Brick barrel vault shelters community kitchen in Iran by Song Architects

A barrel vault of steel and brick fronted by glossy turquoise tiles shelters this community kitchen in Iran, designed by local studio Song Architects.

Named Aghajoon Kitchen, the 539-square-metre structure replaces an unsanitary, roofless cooking enclosure that had long stood at the centre of life in Khalilabad Village, Yazd province.

“The aim was to transform a temporary, makeshift space into a permanent, climate-responsive facility that would preserve its social and cultural significance,” Song Architects architect Seyed Amirhossein Sahiholnasab told Dezeen.

“Given its longstanding role in the village’s communal life, particularly during religious ceremonies, social gatherings, and wedding celebrations, there was a clear need to reimagine it as a sustainable, hygienic, and contextually integrated structure.”

Passing through large doors in the building’s tiled facade, a strip of turquoise tiling on the floor leads into the ground floor kitchen space, which is lined by large cooking vats beneath exposed ducting and the black steel trusses of the vaulted brick roof.

Overlooking this central space is a mezzanine rest area accessed via a steel stair with matching turquoise treads, which sits above a block of bathroom, ablution and storage spaces against the interior’s fully-tiled rear wall.

Small, arched openings and skylights illuminate the interiors, set within deep reveals that have also been lined in turquoise tiles.

“The material palette was guided by availability, economy, and cultural continuity. Brick, plaster, and turquoise tile are rooted in Yazd’s vernacular architecture and rely on local craftsmanship,” Sahiholnasab told Dezeen.

“The arched roof is supported by a truss structure that spans the space without columns, creating openness and flexibility while reducing overall construction costs by approximately 15 percent,” he continued,

“Exposed structural elements and visible ducts give the interior a contemporary expression, contrasting subtly with the earth-toned exterior that blends into the historic village fabric.”

Aghajoon Kitchen’s cold storage, ingredient preparation and washing areas were sunk below ground in a basement level to help stabilise their internal temperature.

This basement is offered natural light by windows positioned behind bands of perforated brickwork at the base of the kitchen’s external walls, which also act to illuminate the building’s exterior at night.

Other projects in Iran featured on Dezeen include KA Architecture Studio’s design for the Jahad Metro Plaza in Tehran, which also made use of barrel vaulted brick forms to create a new “democratic open space.”

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