The block incorporates six apartments within the 4-storey height allowed by city bylaws: two on each of the lower floors, for young couples, and one on each of the upper floors, for extended families. Judging that the binary separation of "public" from "private" space in contemporary Iranian houses was encouraging excessive individualism, the architects sought to improve interaction among inhabitants through a "spectrum of domains": "cosy-with-family"; "private-with-friends", "family-private" and "alone-private". In the larger apartments the most public space is centralised, reflecting traditional Iranian Greek-cross-plan houses. Discarded travertine from the stone-cutting process, cut into 6-centimetre lengths and broken with an axe for texture, serves as an inexpensive, innovative alternative to standard brick to meet city requirements for small-dimensioned, modular façade materials. 

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture