Sharifi-ha House, Iran

You could say, the beautiful Sharifi-ha House was designed to move. Designed by Next Office, and conceptualised as a flexible, dynamic project, the interiors of the space feature sensational, spatial qualities, while the exterior is based on the displacement of turning boxes,  allowing the structure to be open or closed, introverted or extroverted. This is an homage to traditional Iranian houses, which would also serve as seasonal modes of habitation. Due to the changing configurations of the exterior, the space can be both a Zemestan-Neshin (winter living room) or Taabestan-Neshin (summer living room). In the summer, Sharifi-ha House offers an open facade with large terraces. In contrast, during Tehran’s snowy winters, the structure closes upon itself. This led to an exciting spatial transformation of an ever-changing residential building. The House is distributed over seven floors – the two basement floors are allocated to family activities, fitness facilities, and wellness areas, while the ground floor hosts the parking and housekeeping rooms.

When the turning boxes are closed, the building captures sunlight throughout the space of the central void. The manufacturing technique for the turning mechanism was in fact the same as those employed by car exhibitions, steel companies and the shipping industry. Details of the handrails and air-penetration controlling methods were major considerations whilst developing the design of the turning boxes. These were solved with foldable handrails and refining the edges of the boxes. Considering the specialties of this kind of architecture, the structural system was inevitably a customised one. After digitally modeling the structure, a series of SAP2000 analyses were undertaken to examine the static/dynamic performance of the proposed system. The end result was basically… a house that turns!