HOOBA Design Group has been named as the recipient of the RIBA Emerging Architect Prize Winner 2021 for its Kohan Ceram Central Office Building, a perforated brick tower in Tehran.
RIBA judges praised Hooba Design Group for its innovative use of brick for both the internal and external structure of the office building, which set on the edge of the Sattari highway in the Iranian capital.
The practice, which was founded in 2007 by Hooman Balazadeh, developed the building for the Kohan Ceram brick manufacturer using three types of its ‘spectacled brick’, which is produced in produced in three different forms with glass, filled, or empty to regulate the building’s temperature and light levels.
“The decision to use a single material to create both the external and internal structure results in an intriguing ambiguity about what is solid and what is void; creating different perceptions during day and night. In the dry and polluted climate of Tehran, the building is minimal and cohesive, utilising the facade’s voids to provide light, ventilation and space for vegetation to grow,” said Denise Bennetts, Chair of the RIBA Awards Group.
“An uplifting and inspiring design, this project as well as the Hooba Design Group’s collaborative approach to innovation, qualifies them as a worthy recipient of the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2021.”
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