Introduction & Approach to the Building

To understand a city, one must step into its back alleys and sense architecture not only through the eyes, but through memory, light, and material.

Etemad House felt exactly like that a building that whispered its design path at first glance.It needed no demolition it required listening.

In this project, the approach was not to build, but to reinterpret designing by not redesigning; preserving authenticity, reframing function, and honoring the history embedded within the architecture.

Relationship with the Past

This 1960s building already held a distinct personality. The fifty-year-old cypress, the wisteria vines, the pomegranate by the wall — not decorative components, but fragments of architectural memory.

Our role was not to recreate the past, but to allow its breath to continue.

Thus, the project followed a minimal-intervention path: restoration without erasure, transformation without wiping away previous layers.

Vegetation as Memory & Living Material

The courtyard, like the building itself, was old yet alive. Climbing Wisteria and Jasmine already held the façade in memory. To accelerate greenery and continuity, Dutch Jasmine was added — allowing the garden and the architecture to continue speaking to each other.

Here, nature is not decoration — it is a breathing partner in design.

Entrances, Access & Urban Dialogue

The project received two entrances — each with its own language:

🔹 Main Entrance — Shiroudi Street Travertine façade, the presence of an old cypress as a natural landmark, and a single preserved opening framing its silhouette toward the city.

🔹 Secondary Entrance — Jamal Alley Traditional two-tone Ablagh brickwork, echoing the texture of the neighborhood and maintaining its cultural continuity.

Two doors — one story.

From House to Gallery — Light, Movement & Pause

Changing a residence into a gallery meant transforming space into quiet. Almost all windows were closed to control focus, except the axis facing the cypress — a deliberate frame, an invitation to contemplation.

Light became a tool rather than a backdrop; movement through space found an architectural rhythm.

Structure, Reinforcement & Technical Execution

Structurally, the house was habitable, yet insufficient for its new public function. To ensure long-term stability and spatial confidence, three shear walls and seven piles were added.

Some partitions were removed to create depth, openness, and proper exhibition flow.

This phase demonstrated how architecture can negotiate between structural safety and visual freedom.

Simplicity, Authenticity, Continuity

In the end, the decision was simple: the building must remain itself unpretentious, honest, grounded.

The staircase and rails, the Ablagh bricks, the travertine, the cypress and the pomegranate tree all stayed, so the house could tell its story in a new robe.

This project did not seek to change the building’s face, but to extend its life quietly, respectfully, continuously.