Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼 by Hooman Balazadeh

Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼 by Hooman Balazadeh is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 金奖 in 建筑与结构设计 Competition Category.

金建筑· 2021

Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼

by Hooman Balazadeh

Client: HOOBA Design Group

A' Design Award 金奖 Winner in 建筑 Category

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Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #117247

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼

科翰陶瓷（Kohan Ceram）总部办公楼是位于德黑兰的一家砖材制造企业的总部所在地。建筑内设有展厅、销售办公室及一处客用单元。项目专门研发了一种特殊的砖砌块，将工业砖与铸造玻璃相结合。每块砌块厚19厘米，在两层砖体之间夹设保温层，同时兼具砌体结构、饰面与保温三重功能。同一种砌块既构成建筑外立面，又塑造室内空间，在保障私密性的同时将自然光引入室内。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 金奖

Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼是 A' Design Award 金奖得主，这是授予一流、绝妙而杰出设计的极为崇高的认可。金奖得主是极具创新、极富远见且璀璨夺目的创作，反映出其设计师的天才、智慧与才干。预计Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼将成为一项备受赞誉、引领潮流、气势恢宏的发明，带来前所未有的价值。这件赢得 A' Design Award 金奖的设计是一个壮观而受人敬重的项目，极大地造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。Kohan Ceram Central Office Building 办公楼激起强烈的渴望，唤起激情，鼓励创造力，令我们着迷。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Is it possible to unify the urban scenery by minimizing the formic expression of buildings as singular objects and emphasizing on the city as a whole? Unitizing different elements of the building including walls, windows, doors, etc., as well as reducing the variety of building materials could somehow address the so called issues. The project was designed as the headquarters for Kohan Ceram Brick Manufacturing Company. Preserving the existing concrete structure, it was decided to Design a special brick (by architect) to represent the factory. Now the question is, could this well-known building material move beyond its simple role and help changing the perceptions towards a complicated building and to combine different building elements to reach a new phenomenon? How could we reduce the visual disturbance in the urban scenery by introducing weak forms as building objects? The story of Kohan Ceram building was started when a new modular creature was formed called the “Spectacled Brick”. This little guy had transparency and solidity in one piece and could see the city from within. It worked as the masonry, the finishing, and the insulation at the same time but still wanted to be more than that. The Spectacled Brick not only formed the exterior façade, but also transformed from a surface into a volume which extended into the building in the form of modular greenspaces. Replacing ordinary walls and windows, these modules defined different spaces in the building. Therefore, the interior walls were formed by the extension of the exterior walls, following the main design criteria which was to merge dual qualities. Bringing the natural lighting inside spaces in a mysterious way, the Spectacled Brick delayed the perceptions towards the building. It made the building both introverted and extroverted during day and night. It strictly banned other materials to take part in the making of the building and always kept loyal to its geometry. Penetration was the favorite notion for the Spectacled Brick. Making use of its semi-transparent nature, it merged the exterior with the interior to fade the boundary between the two. The spectacled brick was aware of the ventilation and light exposure benefits caused by the penetration of exterior to interior and used this technique to organize spaces inside the building. The spectacled brick integrated building qualities such as interior and exterior, introversion and extroversion, façade and space, transparency and solidity, natural and artificial lighting, to create a new phenomenon which not only carries features form both components, but also introduces new values to the system. Therefore, design challenges were resolved by merging these dual components into unique elements. It also used this homogeneity to address the programmatic requirement of the project which included both commercial and residential spaces. It tried to expand the commercial aspect of the brick showroom to the exterior and eventually to the city. Therefore, the transitional role of the building as a complex of spaces in the building scale and a commercial object in the urban scale was formed.
Dimensions & Packaging: The brick block used in this project is a combination of industrial brick and cast glass. The building envelope consists of two layers of brick-glass block with a thermal insulation layer in between. The overall thickness of the block is 19cm. anti-moisture silica gel balls were placed in between the two brick layers to prevent condensation on the glass.
Tags: Kohan Ceram Building , kohan ceram Factory , Kohan Ceram Brick Manufacturing Company , Kohan Ceram , Kohan Ceram Central Office
Production Technology: The story of Kohan Ceram building was started when a new modular creature was formed called the “Spectacled Brick”. This little guy had transparency and solidity in one piece and could see the city from within. It worked as the masonry, the finishing, and the insulation at the same time but still wanted to be more than that.
The Spectacled Brick not only formed the exterior façade, but also transformed from a surface into a volume which extended into the building in the form of modular greenspaces. Replacing ordinary walls and windows, these modules defined different spaces in the building. Therefore, the interior walls were formed by the extension of the exterior walls, following the main design criteria which was to merge dual qualities.
Design Challenge: As mentioned in the previous section, the most challenging obstacle in this project was to come up with the optimum solution in the making of the brick-glass block. Many trial and error procedures were conducted in the making of the prototypes. The success of this time consuming procedure was realized with the help of the great teams working on both the brick and the glass components of the block.
Research: There was a glass workshop in a close distance from the Kohan Ceram factory. This was the spark of a new idea which was to explore the possibilities of solid brick to be combined with cast glass. We started the experiment with direct casting of melted glass into the fire resistant brick blocks. A number of trial and errors resulted in a failed prototype with cracks in the brick block after the glass was cooled. Therefore, we decided to cast the glass separately and stick it inside the brick wholes using a special glue. These trial and error experiments where conducted to create a new brick typology which not only forms the entirety of this project but also could be applied in many other projects. This could eventually help many glass casting workshops to boost their business and to produce valuable products instead of low quality objects.
Moreover, this new building block could boost the living quality of many “infill” projects around the country, by improving the light penetration quality inside the building envelope without altering privacy and overlook requirements.
Inspiration: How can a single building form strategic changes to the urban scenery? Is it possible to unify the urban scenery by minimizing the formic expression of buildings as singular objects and emphasizing on the city as a whole? Unitizing different elements of the building including walls, windows, doors, etc., as well as reducing the variety of building materials could somehow address the so called issues.
Project Duration: The project started in March 2016 in Tehran and finished in August 2019.
Operation Flow: The spectacled brick integrated building qualities such as interior and exterior, introversion and extroversion, façade and space, transparency and solidity, natural and artificial lighting, to create a new phenomenon which not only carries features form both components, but also introduces new values to the system. Therefore, design challenges were resolved by merging these dual components into unique elements. It also used this homogeneity to address the programmatic requirement of the project which included both commercial and residential spaces. It tried to expand the commercial aspect of the brick showroom to the exterior and eventually to the city. Therefore, the transitional role of the building as a complex of spaces in the building scale and a commercial object in the urban scale was formed.
Team Members: Project Architect: Parima Jahangard
Design Team: Parima Jahangard - Mohsen Tahmasebi – Mostafa Dadashpour
Site Supervision: Mohsen Tahmasebi
Detail Design: Bahram Afsari- Mohsen Tahmasebi
Physical Modeling: Mehran Alinezhad
Presentation: Shafagh kia- Maryam Eghlimi
Mechanical Engineer: Iman Ilbeigi
Image Credits: Parham Taghioff
Deed Studio