Community-based Intervention

Location: Qeshm, Iran

Ongoing project since 2020

Collaborating closely with the community in Gouron Village, Qeshm Island, we have been developing strategies to promote responsible ecotourism at the site. A design for a refuge pavilion has been created, drawing inspiration from UN Registered local boat building techniques and palm weaving traditions. Salvaged materials from old boats and wooden detailing reminiscent of boat craftsmanship are utilized, encouraging the local community to preserve their cultural heritage for tourism and economic growth. These pavilions will serve as accommodations for nature campers, offering a platform for setting up tents at night and providing shelter and shade during the day.

The pavilion’s vaults face south, allowing sunlight to enter during winter while providing shade in summer. The base form takes inspiration from Harra roots, ensuring even weight distribution to aid in sand stabilization. The modular form enables adjustments based on available materials. The pavilions’ exterior is designed in collaboration with local weavers and a team of young women from the village, gradually completed with the participation of visitors.

A total of seven pavilions will be constructed on-site, symbolically representing the region’s history and educating visitors about the global cities connected to Gouron through the Maritime Silk Route of the Hormuz Strait. A prototype of the first pavilion has been completed with the assistance of village volunteers and visitors, serving as a campground and a site for educational participatory programs. Plans are underway to construct a wooden walkway and a boat access wharf to minimize foot traffic on the reef.

Project Team:

Yasaman Esmaili, Ali Pouzan, Issa Hedri, Issa Pouzide, Arman Pouzesh, Ali Gouroni, Ebrahim Hedri, Kimia Amini, Ideh Khadjevand, Saba Robati

Contributors:

Dr. Mohit Tabatabai, Seyyed Mohammad Dakhteh, Mr. Yunes, Mohammad Gouroni, Fouziyeh Kouvei Qeshmi, Ronak Arjouni, Arash Memarzadeh, Ashraf Pouzan, Monireh Esmaili, Abdorahman Gouroni

Community-based Environmental Intervention

Location: Qeshm, Iran

Ongoing project since 2019

Reforestation stands as one of the most effective and economical methods to promote biodiversity and combat global warming. Mangrove forests, with their exceptional ability to absorb three to five times more carbon than typical tropical rain forests, serve as formidable carbon sinks. Additionally, their swamps provide a habitat for numerous endangered species. Notably, mangroves grow in seawater, negating the need for limited freshwater resources required by other plant species. Unfortunately, these invaluable habitats face constant erosion risks due to human activities.

Iran is house to the Mangrove Forest of Harra, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve. Since 2019, in collaboration with the Gouron Village Cooperative on Qeshm Island, Iran, Studio Chahar has been actively developing community-based architectural strategies to combat erosion along the Harra mangrove forest shoreline in the Sarzurzuma reef, near the village of Gouron.

The Harra trees act as storm barriers; they filter pollutants and provide a unique habitat for local plants, birds, and sea life. Unfortunately, due to disturbance by boats and sea level rise, Sarzurzuma reef is eroding fast, leading to mangrove deforestation.

Studio Chahar was initially approached by Gouron Village Cooperation to design tourist pavilions for their site. The village relies on Sarzurzuma reef as an economic resource, with daily visits and stays by tourists. However, the accommodations they provided were not stable enough for long-term use, prompting them to construct more reliable campgrounds using materials like concrete. This approach had detrimental effects on the natural environment, making it crucial to find environmentally adaptive solutions. Additionally, responsible planning for tourism was necessary due to the environmental sensitivity of the mangrove ecosystem.

After conducting site visits and engaging in discussions with the community members, we discovered that the reef was eroding rapidly due to boat disturbance and rising sea levels, leading to mangrove deforestation. Addressing erosion became the primary focus of the project. Our initial strategy was to install beach-fencing and utilize natural debris bags along the site. We implemented these strategies in a prototype area, but due to limited resources, they proved to be less viable at the time.

The roots of Harra plants play a vital role in stabilizing the sand. A more affordable strategy involved planting new trees in areas of the forest that had been destroyed. By strategically planting new Harra trees, we aimed to restore the reef. Over the past three years, we have successfully grown and planted over three thousand new trees. Currently, we are in the process of planting an additional five thousand trees with the assistance of Gouron’s youth, community members, and volunteers. The village youth have been cultivating the seedlings and participating in the complete planting cycle.

