Shid Architects has created a stripped-back eco-lodge in the village of Komehr, Iran, featuring a viewing platform, gathering spaces and sleeping areas erected in a cornfield.
The Poonehzar eco-lodge occupies a site in an agricultural area on the edge of the village, which is located in the mountainous Sepidan County of Iran’s Fars province.
Shid Architects, which is based in the city of Shiraz, designed the resort to blend in with the existing landscape on a site that was previously a working farm.
“The character of the proposal had to be aligned with the farm in terms of temporality and lightness,” the architects pointed out.
“Consequently, the objective was to benefit from the farm’s flexible and organic growth.”
“We intended to highlight our interaction with nature and embody it in an architectural and spatial narrative,” the studio added of the Poonehzar eco-lodge, which is shortlisted in the landscape category at Dezeen Awards 2022.
The Poonehzar resort aims to welcome a diverse demographic of guests and Shid Architects developed a masterplan incorporating various programmatic elements within the site.
Seeking to retain the cornfield that occupied a significant portion of the land, the studio used the idea of a maze to create connections between some of the leisure spaces.
Pathways cut into the rows of corn provide access to the various programmed spaces, which include a simple gathering space with a fire pit and a screen for projecting films.
The maze ensures these amenities enjoy a sense of privacy and mystery, while also enhancing the connection to the natural context.
“Celebrating playful childish sneak peeks, unexpected encounters, innocent erotic air, the mania of being lost, the suspense of diving in imagination in such a context were all translated into architecture,” said the studio.
More private areas of the Poonehzar eco-lodge are situated closer to the perimeter of the field, including a tent for sleeping, an open-air shower and a group of baths that are submerged in the earth.
In one corner of the site, a multi-level viewing platform provides a panoramic vista across the farm and the surrounding landscape.
The project was developed in collaboration with the villagers and aims to limit its impact on the agrarian setting through its minimal footprint and the use of upcycled materials.
“Poonehzar-Farm was a project designed around experimentation and playfulness with a new perspective of basic activities while inhabiting nature respectfully,” Shid Architects concluded.
Other projects shortlised in the Dezeen Awards 2022 landscape category include Heatherwick Studio’s Little Island public park in New York City and the transformation of Fiat’s Lingotto roof test track in Turin into a hanging garden.
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