Hooman Balazadeh/Hooba Design named RIBA International Emerging Architect Prize 2021 winner

More in the steady stream of RIBA International Prize announcements this week as Hooba Design Group has now been named the winner of this year’s RIBA International Emerging Architect Prize. 

The Iran-based practice earned the recognition for its Kohan Ceram Central Office Building in Tehran.

Built from materials produced by its client’s own brick-making factory, the building visually divides the busy Sattari highway area from the residential neighborhood that surrounds it. The special “spectacled” bricks come in three forms and combine to effectively regulate the building’s internal climate. The green quality is even further enhanced by a program of biophilic elements installed in voids through the building’s upper floors. 

The jury cited Hooba’s ability to “successfully addresses a number of key criteria and [respond] with an architecture of restraint, invention, and elegance.” 

“The decision to use a single material to create both the external and internal structure results in an intriguing ambiguity about what is solid and what is void; creating different perceptions during day and night,” the jury’s statement continued. 

“In the dry and polluted climate of Tehran, the building is minimal and cohesive, utilizing the facade’s voids to provide light, ventilation, and space for vegetation to grow. An uplifting and inspiring design, this project as well as the Hooba Design Group’s collaborative approach to innovation, qualifies them as a worthy recipient of the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2021.”

RIBA will open submissions once again for the 2022 International Prize cycle on May 22nd.