Ghalat Villa, Mohammad Jafar Kashef 

Project Name: Ghalat Villa \ Function: Residential
Company: Mohammad Jafar Kashef Architectural Office \ Lead Architect: Mohammad jafar Kashef
Client: Mohammad Jafar Kashef \ Executer: Mohammad Jafar Kashef
Structure: Concrete Structure \ Location: Ghalat Country, Shiraz
Area of Construction: 1300 Sq.m \ Total Area Land: 600 Sq.m
Date: 2014- 2017 \ Photographer: Amirali Ghafari

Qalat villa was located on a plot of land that was 24 meters high from the beginning to the end of the site (58 square meters). This 40% slope eventually reaches the Qalat River on the southeast side. Here we have good natural landscapes, but in addition to these natural landscapes, there are also deformed man-made structures. Thus, one of the most important design issues was to maintain the view of the landscape and to hide the visual pollution. For this issue, as well as inviting natural light into the building, we had only one side of the villa to design, because due to the location of the house on the slope, it was not possible to make openings on other three sides, but finally this issue was solved in the best way possible; we managed to invite light to all the spaces of the house, and by designing elements in the site we limit the inappropriate views and direct the gazes to natural landscapes. Another area of our attention was energy savings for cooling and heating the building. The location of the building in the heart of the earth and its enclosure is not always responsive due to the soil moisture in some areas, but we did not face this issue in this area. Also, the slope was in a favorable direction, i.e. facing the sun, as a result of the villa design in the slope and confinement on three sides was of great help in saving energy.
For the material used, we considered concrete for the building and natural stone for the yard and flooring. As regards the climatic conditions and the cold and icy winters, these materials were the only options that showed high resistance in these conditions.
Because of the steep slope of the site, the building is designed in 3 floors, in such a way that the roof of the second floor is about one meter lower than the street level. Part of the site is allocated to green space and part of it is designed as a car parking lot, which provides access to the entrance of the building and the lower floors by a ramp – after passing through the greenhouse space.
The middle floor (second) due to the larger area than other floors and having a good view of the surrounding landscape was allocated to the required space of the day (hall, living room, kitchen and recreational space) and in the lower floor which is about 10 meters above the river level, the bedrooms, the nocturnal living area, the sauna and Jacuzzi spaces are all designed.The exterior walls of the building are all concrete and the exterior is exposed, parts of which are hammered.
The walls of the yard and its paving are made entirely of rough stones. The area is designed in different levels so that the view of the river and the surrounding landscapes are provided in all directions.