An Iranian resort made of wood from dismantled buildings

Designed by the Haft Shahr Aria Group, Ghadimkhoone is a tourist resort built with reclaimed wooden beams from discarded wood.

Built using local construction techniques, Ghadimkhoone is an eco-lodge resort constructed in Gilan, Iran, by the engineering group Haft Shahr Aria. Formally, the project focuses on the aesthetics of the surrounding traditional villages, incorporating their construction methods and details and generating an intimate experience and close interaction with nature. Following sustainable architectural criteria, the architecture proves to be a resilient structure with minimal environmental impact that takes into account the life cycle of materials.

Haft Shahr Aria, Ghadimkhoone Ecolodge Resort, Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, Gilan, Iran, 2023. Photo Mohammad Hassan Ettefagh

Although the design fulfils all the needs and functions required for tourist accommodation, the space also provides an immediate connection to the surroundings and an insight into the cultural context. Structurally, reclaimed wood beams and the traditional layered foundation system were used, while the four-pitch roof features wires and twigs of plants from all over the region.

Considering construction and materiality, the team of designers and engineers sourced wooden beams and planks from old, dismantled buildings originally intended for coal factories, and stacked them as the third and fourth rows of the foundation system. The main piling and balancing layer of the structure forms the fifth and sixth rows with wooden lampposts long since discarded and gradually destroyed by the region's electricity department.

The roof structure consists of two rows of side rafters, made of local reeds and poplar wood, respectively. All construction joints are assembled with hand-woven rice stalks, a lightweight, easily accessible and inexpensive element. Finally, the roof covering of the four-sloping roof is made of wires and plant twigs.

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