BENETTON TEHRAN HQ

Concept | 2009

Intimac(it)y explores the relationship between individual expression and the shifting layers of intimacy between ourselves and our surroundings. Responding to the complex cultural energy of Persian culture and contemporary Tehran, the proposal reflects the city’s political and social environment while creating a semi-private and public platform for future generations. Commercial and cultural, residential and office, private and public, and women and men coexist within a building organized around varying degrees of intimacy.

Inspired by the specificity of the site and the traditional crafts of Persian and Islamic culture, the architecture begins with the geometric rationality of the infinite grid. A classical eight-point Islamic star pattern is transformed into a three-dimensional lattice, drawing on a geometric tradition characterized by repetition, complexity, abstraction, and the possibility of infinite growth. Within Islamic art and thought, geometry can be understood as an intermediary between the material and spiritual worlds—an idea that becomes central to the architectural language of the proposal.

This three-dimensional lattice is intersected with the given Benetton program, the “Intruder”, producing a composition of solid and void within a veiled prism. The resulting spaces, conceived in the tradition of Mahtabis, form junctions between programs and extend the interior toward the exterior, connecting the building with the street.

The result is a compact yet fragmented typology that creates visual and physical connections between three primary programs: shopping, working, and living. Different degrees of intimacy are expressed through layers of lattice, glass, and stone, shifting between opacity, translucency, and transparency.

A series of shared private and public spaces encourages interaction between users and visitors, with interior public areas conceived to accommodate exhibitions, gatherings, fashion shows, and video screenings as part of Tehran’s broader cultural life. At the main entrance, a piazza forms the central orientation point, offering views into the heart of the building through overlapping layers of enclosure, a sequence of glimpses between public and private, material and immaterial, city and interior.