The client intention was to build a new cultural building with mixed functions with consideration of the city’s architectural heritage and climate conditions for the city which could become the city new sign with a proper visibility platform to the city. The site was a small hill with 30 meters height in a low-rise residential zone. According to these needs, three approaches were adopted in the design process: conceptual aspects, urbanization and cityscape; heritage, social and environmental design.

Birthing, flourishing and the paradox between roughness and elegance lie at the heart of this project’s design concept. In the process of giving birth, first thing that appears is the head, so by burring half of the building visually (with ramps along with site topography) and eventually (under ground floor) in a way that other half seems to head-out of ground. The green mountainous landscape of Hamadan contains the paradox of roughness of mountains and elegance of green landscape in one context which is appears in rough and heavy forms of main buildings which head-out of its green context. The heavy forms which flourished and embraced from inside through its infiltrated open spaces by a mass light weight structure.

The impact of urbanization and cityscape was in determination of site axes based on visibility, height of the buildings and its location on site. The site is situated among three main streets of city’s radial plan. Two of them end up to, and one is passing nearby site which one of them is a radial urban axis connecting the site to the city center. Due to the importance level of city-to-site visibility from these streets, three axes get shaped on site and buildings have been aligned with them. In the process, design tries to redefine the conventional urban sign and monument forms (a box on ground and a tower above) by using the hill height as visibility privilege and locate buildings on top, in harmony with low-rise surrounding buildings.

Hamadan is one of the historical cities of Iran and located in mid-west of the country with cold climate and mountainous landscape which the Avicenna monument is the symbol of this city. Introverted and sustainable design synchronized with local architectural heritage and climate conditions, have been featured by centralized and buried form, low height, few openings with small area in façades, canopy for sunlight control and the use of rough and dark material in façades. Inspired by Avicenna monument; instead of a positive and tower like form of the conventional urban sign and monuments, a negative form was considered in the design process. Buildings divided into three main functions and the central courtyard in the introverted architecture was considered as the entrance gateway for access point to these various functions (plaza, office, cultural and commercial buildings). The site was a gathering place for social events and interactions because of its location in a residential zone. For maintaining and enhancement of this interactive platform, along with the allocation of semi-open space as a plaza, various elevation levels have been designed so it could draw these social interactions on the site to different levels of the complex. Because the site was a local park and act as ecological patch in urban green network, the design should be responsible for these aspects of the site. Greening the roofs, burying the building and locating the parking area in an intensive slope for having less excavation; was the design response to this aspects.