The urban fabric of downtown Tehran, which in recent years has been experiencing a certain revitalization, features a rich concentration of early manifestations of modern architecture in the city. The project for the Nabshi Gallery involves the conversion of one of these early examples of modern buildings into a center for art, design, and architecture.
The property subject to redevelopment was designed by architect Paknia. The building's structure is based on load-bearing walls, and the overall construction is heavily influenced in its form by this construction technique. As such, in the functional conversion of the project for the Nabshi Gallery, the rigidity of the structural grid has introduced some challenges in the architectural design project to be addressed through design.
While structural fixity may be appreciated in a home, which can accommodate fixed spatial pockets, in an art gallery, the fluidity and continuity of spaces is a fundamental requirement. The question posed by the architects at ZAV Architects, tasked with transforming the Nabshi Gallery, was how to restructure the interior space as an open space to adapt to the fluid spatial conditions that the function requires, where structural considerations operate as physical obstacles. In this context, the removal of structural walls is managed in limited and carefully selected areas within the building.
In addition to the interaction between the structure and the new function, there is an additional layer of symbolism to negotiate for the project. The project dates back to the early modern era and yet has survived the years of post-revolutionary war. As such, the building bears scars from the wartime era. Like many other buildings in the city center, during the war years, it was also altered to accommodate an underground atomic shelter, a manifestation of a landscape invaded by fear, dominant in the conscious and subconscious urban paradigms of the war era.
The refuge, the very manifestation of spatial isolation and protection, plays a central role in this programmatic conversion, redefined as the starting point of spatial continuity and fluidity that the new function requires. The color blue serves as the connecting agent of different spatial pockets, starting from the atomic shelter, now reappropriated as a hub for specific projects.