A Minds’ Garden for the Community of Dandaji

Location: Dandaji Village, Niger. Completed 2018

In the 9th century AD, Muslim scholars made remarkable contributions to the sciences and humanities in Bagdad’s Bayt al-Hikma, or House of Wisdom, a library and research center housing the world’s largest collection of books for scholars to engage both theological and scientific matters. Today’s religious climate could use such freedom to pursue knowledge alongside religious practice. With the support of local leaders, women and youth, the Hikma project re-introduces these values embedded in Islam itself, by transforming a derelict mosque into a library that shares its site with a new mosque for the village of Dandaji in Niger. The project is a culture and education hub where the secular and religious peacefully co-exist to cultivate minds and strengthen the community.

To renovate the old building to its previous glory, the original masons are invited to join the project’s team. In the process, they learn about adobe-enhancing additives and erosion protection techniques. Instead of the region’s traditional but scarce wood, the interior renovation uses metal for study spaces, partitions, stairs and a mezzanine level, as a contemporary touch to a traditional space. The new building in turn re-interprets traditional Hausa mosque organization with contemporary structural support and detailing. Its two blocs and outdoor prayer space are suited to daily prayers, Friday assemblies, or large Eid celebrations. The dialog between the formal structures of the old and new leads to further collaboration between the traditional masons and the construction crew.

Credits:

Architecture: A collaboration with Atelier Masomi

Design Team: Yasaman Esmaili, Mariam Kamara

Photographer: James Wang

Building Contractor: Entreprise Salou Alpha et Fils

Engineering: URBATEC

Metal Fabrication: Atelier de Technologie Métallique

Intern Architect: Fatima Adam

Located in the center Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth largest city, the Gohar Khatoon girls’ school opened on June 2nd, 2015. The school was commissioned by the Balkh Province Ministry of Education with a U.S. based non-profit organization, and has been integrated into the national education system. The new building replaces an older school that was in an extreme state of disrepair and expands the capacity of a historically significant urban school. The 2,000 m2 complex provides for kindergarten through grade twelve classes, serving at least 3,000 students or more a day. Mazar-i-Sharif is home to several universities, and Gohar Khatoon–acting as a gateway to higher education–is positioned to become a key institution for educating several thousand women and girls in an important urban center.

Yasaman Esmaili’s involvement in this project and the collaborative nature and the role of community in designing Gohar Khatoon girls’ school, were some of the main reasons that led to initiation of studio chahar.

Collaborators Credit:

Architecture: Robert Hull, FAIA in collaboration with the University of Washington, Department of Architecture,

Project Architect: Elizabeth Golden, AIA

Design Team: Yasaman Esmaili, Christopher Garland, David Miller, FAIA

Photographs: © Nic Lehoux, Sahar/Farkhonda Rajaby

Clients : Sahar/Janet W. Ketcham Foundation and Balkh Province Ministry of Education

University of Washington Studio Participants

Bryan Brooks, Marcus Crider, Grace Crofoot, Sarah Eddy, Yasaman Esmaili, Christopher Garland, Mariam Kamara, Michelle Kang, Kevin Lang, Carolyn LeCompte, Benjamin Maestas, Jaclyn Merlet, Holly Schwarz, Mazohra Thami, Andrew Thies, Mackenzie Waller, Patricia Wilhelm

General Contractor: Jason Simmons (Afghanistan American Friendship Foundation), Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan

Sayed Ali Mortazavy, Hussain Ahmady, Farkhonda Rajaby, Airokhsh Faiz Qaisary

Engineers: Structural and Civil: Solaiman Salahi, Herat, Afghanistan

Environmental: Allan Montpellier, PAE Engineering, Seattle

Consultants: Jason Simmons, Afghanistan American Friendship Foundation, Michael Gilbride, University of Washington Integrated Design Lab, Mariam Kamara, University of Washington, Jack Hunter, Argent Fabrication, Seattle

Location: Tehran, Iran

Museum Design - Adaptive Intervention

2022 to present

“In every corner and nook, there were scattered pieces of wood, and they smelled so nice! I wished I had three wooden shelves to store my belongings. One for books, one for little things, and the last one I'd keep above all to mark things I didn't want my sister to touch. “

From the story "Jashn-e-Farokhdeh."

