When an architectural project enters the design team’s desk in an office, the most prominent way to achieve a thoughtful and meaningful work is to identify the design challenges of that project. However, if this concern already exists, the designer can play a more significant role, similar to a social or professional responsibility. The project for setting up the Golkhoon building workshop is one such project. It was a project that was proposed by the design team as a mental preoccupation, suggesting a temporary structure for the workshop before purchasing several pre-made containers to the esteemed client.
The story began when the client decided to build a seven-story apartment on a 1000-square-meter plot. When the design team realized that the owner of the adjacent land was the same as the project owner, and the workshop setup was to be established on the second plot where there were two existing buildings for the guard’s room and workers’ rest area, they proposed the idea of creating a temporary building that would connect the two existing buildings. Typically, workshop structures are temporary, lack the character of office or design spaces, and do not contribute positively to the urban landscape during construction. The Golkhoon workshop setup was designed with several main objectives:
1Testing the idea of the main building by the end user and the city: The main building of the project is located on the edge of Shiraz, where a 70-meter boulevard draws a prominent line from the north to the south of the city. This line starts from the tunnels of the northern mountains of Shiraz and continues to the southern exit towards Bushehr. At the project site, this prominent line creates a boundary between urban blocks and the Qasrdasht gardens. The design idea for the main building aims to maintain the horizontal connection between the city and the Qasrdasht gardens by minimizing the building’s intervention. This effort is reflected in dedicating one floor (the ground floor – 700 square meters) of the building to a shared space, allowing for transparency between the city and the gardens.
In the workshop setup building, this idea takes shape by first connecting the two existing buildings while respecting the existing trees on the site and the Qasrdasht water canal as much as possible, emphasizing the concern for the city-garden connection from the outset. Secondly, the form, material, and color of the building highlight its temporary nature and the critical stance it takes without imposing a heavy cost.
2Enhancing the quality of the working environment for a group for 4 to 5 years: The design team faced two ideas in this objective. The first idea was the coexistence of people who are colleagues and are in close daily contact due to
work relationships. Janitors, guards, clients, surveyors, workers, accountants, foremen, design engineers, contractors, surveyors, etc., regardless of their job titles, deserve to have a suitable place for work and rest, benefiting from light and views. The second idea was to enhance the work environment quality by utilizing the views of the main building that will be constructed in the future and by adding spaces such as discussion areas, a café (accessible to all staff), and a contractor meeting room (which usually lacks a proper place other than cars or sitting on blocks).
3Respecting the city from day one in a project that will speak to the city in four years: Usually, the ideas of designed buildings are conveyed in the architectural language of the city years after the idea was first proposed (especially in a multi-thousand square meter project). The functions are organized around a central courtyard to evoke dynamism and movement while ensuring transparency in the project. Meanwhile, the building took on a volume resembling a single-unit residential form, reminiscent of an expanded pavilion architecture common in Shiraz.
The design team decided to announce the main building’s idea earlier to the city through a small workshop setup project. A boulevard that sees over 17,000 vehicles pass by daily could be a better place (compared to social media) for presenting the architect’s potential manifesto. Certainly, this issue was understood by the esteemed client, who cooperated with the design team to execute the project, but the promotional and economic impact of the workshop setup idea cannot be overlooked.