Salamat Apartment Residential

Salamat Apartment Residential

Salamat Apartment Residential is an award-winning architectural design project that exemplifies contemporary residential architecture's capacity to address complex urban constraints through innovative spatial planning and material application. Designed by architect Faezeh Tavasoliara for Pamir Studio and completed in Hamedan, Iran, in 2025, this multi-level residential structure demonstrates a sophisticated response to the challenges inherent in dense urban environments, particularly those characterized by irregular plot geometries and restrictive municipal regulations. The project confronts several significant design obstacles, including limited access to natural light from two sides due to neighboring properties, an irregularly shaped site that complicated spatial organization and façade composition, and stringent zoning codes that imposed constraints on window placement and building massing. Rather than employing conventional architectural solutions such as internal light wells or courtyards, Salamat Apartment Residential utilizes a strategic arrangement of openings, terraces, and an angled break in the side wall to redirect daylight deeper into the interior spaces, thereby ensuring adequate illumination for all residential units while maintaining privacy. The design incorporates duplex units positioned across multiple levels, with bedrooms placed toward the front façade and living areas oriented toward the rear to optimize both natural light penetration and visual privacy. A distinctive feature of the architectural composition is the modular brick lattice shell that unifies the exterior, employing traditional brick as a building material but reinterpreting it through contemporary design methodologies and custom-designed bolted brick modules that create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow across the façade. This perforated brick screen system serves multiple functions: it filters natural light while preserving occupant privacy, references local architectural traditions, and provides a rhythmic visual texture that enhances the building's urban presence. The façade design functions as an architectural critique of conventional regulatory frameworks that often result in fragmented urban landscapes, proposing instead a cohesive aesthetic treatment that integrates geometric patterns and material depth. The project's spatial organization reflects careful consideration of functional zoning, with parking efficiently distributed across two levels to serve both standard and duplex residential units, and a double-height atrium in the duplex apartments allowing sunlight to penetrate both floors. The design methodology employed parametric modeling techniques using Rhino and Grasshopper software for light penetration analysis and façade optimization, alongside material testing of the bolted brick modules to ensure structural durability and appropriate light diffusion characteristics. Technical specifications include concrete supplied by Mehraz Beton Company, facing brick from Azarakhsh and Namachin brands, thermal break windows from Akpay, cooling systems from Gree, and various building systems provided by specialized suppliers, demonstrating attention to material quality and performance standards. The architectural approach balances functionality with aesthetic refinement, creating living spaces that enhance quality of life through thoughtful environmental design while addressing the psychological and behavioral dimensions of human-environment interaction. The project's innovative use of traditional materials in contemporary applications, combined with its strategic response to site constraints and regulatory limitations, positions Salamat Apartment Residential as a significant contribution to discourse on urban residential architecture in contexts characterized by high density and restrictive planning frameworks. The design's emphasis on natural light optimization without relying on conventional light well typologies represents a meaningful advancement in residential design methodology, particularly relevant for urban sites with limited solar access. The modular brick shell system not only provides functional benefits in terms of light control and privacy but also establishes a distinctive architectural identity that engages with local building traditions while asserting a contemporary design vocabulary. Salamat Apartment Residential received the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category in 2025, one of the world's most prestigious design competitions, which recognized the project's creativity, professional execution, and innovative use of materials and technology. This recognition from the A' Design Award, organized annually since 2008 across over one hundred award categories, acknowledges designs that demonstrate strong technical characteristics combined with creative skill and attention to detail, evaluated through a rigorous blind peer-review process by an international grand jury panel of experienced design professionals, academics, and media members. The award designation affirms Salamat Apartment Residential's contribution to advancing architectural practice through its skillful integration of spatial planning, material innovation, and contextual responsiveness, offering a model for residential design that successfully navigates the complex interplay of regulatory constraints, site limitations, and user needs while maintaining high standards of architectural quality and urban integration.

Residential architecture, natural light optimization, façade design, urban integration, modular brick lattice, contemporary Iranian architecture

— Adam Dawson