Jalal house museum depicts the early life of the well-known Iranian novelist, short-story writer, translator, philosopher and socio-political critic, Jalal Al Ahmad, in his childhood house, which is located in the District 12 of Tehran, adjacent to The Grand Bazaar of Tehran. Our design approach is inspired by Jalal’s writing style and sociopolitical view of the world. Jalal wrote in an honest, proactive and precise way and tried to remove prepositions, compounds and metaphors, and only keep the essence in his prose, as far as it was feasible. Jalal’s art of writing was committed to social change and equity. His prominent work of ethnography brings light to the everyday life of Iranians in his era.

Jalal was a maker himself and created furniture pieces with wood and metal. Inspired by his resourceful approach in writing and making, the display showcases in this museum are designed in a modular form, to create simplicity and clarity. The display cases, will be used to exhibit handwritten notes and personal belongings of Jalal Al-e Ahmad and his family. The museum's artworks will form a continuous collage, narrating Jalal's life, depicting his childhood, adolescence, youth and some of his ethnographic research.

The museum collage will depict the calligraphy works of Haj Ahmad, Jalal’s father, and also Jalal Al-e Ahmad's handwritten notes and photographs. It will also depict the history of the house using the maps of the neighborhood, and how the house was an integrated part of oldest part of the city of Tehran. A few workshops with the neighborhood residents are planned to ideate about the format of the museum collages.

Location: Niamey, Niger

Residential Project, Built In 2015

Niamey 2000 is a 1700 square meter (18,000 ft2) housing development that was designed in response to the current housing crisis occurring in Niamey, the capital of Niger. By increasing density, the project proposes a new model for urban housing. Niamey is home to over one million inhabitants; a majority of the population is poor and only about 20 percent of its residents could classified as middle-class and above. Nevertheless, the socio-economic makeup of the city has shifted dramatically in recent years. Stronger economic growth has fueled migration to the city, leading to a sizable increase in the middle-class population. Property in the older, affluent neighborhoods remains unobtainable, forcing the low-to-middle income population to seek affordable housing further from the city center.

Architecture: united4design

Team: Yasaman Esmaili, Elizabeth Golden, Mariam Kamara, Philip Strater

Location: Gouron, Iran

Environment / Economy, Built In 2023

Project Manager: Ali Pouzan

Gisher is a community-initiated project, to test out strategies for creating artificial fish habitat near Gouron village, Iran. A prototype for an artificial fish habitats was created from repurposed old barrels. By strategically placing this structure in the right depth of water, we have created an artificial reefs, to provide shelter and breeding grounds for various aquatic species, including fish for local fishermen, and promoting biodiversity. Additionally, the structure can help stabilize the underwater ecosystem by creating niches for algae and other marine plants to grow, which can improve water quality and oxygen levels. The use of recycled barrels also represents an eco-friendly approach to conservation, repurposing waste materials to enhance the health and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems.

A Proposal for an Artifact, 2018

Team: Yasaman Esmaili, Takeru Stewart

“Dying, like living, is not an either/or affair. It’s a both/and. Which is part of what makes it all so maddening for the floundering human who craves the comfort of dualities, of right and wrong, of fail-proof instructions.”

Death Without Duality: Three Both/Ands at the End of Life, By COURTNEY E. MARTIN

Dual provokes the audience to think softly of their exit. It is a communal experience. It is A moment of pause, a moment to wonder about the playfulness of the exit as a natural part of the shared experience. It also makes one think about the futility of our tendency in trying to reverse our exit and to immortalize those that have exited.

Our application proposes a rectangular, four-sided stele measuring approximately 3-ft in wide by 7-ft tall. This artifact has two primary sides that intermingle. One side is human memory and the various acts humanity has undertaken to immortalize its existence and memorialize those that have exited. This side consists of the monuments that we have built and created of various scales and forms, to mourn or celebrate our life. Each shape represents the various human desires for memorialization: power, love, loss, mortality and the desire for eternity. The forms are made of stones and bricks, gold and glass, paper and wood - all cast in time. Memory encompasses what we create to remember or what we ask to be remembered of us. It is made to immortalize, to humanize, to endure in familiar forms. The memory side is created for those who are living to remember those who have exited.

