student's dormitory

University Of QOM

Project idea

Dormitories are a temporary accommodation for students who live there for a limited period of time. However, residences are much more than just a place for students to live. In other words, they play an essential role in the personal and educational development of students. As a student, I had the opportunity to live in a dormitory where I faced many different problems during my temporary stay. For example, there was no recreation area for students to spend their free time in. In addition, the interior design was terrible because the walls were painted with cold colours and the furniture was not comfortable. These reasons encourage me to design a dormitory for my thesis project that is not only cosy and friendly, but also provides various facilities for students to feel at home and help them to pursue their education in the best possible way.

Project description

As it is obvious, student dormitories are more like houses than hotels and hostels. I am trying my best to design a dormitory that fulfils all my ambitions absolutely perfectly.
Dormitories are divided into two categories, the first is the corridor system, where all the rooms are located on both sides of the corridor, and the second is the suit system, but the corridors are unavoidable in this system, but the amount of doors in the corridor is less than in the first system. Both systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, the advantages of the suit system clearly outweigh the disadvantages. In the first system, due to the high number of users, the students could not have an acceptable level of privacy and security. In addition, the service areas of the building, such as the toilets and kitchens, could not be cleaned.
There are a lot of reasons why I choose a suit system. For example, we are designing all the rooms as doubles so that students will have at least one roommate to prevent isolation and homesickness. Each suit has its own bathroom, which prevents dirt and allows students to clean their own space. The kitchen and dining room are located at the end of the corridor and they are separated from other parts by a door to avoid noise and distraction for others.
There are some spaces along the corridors which I have called a communal area, furnished with comfortable chairs and tables for students to have small gatherings with friends.
The staircase is in the middle of the plan to facilitate access to different parts of the building.
The main buildings are divided into two parts, the recreation building and the residential building, and to access the recreation building you have to pass through the residential building lobby in order to ensure the safety of the students. The recreation building consists of different parts like the swimming pool on the ground floor and the café on the second floor and the gym on the third floor.
About the main building, the ground floor contains the conference hall, main lobby, security and café. The residential rooms are located on the first, second, third and fourth floors, which they have the kitchen and dining hall at the end of each floor. The public rooms that need a quiet place like the library and the prayer room are located on the fifth floor which is the last floor. There are also two guest rooms on the fifth floor, but they are far away from the library and the prayer room so as not to disturb them.
The accentuated terraced forms of the landscape in front of the dormitory open as well as hide the functions within. The landscape in front of the public zones is level or gradually descending and starts to rise again in the middle of the building thus sheltering the spaces in need of concealment. The terraced landscape around the building provides accentuated areas for various outdoor activities while also serving a protective function along the perimeter of the building.
It is necessary to mention that the dormitory, where I lived in didn't have a garden or courtyard where students could spend their free time and get in touch with nature. that is the main reason why I place a high value on landscape designing. for example, as I mentioned before, we add topography to the landscape not only to make it more beautiful but also to give you the feeling of being in a natural park. in addition, the topography is surrounded by a circular bridge in order to provide a walking path for students to enjoy themselves.

Technical information

This building has a strong desire to bring a new perspective from the both traditional and modern architecture. The main material which is selected is bare brick in order to exude the beauty of Yazd traditional architecture.