Nedarag Guesthouse by NextOffice–Alireza Taghaboni: A Community-Built Haven in Southeastern Iran

Reclaiming Identity Through Architecture

The Nedarag Guesthouse is a profound example of architecture as social empowerment, designed by NextOffice led by Alireza Taghaboni. Located in Kahnanikash, a small village of around 200 households in southeastern Iran, the project emerges as a non-profit architectural intervention that challenges systemic exclusion. The community, belonging to the Sunni-Baluch minority, has long been marginalized within Iran’s centralized and religiously homogeneous development framework.

In this context, the guesthouse is not merely a building—it is a statement of cultural resilience, self-determination, and communal pride.

A Grassroots Vision of Hospitality

The project was initiated by Ms. Kamran, a local social facilitator, who collaborated with Mr. Shanbeh, an influential villager known for leading earlier initiatives such as a bridge, a library, and a water purifier. Together, they envisioned a multi-room guesthouse that would extend the “blessings of hospitality” beyond individual homes and distribute them across the community.

Before this project, travelers were welcomed into Shanbeh’s personal residence. The new Nedarag Guesthouse now serves as a shared community space, rooted in collective generosity and village participation.

Site, Context, and Vernacular Inspiration

A villager named Heybatan Baluch donated the land for the project, chosen collaboratively by the design team, village elders, the facilitator, and Mr. Shanbeh. Set near farmlands and close to the village council, the site embodies both symbolic and functional centrality.

The architecture is organized around a semi-open courtyard, which acts as a social heart. A multilayered roof system provides shade and enables passive cooling and natural airflow, reflecting NextOffice’s climate-responsive design principles.

Reinterpreting the Kapar Tradition

Drawing inspiration from the regional Kapar typology, the design reimagines local building traditions through a contemporary lens. Instead of traditional palm-beam structures, handmade trusses support a broad, umbrella-like roof that protects the spaces beneath from the intense desert sun.

The double-layered roof and thick stone walls ensure thermal comfort by reducing heat transfer. Collaborating closely with local craftsmen, the architects redefined vernacular construction methods into a hybrid form that celebrates both craft imperfection and structural innovation.

The resulting aesthetic reveals a poetic tension—between the mass of stone and the lightness of the canopy, between geometric precision and hand-built irregularity, and between Iranian vault-like forms and local material textures.

A Model of Participatory Construction

Built entirely through community collaboration, the Nedarag Guesthouse demonstrates the power of collective architecture. Over four months, villagers erected the stone walls, while the Kapar-inspired roof structures took another year to complete.

The **total budget—approximately £8,000—**was achieved through shared funding from NextOffice, a bank loan, Mr. Shanbeh’s donation, and villagers’ contributions, proving that architecture can thrive even in conditions of scarcity.

Instead of formal surveying tools, villagers and children participated in staking the layout using strings and handmade triangles, transforming construction into a community ritual. Women wove mats, sewed curtains, and plastered walls, while elders twisted palm-fiber ropes at night from Karz leaves collected by the youth.

This intergenerational process transformed every stage of building into an act of social cohesion and cultural affirmation.

Architecture as Empowerment

The Nedarag Guesthouse transcends its physical form—it is a living example of participatory design and architectural empathy. Through minimal resources, local craftsmanship, and collective spirit, the project restores agency to a marginalized community.

All photographs are works of Neel Studio, Ehsan Hajirasouliha