Opposite the memory side, is the body itself, which has dissolved into the earth. The earth is made of soil; layers that embody what we are made of and what we will become after our exit. The body is flexible and tangible much like the very earth it inevitably returns to. This side is malleable and consists of clay.

In between the two sides of memory and body at the center of the stele is a hollow void. This void is where the four elements: air, water, soil and fire meet. The simple formation of the earth. The return and rebirth. Because the exit is just a transformation of the solid particles, the energy, the liquid and the air. The body forms its own exit. We grow up to deform. Time encompasses change and the void in the artifact is capturing the spatial qualities of the exit as the natural reformation of the physical form.

Dual unifies the shared perceived duality of our exit from life, expressed as a single artifact...

Location: Gouron, Iran

2020 to present- Residential Project

The village of Gouron in Qeshm Island, is experiencing a decline in the use of traditional techniques. Unsustainable and imported building materials like concrete blocks are replacing the traditional stone and wood. Sarooj, a water-resistant lime-based mortar that was used in the Island for centuries, has been replaced by cement for more than fifty years now.

We were approached by a young family who were interested to explore traditional building techniques and were also looking for a contemporary look for their house with a limited budget. Our aim is to set an example for the village to encourage the locals to revitalize traditional techniques and create a sense of pride in local architecture.

When we started working on the projects, all the walls were already built with cement block. Our first strategy was to replace the structural walls with traditional stone and clay masonry, to respond better to the hot and humid climate of Gouron, stands extreme seismic activities, and re-brand out-dated building techniques.

We have also gathered information from local masons about production process of Sarooj and are in the process of prototyping the mortar for water-proofing the walls. The detailing is creating a dialogue between wet-stacked stone walls and traditional woodwork techniques and is re-interpreting the local house layout of Gouron to accommodate for a modern family.

Credits:

Design Team: Yasaman Esmaili, Saba Robati

Previous Contributors: Ronak Arjouni

Research Project:

Screen Maker: a low-tech digital mason

Completed in 2015

Low-tech building methods have been gradually developed over thousands of years according to the actual needs of a community and the demands of location-specific requirements. High-tech digital design has advanced the level of precision and control over material applications and has increased the possibilities for studying design options. But where might the two meet? How can innovation in construction carry forward the lessons learned from vernacular and low-tech building solutions? This work explores the relationship between digital design and low-tech application by local labor looking for opportunities to advance the exchange between both the design process and the practice. The goal is to study and advance the linkage between the precision and design innovation of computational technology with traditional building systems in a context-aware manner.

The study process starts by developing an algorithmic digital 3d modeling tool that allows the users to design brick masonry wall systems in a digital world and to create construction guides for building the wall in the physical world, allowing for back and forth communication between the designer, the community and the mason during the design and construction process. This process lets the team simultaneously study different design factors including form, pattern, and solar exposure and communicate the result with the mason using simple paper guides called "DNA guide". Instead of presenting an image of a complex form and imposing a digitally fabricated foreign form in a traditional setting, the community are presented with a tool that allows them to engage with the designer and the mason to study the form, the texture and the materiality of a future design and advocate for their needs and desires. Rather than solely relying on high-tech tools, this approach links digital design with traditional making techniques and builds upon existing low-tech methods for greater global implementation at smaller costs.

This work explores an alternative approach to the practice of digitally designed artifacts by looking at brick screens as a manifestation for projects of bigger scale. To develop the digital design algorithm and the practice toolkit a full-scale brick screen prototype was first designed and built, then the toolkit was applied in designing and building Compressed Earth Block (CEB) screen walls, constructed in Western Africa by local labor as part the facade of a multifamily housing project. A third prototype is also designed to test the application of the toolkit at a larger scale.

Narrating The Story Of Our Lost Homes Through Architectural-Making And Poetry

Architecture and Education - Dec 2019 to present

In collaboration with Rania Qawasma

Color My Home is a community-based educational architectural design program which takes participants on a journey to trace, dream, and imagine their personal concepts of home.

