale through a continuous walk toward the internal square as the dome
stood across the city skyline. The economic feasibility of the project was enhanced by proposing the sunken garden
– Godal Baghcheh – model, where plants, water and shades prepared a cool public space at the site. Despite the
application of low-cost materials, the quality of open space boosted the economic value of the structure, while the
expansion of a luxurious commercial center and economic success of the project managed to introduce a new
model of investment for commercial projects with similar context.
