Golchin Studio Wraps a Multi-Generational Esfahan House Around Brick Courtyards and Open-Air Stairs

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This article covers topics related to Residential Building, Landscape Design, Architecture, Persian Architecture, Built Environment Interiors. In Esfahan's dense Dowlatabad neighborhood, a 268 m² brick house turns inward, trading street exposure for courtyards, glass block and filtered light.

In Esfahan's dense Dowlatabad neighborhood, a 268 m² brick house turns inward, trading street exposure for courtyards, glass block and filtered light.

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UNI Editorial published Blog under Residential Building, Landscape Design on Oct 11, 2026

House in Harmony sits on an infill plot in Esfahan's Dowlatabad neighborhood, and its neighbors are not polite. An oil-change shop presses against the west boundary. A mixed-use retail and residential block stands to the east. An 8 m street to the north faces an elementary school, and a 4 m residential alley runs along the south. Into this mix, Golchin Studio, led by Navid Golchin and Rezvan Alipour, has placed a 268 m² home for a family of four. The home also has to absorb visiting grandparents without strain.

The interesting part is not that the house turns its back on a noisy edge. Plenty of urban Iranian houses do that. What stands out is how much open-air life the architects carved out of a narrow, tapering lot. They do it with courtyards, a light well and stairs that run outdoors between brick walls. They also chose not to treat circulation as leftover space. The result is an introverted house that still feels porous, and it makes a strong case that privacy and generosity can occupy the same footprint.

A Brick Front That Refuses to Perform

Street facade of a yellow brick block with a green steel garage door, a cyclist passing under a leafy tree

Grey steel garage door and pedestrian gate beneath a cantilevered brick volume, with leafy branches hanging across the corner

Brick house facade with deep recessed windows lit from within, a pedestrian passing the angled side wall at blue hour

From the street, the house gives away very little. A yellow brick mass sits above steel garage doors, green on one frontage and grey on the other, with a cantilevered volume shading the entry below. The facade does not compete with the school opposite or the commercial clutter around it. It reads as a solid, well-made wall.

At blue hour the deep window recesses glow, and the brick's thickness becomes legible. Those reveals do double duty. They frame selective views and push the glass back from the street, which counts for a lot on a block where acoustic privacy was part of the brief.

Stepped Volumes Behind a Low Wall

Elevated view of stepped brick volumes behind a low garden wall with green doors, a woman in black walking past

Brick house seen over a white perimeter wall from a paved court, children running past a pine tree at dusk

Seen from above and across the perimeter wall, the massing breaks into stepped brick volumes rather than a single block. The stepping lowers the house's apparent bulk toward its surroundings and lets sun reach parts of the plot that a flat, maxed-out envelope would leave in shadow. Children running past the pine tree at dusk are a reminder that the street remains a shared space, even if the house keeps a careful distance from it.

Thresholds That Slow You Down

Corner entrance with a pivoting green steel door and glass block wall, a blurred pedestrian passing a leaning tree trunk

Covered entry porch with a brick vaulted ceiling, glass block panel, teal ceramic vase and open timber door in afternoon light

Open pivot entry door framing a narrow slate-paved passage between brick and glass block walls, with a figure visible in the window above

Entry happens at a corner, through a pivoting green steel door set beside a glass block wall. Behind it, a covered porch with a brick vaulted ceiling holds the visitor for a moment before the timber door opens. The sequence is short, but it is layered: steel, then brick, then wood, with light softening at each step.

We read this as a contemporary version of the indirect entrance found in older Iranian houses. You do not step straight from the pavement into domestic life. You pass through a compressed zone that resets your attention, and the house earns its quiet interior from that pause.

Glass Block as Filter

Slate-floored brick passage lined with glass block, opening to a sunlit street where a man walks past under a tree

Sliding glass door framing a glass block panel set into a brick wall, a blurred walking figure and sheer curtain at left

The slate-paved passage between brick and glass block is one of the project's best moments. Glass block admits daylight and blurs movement without giving up privacy, so a passerby becomes a soft shape rather than an intrusion. Set into brick and framed by a sliding glass door inside, the same material turns a boundary wall into a lantern.

It is an unfashionable material used with real precision here. On a site where every direct view outward lands on a shop, a school or a neighbor, glass block solves the daylight problem without opening the house to the street.

Stairs as Outdoor Rooms

Green steel staircase rising between tall brick walls in a courtyard, a woman in shadow under a clear blue sky

Grey steel stair landings between two brick walls, with two people leaning on the rails under a clear blue sky

Dark steel stair soffit stepping over a narrow brick alley with small planted bed and a bicycle leaning near the far green gate

The steel stairs rise in the open between tall brick walls, and their landings are wide enough for two people to stop and lean on the rails. That small fact changes how the house works. Moving between floors becomes a brief outdoor moment under the sky. For a household that expands when grandparents visit, it also offers a natural place to meet that is not a formal room.

From below, the dark stair soffit steps over a narrow brick alley with a planted bed and a parked bicycle. The circulation shades the ground beneath it, which matters in Esfahan's sun. It is a lean, structural move that does climatic and social work at once.

