Sirjan Bookcity

Sirjan is a small city in the south of Iran, located near Iran’s central deserts. Famous traditionally for its pistachio, today the city is growing fast due to its blossoming economy thanks to the discovery of iron mines and its location in the path to Persian Gulf. However, the city’s central historic area is in danger because of this fast unplanned growth.

Bookcity Organization is a non-profit organization which runs a number of chain stores with the goal to provide access to cultural products like books and music for people at different age groups, all over the country. It also tries to provide the appropriate atmosphere to support writers and artists by conducting cultural events like book reading sessions.

The main objective of the design was to create a building which represents its time while blends well with its historic context. In order to achieve this combination, and also because of the building’s commercial function, the underlying principles in design of historic bazaars were used while simplifying and abstracting the forms and geometry to create a modern atmosphere.