Kowsar Industrial Town, Alborz Province, Iran
Located in a small industrial town in the Alborz province of Iran, Shamim Polymer Factory by Davood Boroojeni Office architects includes production areas for polymeric materials, offices, and a research department for the Shamim Polymer Company.
The site is 60 meters by 50 meters (almost a square), with neighbors to the north and west and streets to the south and east.
Different work activities in Iranian factories tend to lack architectural separation, which is one of the reasons for their poor spatial qualities.
Factories inherently have multiple workspaces, housing a range of staff from laborers to lab specialists, and architecture is of critical importance to separate these different activity areas, creating spaces with different qualities.
However, the majority of industrial buildings in Iran have integrated structures and the only dividing area for different functions are simple interior walls.
This project seeks to solve this problem while at the same time increasing the sense of connection between spaces to improve the quality of life for factory workers.
The concept of this complex started with two outdoor void spaces that are perpendicular to each other.
One void stretches south to north and the other stretches east to west.
The geometry of these void spaces makes the separation of different parts possible and acts as a middle courtyard for connecting different areas with each other.
These voids draw their inspiration from traditional Iranian architecture, in particular, the courtyard.
In Iran, there are precedents of specific patterns for organizing building plans.
The middle courtyard and the perpendicular axes are two important patterns, which are still used today in the design of buildings with residential, administrative, multi-purpose, and recreational functions.
Yet, their traces have disappeared in today’s industrial architecture of Iran.
There are documents indicating that these two patterns were used about 400 years ago, and in their industrial use, they date back to the era of Safavid.
The factories of that era, called BIOTAT, had two axes perpendicular to each other and a courtyard in the middle.
The use of these two patterns in the architectural design of Shamim Polymer factory was an attempt to revitalize these two Iranian architectural typologies in an industrial context.
Human dimensions, open-air, light and shadow, green space, and color increase the comfortable atmosphere of the middle courtyard.
Different sections with glass walls or windows overlook the middle courtyard and invoke a sense of security.
In choosing construction materials, ones were chosen for their pure qualities: floors are made of concrete and steel, walls are made of prefabricated concrete blocks, glass, and prefabricated concrete panels, and stairs are made solely of cast-in-place concrete.
Project: Shamim Polymer Factory
Architects: Davood Boroojeni Office
Design Team: Davood Boroojeni Office, Saba Ammari, and Hamed Kalateh
General Contractors: Barbod Mokhtari and Emran Nazarian
Photographers: Parham Taghioff
