Darabad Apartment

Darabad Apartment

Contemporary Tehran is a city whose form and way of life have been transformed over the past half-century by densification and the shift in residential typologies. The apartment, as the predominant housing type, has emerged as a response to the demands of a growing population and the economic pressures of land. Yet, as Aldo Rossi reminds us in The Architecture of the City, residential buildings are not merely private shelters but structural elements that shape the city as a collective work. In this context, every apartment project in Tehran—even on the smallest plots—carries a dual responsibility: to meet private needs while enhancing the quality of public space.

The Project stands precisely at this intersection: a 109-square-meter site with no parallel boundaries and multiple irregularities, located at the corner of two local streets. This setting offered both challenge and opportunity: on one hand, the strict limitation of the plot and the necessity of preserving maximum usable floor area, which is vital in the economics of small-scale developments; on the other, the potential to create a distinctive urban frontage at the corner, acting as a visual node within the neighborhood.

In the design process, the primary idea focused on creating compact, efficient plans—a strategy which, as Jan Gehl asserts, must go hand in hand with improving the quality of semi-open spaces and fostering neighborhood interaction. Green terraces and balconies were integrated into the corner frontage, not only to provide visual breathing space and a connection to the street, but also to maintain a link to two mature trees that once stood on the property and were relocated outside the plot due to setback regulations. This green layer, positioned behind the tree line, reinforces visual continuity and the site’s memory, forming a “living edge” between home and city.

The dual-street corner, as a focal point of urban views, was shaped with a volume that, while distinctive, remains in harmony with the surrounding neighborhood’s scale. The play of volumes and façade articulations responded both to the irregular geometry of the site and to the need for daylight and ventilation—an essential connection between health and architecture emphasized by Le Corbusier in Housing for the Greatest Number.

Ultimately, this project demonstrates that in Tehran’s mid-density urban areas, even the smallest plots can embody architectural and urban quality—a quality defined not solely by the number of square meters, but by the lived experience, the memory of place, and the way the building engages in dialogue with the street.