شهرک شوشتر نو

The major design feature is a multi-faceted central east-west pedestrian boulevard. This consists of many gardens, paved squares, covered and shaded resting places, arcades, bazaars, fountains, and occasional use of Persian mosaic tile work.

The neighborhoods are designed to encourage movement in the direction of this pedestrian boulevard. Major public activities, such as schools, bazaars, and a variety of community affairs occur along this spine, enhancing its prominence.

The streets were designed not primarily for a corridor like function, but to generate and maintain a life of their own. The automobile is segregated from internal community life and all parking areas are concentrated collectively at strategic points. We have to add that this is a partially built project and in post revolution era has been grossly neglected and partially destroyed.

This project is the winner of the Agakhan Award for Architecture and exhibited extensively in the west.

کامران دیبا - قرار بود محله ها متنوع باشن، محله ی مرکز رو همه کارشو خودم کرده بودم، محله های دیگه، طرح جامعشو داده بودم، طرح هاشو داده بودم، بقیه کشیده بودن ما فاز اولشو ساختیم.

ما این رو سال ۱۳۵۳ شروع کردیم و چون عجله بود و باید مردم می اومدن توش زندگی کنن، خیلی سریع کار کردیم تا ۱۳۵۷ که من ایران رو ترک کردم، تقریبا ۹۵ درصد قسمت اولش تموم شده بود.

یک شهر مدرن بود، تمامی خدمات رو داشت، حتی چیزایی که برای اون زمان به نظر لوکس می اومد، از انواع ادارات بگیر تا دکتر و محضر و هتل و سالن آرایش زنانه، مساله این بود که دسترسی به همه ی اینا آسون باشه و رابطه هاشون با هم معقول و مجموعا یک شهر انسانی. مثلا ما شبکه ی ترافیک رو جدا کردیم و ترتیبی دادیم که کارگرها وقتی با اتوبوس از سر کارشون می اومدند، پنج شش دقیقه که راه می رفتن توی خونه شون بودن. مسیرها به طور طبیعی از فضاهای سبز، از تپه ماهور یک جنگل مصنوعی که اون جا درست کرده بودیم یا از حیاط مسجد رد می شدن، از حمام به مسجد راه داده بودیم، از کافه و چلوکبابی که در می اومدی، خودتو کنار رودخونه پیدا می کردی، اگه روز تعطیل بود می تونستی اون جا قدمی بزنی. طرح هر شهری بر اساس اون جور زندگی ایه که فکر

شده.

بازاری طراحی کرده بودیم سرپوشیده، با آجر و سیمان. کمی مدرن و با آجرهای سفید شاد. با یک فضا برای میدان تره بار. جایی هم برای ورود کامیون هایی که اجناس رو بیارن. در عین حال یک مرکز معاشرت هم هست.

شهری بود که هم ایده های قدیمی توش بود هم مدرن بود. و معماری هدایت شده ای داشت، فکرهایی که من راجع به شهرسازی داشتم، درباره ی فضای زندگی و ساکنین، در این پروژه منظور شده بود.

کوچه ها را هم جوری درست کرده بودیم که یک محل معاشرت باشه. وقتی مردم حوصله شون سر می ره بتونن صندلی بذارن دور هم، دم در بشینن با هم گپ و گفت و گو داشته باشن و بچه ها هم توی کوچه با هم بازی کنن، کوچه ها متنوع بودن و تنگ و گشاد می شد.

وقتی خونه ها به هم نزدیک و به هم چسبیده است و تراکم جمعیت در خانه هایی به صورت افقی هست (برعکس آپارتمان ها با تراکم عمودی)، مردم با هم همبستگی و مشارکت دارند، گفت و گو اتفاق می افته بینشون، در مورد محیط زیستشون احساس مسوولیت دارند و سر مشکلات دور هم جمع می شن و مثلا راجع به فلان مشکل مربوط به أشغال ها با فضاهای مشترکشون با هم تصمیم می گیرن. خیابون جلوی خونه مال خودشونه. ... شهری بود که اولویت رو به پیاده ها می داد. یک شبکه ی پیاده درست کرده بودیم که همه جای شهر رو می تونستی پیاده یا با دوچرخه بری بدون این که ترافیک باشه. بعد هم یک شبکه برای وسایل موتوری و حمل و نقل تهیه کرده بودیم. این دو شبکه جوری با هم منطبق شده بودند که دسترسی به هم داشته باشند ولی جدا باشند. کوچه های باریکی داشتیم که همیشه سایه بود توش. می دونی که منطقه خیلی گرمسیره، کنار شوشتر قدیم

همه خدمات رو داشتیم حتی فرهنگسرا ، یک حال و هوای خاص ایرانی هم توش حس می شد و اساسا شهر جمع و جوری بود که تواکمش افقی بود. به همون سبک و سیاق ایرونی که بازار داره هتل و حموم داره و مسجد و غیره با این تفاوت که هر محله ای مرکزیتی داشت، هر محله یک چیزایی داشت.

در ایران قدیم ترها، عصر که می شد می اومدن کوچه رو آب پاشی می کردن. چون با اون کوچه احساس رابطه داشتن، حتی یک جور محل گفت و گو و سلام و علیک و نشست و برخاست بود برای اهالی بخصوص زن ها و بچه ها.

جهت بادها رو مطالعه کرده بودیم. دالون های بادگیری ساخته بودیم که نسیم رو در کوچه ها ایجاد می کرد. خیلی متاثر بود از معماری و فرهنگ و آب و هوای اون منطقه و خاورمیانه، برای همین هم جایزه آقاخان رو برد.

