

At the boarder of Iran and Iraq, the city of Baneh is a popular trading hub, full of shopping centers selling imported products. This project was designed based on the geographical condition of the site. The attempt was to create a sustainable and vernacular typology for shopping centers in the region. The functional program of the project was to create a commercial-leisure-green space at the same time. Volumetric boxes were created in two levels, defining the commercial and the leisure activities. These volumes are connected two each other and the created spaces in between them form the greenspaces. The result is a complex of open and semi open spaces which not only satisfies the commercial requirements of a shopping center, but also becomes a platform for social interactions. Following the vernacular architecture of Baneh, it was decided to use stone as the main façade material, to establish a pattern for future developments in the region. This new commercial typology is a substitute for the common huge closed volumetric boxes which have minimum connection to their context and geographical conditions. In this new system, shopping, leisure, and green spaces have been combined and connected through a simple circulation scenario. This system provides the chance for outdoor activities and promotes indoor-outdoor social events and interactions simultaneously.












