Architect, headquarters volunteer and DLYGAD[2] featured designer Pouya Khazaeli recently sent us some images of design/build charrettes and workshops in Mashhad, Iran, and Grenoble, France, led by his team of Tehrani professionals and the guiding principles of Architecture for Humanity.
Consistent with his contribution to the latest Damn volume, Khazaeli pursues rapid emergency shelters for those with the very fewest resources...and is not satisfied with just one formulation.
Both charrettes explore reed an earth construction, built on flexible, small tree limbs and allowing for a bit of geometric poetry. In the case of the CRAterre event in Grenoble, the structure was devised for users of a...smaller scale. Take a look.
Emergency Shelter workshop in Mashhad-Iran
The Tehran team held a two-day event Mashhad, in Northeast Iran (the closest city to Afghanistan) at Ferdowsi University. Materials used were strips of woods and mud, developing structures for disaster areas with local, free materials.
Their next workshop will be in Tehran (Azad University) from July 25-30, in which participants will realize a single, full-scale structure using only earth and no wood. This will be the third workshop after Kermanshah (west Iran) and Mashhad (east Iran).
Les Grands Ateliers, Grenoble-France
As part of a larger event organized by CRAterre, the Tehran team co-developed a structure that could easily be reproduced in kindergarten schoolyards around the world for pennies on the dollar. This was a joyful collaboration with children and other participants in Les Grands Ateliers.

(Thanks to Alina and Delphine for making the introduction to CRAterre.)




