Parental House / ZIStudio

Architects: ZIStudio
Area: 704 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs: Khatere Eshqi
Manufacturers: Altonray, KWC, Knauf, choob-sang, vistabest
Lead Architects: Nasrin Nabi, Shohreh Arabzade
Structure Engineer: Ali Bahri
MEP & HVAC Consultant: Ali Akhoundi
Electrical Engineer: Mohadese Zaboli
City: Yazd
Country: Iran

Parental House residential building designed by ZIStudio in Yazd, Iran has restructured an existing family home to accommodate multigenerational living while responding to local climate and cultural patterns. Developed on the site of the original house, the new design maintains a single-level ground floor to ensure accessibility for the aging parents and introduces multiple inner courtyards to organize spatial functions, regulate light, and preserve privacy. The project integrates past spatial behaviors with new living requirements, reinterpreting elements such as the greenhouse and guest room through strategic openings and functional transitions. A brick facade and recessed windows address solar exposure, while the placement of stairs within outdoor yards frees interior space and enhances facade composition. The result is a fluid yet private environment that honors memory while adapting to contemporary needs.

The Parental House project by ZIStudio was designed for a family that has lived on the same property for many years, now including the parents, their adult children, in-laws, and grandchildren. As the family’s needs evolved across generations, the decision was made to construct a new house on the same site that better suited their current lifestyle and collective story.

The design emphasizes a single-level ground floor to facilitate ease of movement for the parents and direct access to key living spaces. This spatial strategy responds both to climatic conditions and the family’s preference for open spaces, while still maintaining necessary privacy. To achieve this, a series of interior courtyards were introduced at the center of the house to maximize spatial usage based on specific functions. The courtyards vary in type and allow adjacent indoor and outdoor spaces to adapt to different uses. The ground floor now serves as the main family area, while the basement contains a one-bedroom unit, parking, storage, and mechanical rooms.

The architectural strategy was guided by an effort to harmonize the family’s new lifestyle with existing behavioral patterns, while preserving emotional connections to the original house. Spatial behaviors observed in the previous home—such as a kitchen located at the far end, a centrally placed living room with a disconnected greenhouse, or a large guest room that remained closed—were analyzed to understand their original purpose. In the new plan, inner yards, inspired by the climatic architecture of Yazd, allow for both ground floor and basement spaces to establish stronger connections with the outdoors.

Spaces were transformed from isolated and closed to more fluid configurations, with careful attention to maintaining privacy. In place of the former greenhouse, an opening was added in the roof, and a flowerbox installed below it, offering both natural light and a symbolic link to the previous home.

A brick facade was selected to provide sun shading and to allow for recessed windows in the living room, in response to the local climate. The layout’s commitment to a single-level interior led to the decision to locate basement stairs within one of the inner courtyards, while the roof access stairs were moved outside. This not only minimized interior space usage but also turned the staircase into a defining feature of the main facade, replacing what might otherwise have been an underutilized, dark internal space.