Courtyards and Perforated Brick

Brick courtyard with a perforated lattice wall, a woman standing beside a round mirror in strong sunlight and hard shadow

Brick courtyard with a perforated screen wall glowing from behind, framed by glazed openings and grey stone paving at dusk

The courtyards are bounded by brick laid as a perforated lattice. In strong daylight the screen throws hard, patterned shadow. At dusk, backlit, it glows like a textile. The perforations allow air and light through while keeping neighbors at bay, so the courtyard reads as enclosed without becoming airless.

This is where the project's single-material discipline pays off. The same brick builds the solid street wall, the vaulted porch and the breathing screen. One material, used with different bonds and densities, carries the whole spectrum from closed to open.

Living Rooms That Spill Outward

Open living area with sculptural pendant lights and a sliding glass door onto a perforated brick wall, a man stepping through in sunlight

Brick courtyard seen through a black-framed glass door, with a potted citrus tree, a seated woman and a man leaning from a green balcony

Sliding glass door opening to a brick courtyard with a green concrete stair, a red kilim rug and cushions in a patch of sun

Inside, large sliding glass doors make the courtyard part of the living space. A red kilim and cushions laid in a patch of sun, a potted citrus tree, a family member leaning from a green balcony above: the photographs show a house used in the old way, with daily life spread across indoor and outdoor floors.

The green stair returns here in concrete, linking the court to the upper level. Against the warm brick, that color is the project's one recurring accent, and it works as wayfinding across steel doors, railings and stairs.

Framed Views and a Working Kitchen

Tall fixed window framing a leafy tree between two brick walls, with a small window set into the right wall

Long kitchen with white cabinetry, a stone island and a pass-through window, a man walking toward curtained glass doors in daylight

Where the house does look out, it does so selectively. A tall fixed window frames a single tree between two brick walls, borrowing green without exposing the interior. The long kitchen, with white cabinetry, a stone island and a pass-through window, keeps lines of sight running across the plan. That matters when several generations share the house and someone is always cooking while others gather nearby.

Plans and Drawings

Axonometric drawing of the street block showing the house among neighbours, a school playground, parked cars and small inset views

Site plan drawing of the roof footprint, labelling neighbouring retail, residential and mixed-use plots between a street and an alley

North and south elevation drawings of a brick-clad block with a street tree, a parked car and a pedestrian walking past

The block axonometric and site plan make the context explicit: retail, residential and mixed-use plots crowd the house, with the school playground across the street. The elevations show how restrained the two street faces are compared with the activity behind them.

Design process diagram sheet of site plans showing area, dimensions, structure, circulation, negative spaces and sunlight penetration across a narrow plot

Sectional axonometric drawing with two sun symbols and dashed airflow lines passing through the floors, a roof light well and a courtyard tree

The process sheet traces the design through area, dimensions, structure, circulation, negative space and sunlight penetration on the narrow plot. The sectional axonometric adds sun symbols and dashed airflow lines running through the floors, the roof light well and the courtyard tree. Together they suggest the voids were placed to manage light and air, not simply to look good.

Level 1 floor plan drawing showing an open living area, two car courts, bedrooms and service rooms within a tapering site

Level 2 floor plan drawing showing a living and dining space, an inner void, bedrooms and bathrooms around a central core

Exploded axonometric drawing separating two floor plates and a roof outline, with labels for bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and bathrooms

On Level 1, an open living area, two car courts, bedrooms and service rooms fit within the tapering site. Level 2 arranges living, dining, bedrooms and bathrooms around a central core and an inner void. The exploded axonometric separates the two floor plates, which makes it clear how each could support its own household when the family grows.

Longitudinal section drawing showing a garage with a parked car, switchback brick stairs, a courtyard tree and a living room above, with people on the steps

Cross section drawing showing two cars in garages, a ground floor living room, and upper level bedroom and dining spaces around a central stair

The sections are the most revealing drawings. Garages hold cars at grade, switchback brick stairs climb past a courtyard tree, and the living room sits above. The house stacks vehicle, garden and domestic space vertically, with the stair acting as the spine between them.

Why This Project Matters

Dense Iranian cities are filling with infill houses that maximize floor area and treat the plot as a box to be packed. House in Harmony takes a different route. It gives up some enclosed area to make courtyards, open stairs and a light well. In return, it gains daylight, cross-ventilation and a set of in-between spaces that can stretch to fit a visiting generation.

What we value most is the restraint. With brick, steel, concrete and glass block, Golchin Studio has built a house that is quiet toward a difficult street and generous toward the people inside it. Introversion here does not mean retreat. It means taking control of how light, air and family life move through a tight urban lot.

House in Harmony by Golchin Studio. Location: Dowlatabad, Esfahan, Iran. Area: 268 m². Year: 2025. Photography: Mohammad Soroosh Jooshesh, COMO photography studio.

About the Studio

Golchin Studio

Official website of Golchin Studio, one of the studios behind this project.

golchinstudio.com

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