کامران دیبا - باغی میان دو خیابان چهار هزار و یک روز از زندگی کامران دیبا در گفت و گو با رضا دانشور

Maidan-e-Shahr Shushtar New Town Khuzestan, Iran

1974 (under construction)

The Maidan-e-Shahr is the main and largest city square lying on the river bank across from the historic city of Shushtar. The maidan, terminal point of the pedestrian boulevard, is ultimately meant to connect with the main street of the old city by a pedestrian bridge. This plaza, with dimensions of 100x100 m or 330x330 ft., encompasses major urban activities and is intended as the principal urban space unifying old and new town. The program consists of government offices, a hotel, apartments, offices, arcaded shops and cinemas providing a variety of social events and activities.

Shushtar New Town Khuzestan, Iran

1974–1980

(partial completion) Population 30 000–40 000

This is a town for workers and employees of the Karoun agro-industry located across the river from the historic town of Shushtar. During the seventies in Iran many new towns were being built. Unfortunately, few attempts were made to incorporate vernacular architecture on such a scale as Shushtar. In the beginning, our client gave us quite a bit of trouble and interfered in the design of the project. This is very typical of developing countries where the technocrats feel that since they have a more powerful position than architects, they are free to implement their own taste and ideas into the projects they undertake. Fortunately, after a preliminary struggle with many different agencies which were involved in the investment, we succeeded, under a very tight schedule, in putting together a new town which is sympathetic to the cultural values of Iranian society and yet maintains a traditional continuity with the past. The major design feature is a multi-faceted central eastwest pedestrian boulevard. This consists of many gardens, paved squares, covered and shaded resting places, arcades, bazaars, pedestrian bridges complemented by dramatic changes of level and decorated with lush plantations, fountains, running water and occasional use of Persian mosaic tile work. The neighborhoods are designed to encourage movement in the direction of this pedestrian boulevard. Major public activities, such as schools, bazaars and a variety of community affairs occur along this spine, enhancing its prominence. The contrast of the narrow paved streets of the neighborhoods, which are almost treeless, makes the boulevard a very precious place with strong imageability. This also worked out as a practical solution because of maintenance and landscaping costs which we considered difficult and luxurious for this scheme. We located many private gardens in such a manner that their vegetation could provide shade and a green touch to the narrow streets. The streets were designed not primarily for a corridorlike function, but to generate and maintain a life of their own. Observation of old cities showed streets as a kind of playground or meeting-place; so, we created a lot of dead-end streets which preserved privacy and identity.

We managed to segregate the automobile from internal community life and also approached the whole project as a high-density horizontal apartment house, with all parking areas concentrated collectively at strategic points. One of the concepts incorporated into our scheme was that the western notion of thinking of a house as a conglomeration of living-room, dining-room and bedrooms, was abandoned. We concentrated on the room as a flexible interior unit, since, historically in Iran hard furniture was never developed and instead large multipurpose, multi-functional spaces were provided. Having the influence of a very strong nomadic culture, Iranian houses are not only adaptable to different daily functions, but also, in a typical courtyard house, according to the season, the inhabitants move around the courtyard to avoid or enjoy the sun. We made two and three-room housing units planned in a manner in which they could simply expand to the next unit and become a four, five or six-room house. The idea was to avoid the eternal stigma of low-income housing and minimum room sizes. As the standard of living improves, the houses would be expanded and families could have larger dwelling units. The argument was that the Iranian way of life, especially the non-western style prevalent among low-income groups and the rural population, needed less rooms but larger spaces to accommodate different daily and nightly functions. The majority of rooms were 5x5 m and the smallest rooms were not less than 4x4 m or 3x4 m. We also concentrated on houses rather than apartments. Close to 90% of dwellings are one or two-story houses and all units are provided with a garden which is designed as an outside room without a roof. The new town is programmed to integrate different income groups. In order to further reduce the institutional (company town) character of the new community, it was planned that a percentage of houses built by the company should be offered on the open market to attract and assimilate the natural growth of adjacent old Shushtar into the new town. Beyond accommodating the functional needs of a scheme, I am very much concerned about the physical stage we set for patterns of social interaction and collective behavior. Obviously, this objective is an involvement beyond just making buildings and is often incorporated into the program and design processes. Anticipating community and social behavior, the question is: what happens when the architect leaves and the people move in?

The streets, which are pedestrian and serve only a limited number of houses, are further extensions of houses where children play and parents chat. The basic attempt was to create a socio-physical entity conducive to collective interaction, togetherness and strong community ties. Part of the green main linear pedestrian boulevard was designed with a neighborhood plaza and shopping center at the crossroad of vehicular and pedestrian access. Large parking lots were anticipated for the future, but are used at present as sports and play areas.

Due to the tight schedule and pressure from the client, the first neighborhood was designed simultaneously with the master plan. We designed the first neighborhood as a total architectural unit, more like one building rather than loosely organized units within an urban structure. The houses, only three basic types, consisted of two to four rooms plus kitchen and bathroom. Room sizes were generous, 5x5 m, which allowed them to be converted to a variety of activities – sitting, dining or sleeping. Persians from rural areas and small towns use removable soft furniture like pillows and mattresses which are designed to be stored away daily as the function of the space is changed. In addition, we designed the units to be expandable to the adjacent unit by removal of the courtyard wall, so one small house could easily expand to a larger one. The possibility of expanding the house sizes would make the internal social transformation of the neighborhood easy and provide inborn dynamics for socio-economic mobility. All units have a courtyard which, in Shushtar weather, could be used as a big open-to-sky room. Also, roof terraces were moderately screened to provide privacy, as it is customary to sleep on the roofs, where one can enjoy the cool breeze of the night and contemplate a sky full of brilliant stars.