The winning design entry for the Zarjub Riverbank Design Competition, Urban Development and Revitalization Organization of Iran, May 2019. 

Despite the complex and multilayered issues that are more or less shared among all urban rivers, Zarjub has a legacy of identities that Rasht is known for. The memories of rich nature, native and migratory birds, forest plants, local markets, fishermen and hunters, and waterfront recreation which is rather still alive in people’s hearts. The capacity of connecting the proposed design area, between the Zarjub and the Busar Bridges, to the central historic district of the city, to transform the river from an invisible boundary in the neighborhood to a semi natural place of character in accordance with the revitalized central historical district in Rasht. Our proposal seeks this significant capacity by providing suggestions in both legal and technical areas. 

We applied BREEAM Environmental Assessment Methodology adapted for urban areas, in order to plan a roadmap on how to achieve the livability, resiliency, and safety goals requested by the Client, as well as to keep in consideration the expected output of the competition, which was a quality yet executable plan adjusted with SDGs. Thus, planned its proposed design through three macro levels, corresponding to the design framework document, mid-level, corresponding to the spatial master plan document, and the micro level, corresponding to the chosen design site, in a matrix of objective and thematic layers of the plan, and conceptual categorization.  

The selected sequence for conceptual design, is an area that most conforms to the criteria and indices of response to design goals, livability, reversibility, and safety on the one hand, opportunities to be realized according to BREEAM methodology in governance groups, economic and social health, resource efficiency, ecology and land use, and transport and movement and on the other hand, and ultimately special capacities to confront the challenges.