Not a good start

Hormoz Island is an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. Located in the Strait of Hormuz, 8 kilo­me­tres off the Iranian coast, the island is part of Hormozgān Province. Hormuz Island has an area of 42 km². It is covered by sedi­men­tary rock and layers of volcanic mate­rial on its surface.

Hormoz island is econo­mic­ally stressed out and has a history of conse­cu­tive fail­ures when it comes to envi­ron­mental issues. “Hormoz Red Soil” has long been a matter of tension and the matter has been and still is perceived by many locals as plun­de­ring of their island’s natural resources.

The project “Rong Cultural Center” entered the island in 2014, but with a sad end, people in Hormuz burned some parts of his cons­truc­tion. After­wards he decided to have a more calcu­lated presence in Hormoz.

Rong Cultural Center

Due to limi­ta­tions of resources, a parti­ci­pa­tive process has been set up. Multi-disci­pli­nary brain­stor­ming work­shops were held and “Presence in Hormoz” as an over­ar­ching vision was further deve­loped to a set of stra­te­gies and tactics of an inter­ven­tion plan. The first series of project that were planned to be executed based on envi­ron­mental, self-suffi­ci­ency, and simple imple­men­ta­tion features is going to target a sort of Hormoz-oriented tourism infra­struc­ture: A commu­nity center, a tourist infor­ma­tion center, a passenger station, a series of bicycle rental stations, cafes and restau­rants, a waste recy­cling manage­ment center, a variety of tourist accom­mo­da­tion centers, multiple urban public spaces.

First, a commu­nity center was set up tempo­r­a­rily to gain the parti­ci­pa­tion of Hormo­zians. Then a series of studies have been done on the morpho­logy and consti­tu­ting elements of Hormoz. After conside­ra­tion of local and inter­na­tional case studies, the design team came to the conclu­sion that the rammed soil system and espe­ci­ally Nader Khalili’s Super­Adobe could be appro­priated and retro­fitted with more contem­po­rary solu­tions to be used in Hormoz.

Result

Inside Rong Cultural Center rooms and areas for tourist infor­ma­tion, café and event manage­ment were built. On the outside, you will find the grand­stand that shapes the design for many kinds of events and over­looks the sea. “Rong” was the name that we chose for this complex. Rong is an urban space that people can walk on it. It has harmony with the island’s geomor­pho­logy and is iconic at the same time. Its presence in Hormoz brings pride for Hormo­zians. In its imple­men­ta­tion, the adopted sandbag tech­no­logy was combined with steel struc­ture covered with cement.

Rong Cultural Center accepts the people’s reality and invites their parti­ci­pa­tion and enga­ge­ment. It is sustainable and recy­clable and, it is built fast and with ease and as such, it can be repli­cated again and again.