Displacement in the form of diaspora, causes the loss of one’s most intimate and safe space, the house, and this loss leads to individual and collective identity crisis. In the current political, economic and environmental climate, the number of forced global immigration and local displacement due to poverty is growing immensely. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) right now “an unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home”. In addition, the harsh backlashes against these vulnerable individuals and communities not only prevent them for creating their new home, it feeds into the divisiveness between people. It’s on us all to look into innovative ways for inclusion of the underrepresented.

Color My Home workshops guide recently immigrated children to re-imagine the architecture they have inhabited and left behind, and to build architectural collages of what they recall. Participants also write poems about their homes and transform their memories of home into tangible artwork by building their first ever architectural collage. The visuals and poetry help share experiences that might otherwise be difficult for children to express between languages.

The Sandbad Boom, Saving A World Heritage

Qeshm, Iran, Since 2019

Over many centuries, sailors and traders of Qeshm Island have been travelling far to the ports of Africa, India, as well as the Arab realms of the Persian Gulf by means of traditional wooden ocean liners called “Jahaz” in Persian. Jahaz has been mostly used for trading purposes across the seas. Iranians were especially interested in designing and building Boom, a compact typology of boats designed to survive through stormy and windy oceans, carrying expensive goods such as spices and carpets.

Up until recently, marine trading was the main source of income for many of the coast-dwellers across India, Oman, Kenia, Tanzania and Iran. They knew how to navigate through the safest marine routes and used to travel over far distances. However, traditional maritime trading has gone through a decline in the recent centuries due to the development of other forms of trade, and due to the shift of industrial geographies. As a result, the communities living along the shorelines of Persian Gulf have experienced economic hardship. Also, their precious traditional skills in wooden ship building is gradually disappearing.

In November 2011, the “Traditional skills of building and sailing Iranian Lenj boats in the Persian Gulf” was listed under “Urgent Safeguarding List” of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. This traditional knowledge is exposed to a threat of extinction because of wider usage of fiberglass and steel made modern vessels in the recent decades.

Studio chahar is working with the Gouran Rural Cooperative, a company consisting of 90+ households of the Gouran village, to develop a new typology for a Boom ocean liner, as a passenger ship that will be used for sustainable tourism. The “Sandbad Boom”, will host 30 people for cruises and will be managed by locals as a prototype for revitalizing the wooden ocean liners of the Persian Gulf. This project aims to preserve the traditional knowledge and techniques of wooden boat building and help attract and train younger wooden boat builders.

Credits:

Project Architect: Yasaman Esmaili

Client: The Gouron Rural Cooperative

Team Leader: Maziar Qaseminejad

Project Manager/community representative: Ali Pouzan

Activation/Planning, 2018

Location: Seattle, Washington

Pier 62 Activation was developed in collaboration with studio damallc, for the Friends of Waterfront non-for-profit, in Seattle, WA. Pier 62 is an activity park that is designed for a diverse community. The goal is to create rotating seasonal programming opportunities and activities tailored to various age groups and preferences, thus ensuring that every visitor can find something exciting and engaging throughout the year.

Location: Gouron, Iran

Community Market - concept

2023 to present

This is a project in the concept stage, with the goal of repurposing old abandoned boats into functional day-use markets where village-produced goods can be sold. This approach aims to give new life to discarded wooden boats that are unique to the region and represent the history and local skills. the market will provide a practical platform for showcasing and selling local products.

Location: Kong, Iran

This concept represents a strategic and adaptable intervention aimed at transforming the Daryadolat water reservoir into a vibrant community park while harnessing its existing features to expand its significance. The proposed additions include a community theater, designated picnic areas, an accessible promenade, and an extended water management system.

By repurposing the water reservoir into a community park, we are not only revitalizing an underutilized space but also providing the local community with a much-needed recreational area. The addition of a community theater will offer a venue for cultural and artistic events, fostering a sense of community engagement and cultural enrichment.

Location: Gouron, Iran

2023 to present

Gouron coastal parkway is designed as a community path and a safe and enjoyable trail and hang-out space for the villagers and tourists. Another goal of the design is to facilitate public participation in design, utilization, beautification, and management of environmental resources. To achieve these objectives, the proposed plan is establishing proper connectivity between the village's shore and roads for the residents' commute and easy access to the beach. Safety is address using speed reducers and proper signage. The path creates new recreational facilities to attract tourists, including suitable spaces for biking, all-age and all-ability accessibility, and rest and conversation stations along Pedestrian walkways. The design preserves traditional structures, ponds, and water passage channels, utilizing surface water for irrigation.

