RENOVATION OF BUSHEHR CONSULATE BUILDING TO ART MUSEUM

Bushehr – IRAN

Spring 2013

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According to the available information, English consulate building in Bushehr has a history of 157 years in contemporary architecture in Iran. It seems that it was built in 1858 for the first time in Iran in order to be a political center in the Middle East region. This building had been handled by English officials for 88 years, and after that, it was delivered to Iran’s government in 1946. The Existing building has an area of about 4000 m2 in two floors which has a plan with two central rectangular cores. It has been a storage of military equipment for many years until Iran’s officials decided to inject cultural and vernacular art into the building. The main program is to change the consulate building to Ethnography or Contemporary museum of Bushehr in order to present people’s lifestyle and culture, so changing the character of building from a rigid and political volume to a popular and available urban space for all people was the most important question for us to start our design.

The existing consulate building in Bushehr has been altered over and over again through 157 years. In this process, three vital historical periods are recognizable which have been immensely effective in organizing the form and architectural patterns in the mentioned building.

In three previous periods of consulate building, not only has there been no destruction to make the new period, but also there has been an adjunct part to expand the old building. These extensions have only been horizontal and it seems that vertical connections have not been designed properly! In the other words, we can see many detached elements in sections which do not communicate with each other.

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HAJIZADEH & ASSOCIATES

Design: Amir Hossein Hajizadeh