Hestouran restaurant
Hes (sense) + restaurant
The project intended to create a ‘Timeless/Boundless Iranian Space’ without any apparent clue to the beholder’s memories. Hence, it was an indispensable part of the process to go through the times and places to define the beholder itself. The geographical and historical aspects of the millennium of the Persian cultural heritage marks innovation, authenticity and artistry approach of the people who endured invasion, redefinition of the borders and unsteady livelihood. As Iranian architects we have always been entangled with ‘Islamic,’ ‘traditional/native,’ ‘climatic,’ ‘historical,’ architecture. Consequently we were determined to create a space labeled as ‘everything yet nothing.’ while nothing can quite be referenced, all the aesthetic, historical and nostalgic characteristics are distinguished by the user.
Our primary aim is to engage the feelings of people with the environment and inspire them to review their cognitive and historical memories, some of which are part of personal experiences, and some result from the experiences of a generation or even a tribe. But the problem is that many of these memories and cultural affairs are bound with unpleasant barriers such as war, politics, false religious encounters, and lack of facilities in a particular period, which has caused many Iranians to avoid their cultural and aesthetic backgrounds. But we have found that deep understanding, pure, timeless and placeless approach, without directly pointing to cultural and aesthetic patterns and symptoms are so effective that leaves a person alone in a collaborative experience and ultimately leads to experience new time and space with all the senses, an engaging experience that can reconcile individuals with their past, culture, and art. The experience to work with independent artistic teams - which in the past have constantly collaborated with the architect as artisans but nowadays are being pushed away to galleries- resulted in genuine design and creation of every element involved.
The experience of presence begins with the " Hashti", a dark and solid atmosphere as a small art gallery for displaying works by Iranian artists. The morning light passing through the metal leaves of the trees in the “Hayat Khaneh” reminds us of the entrance to the central courtyard across a dark corridor. "Mehman Khaneh" is the experience of conversations and spending time together. The same language, the same memories, and the same song. "Khas neshin" with a private courtyard is a corner with all the lights and colors and memories, and "Hayat" is a remnant of the sounds of childhood next to the turquoise piscina.