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In terms of environmental activism, the design is implementing a community and tourist participation plan by reusing the wood from the invader species of Mesquites trees to build road dividers. The invader species of Mesquites trees called Pakistani or Bahraini Kahoor tress in local dialect, which has proliferated abundantly in the region, is highly detrimental to the environment and is considered one of the most hazardous living organisms in Qeshm island. Our suggestion for the design is to use the wood from the Pakistani (Bahraini) Kahoor to create separation walls. By defining this process as a continuous program for cutting down these trees and transforming them into landscaping elements along the coastal road and other areas of Gouron, we aim to initiate an eco-friendly process. After the installation of the initial phase, with the involvement of visitors and educating them about the harmful effects of this tree, this program will evolve into an ecotourism-oriented initiative

Architectural Strategies for Post-earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Tehran

Competition Entry 2018

Author: Yasaman Esmaili

Smart Citizen proposes a community based design process for a mitigation plan for the first few weeks after an earth-quick event in Tehran, Iran. Considering the social nature of such problem, the main focus of this work is on creating a physical and virtual framework for individual and family participation in disaster mitigation. The process starts with the creation of a mobile application that informs citizens and encourages them to get ready for an earthquake event within a social, urban and architectural framework. The actions are defined in different levels, for an individual, for the a family, for the neighborhood and for the city. Using the application, each member learns about the necessary steps for planing for an earthquake event, making their living spaces earthquake-proof and creating an earthquake emergency kit and shelter.

By joining the community groups through the application, the members join the discussion and create a network for collective preparation. In the city planing level, by identifying safe zones within each neighborhood and creating a community and gathering center within these safe zones, the community finds a place to meet, discuss learn and plan. Using the online application and on-site application, the community center will offer memberships to the participant to volunteer in the categories of planning and education safety kit, health, shelter, counseling, rescue and general inquiries and information. In the event of an earthquake, the volunteers will be prepared to help their community navigate their survival challenges.

One Thousand Minarets- An artistic inquiry

In progress

In collaboration with Sonia Ashoor - SACD

We proposes to creation of a tableware, where the Persians, the Gourkani, the Safavid and the Ottamam empire, the Indians and the Turks, would meet to celebrate a world of unity, peace and prosperity, as imagined by Jahanara, the eldest daughter of Shah Jahan, in the seventeenth century. Jahanara had aspirations of becoming a magnificent builder like her father, Shahjahan, as she wanted to build a “Hezar Minar, a palace holding a thousand minarets”.

The patterns of the pottery are borrowed from Samanid epigraphic pottery, produced in eastern Iran and Central Asia between the ninth and eleventh centuries.

An ongoing research project defined as part of an elective course “Future Craft”, this study is an exploration of hempcrete, an innovative lime-based building material with the potential to reshape sustainable construction practices. The primary focus is on a detailed examination of hempcrete's properties, specifically its formability and brittleness. The project involves testing of various compounds and proportions, aiming to identify the relationship between harmonizes structural integrity and form. The material is packed in CNC machined brick molds with variety of shapes, reacting differently to the form based on the properties/ratios of the lime-hemp mixture.

This project is an effort to recreate, document and test Sarouj using traditional methods. Sarouj is a type of lime-based mortar with very low water penetration that has been used across Iran in constructing buildings in direct contact with water, such as bridges, water reservoirs, ice houses, dams, and baths, for many centuries. It has also been employed due to its smooth and shiny surface for decorations (known as Sarouj Bori) and insulation. Furthermore, until the early 1990s, it was used as the main mortar for stone masonry structures in many regions of Iran, especially along the Zagros fringe, for building homes and interior spaces.

Crafting Sarouj entails a deliberate and intricate process, setting it apart from the swift and uncomplicated production of Portland cement. Because of the convenience associated with the latter, the knowledge of Sarouj making and application is fading fast, despite its notable durability, surpassing that of cement by a considerable margin. In this effort, we have been interviewing local builders in Qeshm Island, Iran, to document and recreate the making process of Sarouj .