Tehran University

School of Fine Arts

Redevelopment of
City Center in
Kamyaran
A summary of Degree Project for Master degree in Architecture

By: Nikara Movafaghi

Supervisor: Sayed Amir Mansouri

April 2006
 Summary
By : Nikara Movafaghi

Small growing cities should be more taken care of in terms of

their patterns of development or redevelopment, as the
challenges in these sorts of cities are still in small scales and
more controllable than in bigger cities with unsolvable problems.
This fact was the point of departure and my inspiration to choose
a small city to do my master thesis. Besides the hometown of an
architectural student can be the best place for examination of his
Figure 1: a small city like kamyaran
or her skills, since s/he is assumed to be familiar with the context
Redevelopment of City Center in Kmyaran

can take advantage of being close

to two big cities and at the same
time prevent or slow the migration
flow to these cities.
Figure 2: three scales of
intervention in the project.
more than others.
Kamyaran, a small city (50000 people) in southern part of
Kurdistan County which acts as a commercial and
administrational center for a large number of surrounding
villages, has been socio economically transforming during the last
decade. The average income of people has been increased due
to, in country scale, raising the price of oil as the main economic
source of country, and at local scale being near to the border and
getting involved with illegal export of gas to newly formed
Kurdish government in Iraq. On the other side, a new emerging
generation of young families, mainly working in governmental

offices in conjunction with rural to urban

migration flow has brought about a huge
demand of housing, which has pushed the city
toward more development mainly in two
following patterns:

Satellite communities: these are vacant lands

or small existing villages in the periphery of city
which have had potential for development
Master Degree Project in Architecture:

(Figure 3). since the city is surrounded by hills,

with only few suitable land for housing
available, and also the agricultural lands by law
Figure 3: kamyaran: main city and satellite communities in
periphery. These communities do not have enough cannot be used for this purpose, this
services and not well connected to the city structure.
development policy have not been able to meet
the housing demand solely .

Inward development: as the existing city is of relatively low density- around 90 people
per hectare- with mostly one story old structures, along with compact street network,
densification of current city in form of replacing existing building with new 3-4 stories

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By : Nikara Movafaghi
Redevelopment of City Center in Kmyaran
Figure 4: the main shopping streets
(redlines) of city which intersect each
other in the central part (blue circle).
Figure 5: Land use pattern of city which shows a dominant
residential land use (yellow) with commercial around main
streets (red) and green spaces in the edge of city.
Mixed use
complex
Small
square
Master Degree Project in Architecture:
Figure 6: central part of city and boundaries of
regeneration plan (red line) and major architectural
projects (black line)
Figure 7: current landscape of city center
structures has been regarded as a solution for
development. In this way city is formally transforming in a
quick pace.
But as a direct effect of these developments, due to the
shortage of main services in new peripheral communities
from one side and inflexibility of the current structure of
city to provide new centers in densified parts on the other
side, central part which accommodates the main shopping
streets and car and pedestrian traffic distribution hubs, has
been undergone an increasingly surplus physical and
functional pressure. This part as the physical center and
also main entrance of city which shapes the first and main
image of it in residents and visitor’s mind, is
suffering from several problems including among
others pedestrian overcrowding due to improper
layout of sidewalks, traffic jams, old and low
quality of buildings along main streets (Figure
7)and lack of public and green spaces. While
other parts of city are being regenerated, this
part is still intact, because of the commercial
character of the area which does not allow a
pause on its life and also a problematic
properties ownership which has made the
investment a sort of risky to do. Besides, the
municipality does not have enough
administrative power and also financial
resources to deal with the area.
Cinema
This project establishes a framework to not only
deal with the current problems of the area, but
also improve its formal and functional character
in a way which will be proportionate to the
development of city and resulting demands in
future. The analysis of the area and the context
was done in three hierarchical scales and at
every scale, different kinds of strategies and
instructions have been proposed (Figure 2)
which all is integrated and in the same line:
1. City and the region scale (urban
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 planning scale): kamyaran as a small service city can
By : Nikara Movafaghi

prevent or slow the migration flow to two nearby big cities,

Sanandaj and Kermanshah (Figure 3), which had their own
bigger problems. In this way, two strategies are proposed
to help the city be an attractive habitat for both current
residents and prospective migrates:
• Providing new residential developments and also
densified neighborhoods with required services like open
Figure 8: the main pedestrian flows in city spaces, playgrounds and schools. They should be connected
Redevelopment of City Center in Kmyaran

center and the penetration of commercial

to the city structure in order to enhance the mobility and
activities in the residential tissue.
urbanity in those areas. This strategy improves
attractiveness of new developments and at the same time
associates with reducing the pressure on the current center
in terms of lessening the number of travels to the main
core.
• Development of current linier center and convert
the linear center of city to a more district like center
Mixed used
Mixed used:
(regeneration plan)
commercail and
commercial, sport center
residential offices and
residential 2. City center scale (urban design scale): here the
strategy of center redevelopment which was mentioned in
Medical Mixed use: relegious land
(center residential and
use city scale is followed in detail. According to the analysis, the
light workshops

Figure 9: proposed land use pattern for

regenerated part (commercial- residential
district)
Master Degree Project in Architecture:
quick development of city has already pushed some
commercial activities from main streets to adjacent
residential tissue (Figure 8). In this way the current center
which is constituted by three main
commercial streets which are the main
traffic thoroughfares too and intersect
each other in the central part (Figure 4),
in a gradual process is transforming to a

commercial district in the central part.

So a master plan for the regeneration of
the area has been provided to regulate
this process and make it more efficient
by defining a mixed land use regime
(Figure 9) and new pattern for blocks
‫ﻣﺘﺮي‬10 ‫ﺧﻴﺎﺑﺎن‬
and street network (Figure 10). The
‫ﺧﻴﺎﺑﺎنﻫﺎﻳﻲ ﻛﻪ ﺑﺮ ورود ﺳﻮاره ﺑﺴﺘﻪ‬ ‫ ﻣﺘﺮي‬9 ‫ﺧﻴﺎﺑﺎن‬

‫ﺷﺪهاﻧﺪ‬ 8‫ و‬7 ‫ﺧﻴﺎﺑﺎنﻫﺎي‬ 6 ‫ﺧﻴﺎﺑﺎن ﻫﺎي‬ master plan considers majorly the
Figure 10: proposed street network for new mixed use district
southern part of the central intersection
as a potential area for being redeveloped, as in other parts topography is a barrier. As, the
existing buildings in this area are of old low-rise old structure have been built on small

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By : Nikara Movafaghi
Figure 11: a part of building regulations
Redevelopment of City Center in Kmyaran
for building in the new mixed use district
which shows possible building mass in an
accumulated land lot.
Master Degree Project in Architecture:
Figure 12: proposed sections for new
streets in the regenerated are.
pieces of land with an average area of 90 square meters,
the land accumulation strategy is proposed to provide
small lots with the opportunity to be assembled together
and form a bigger lot suitable for being developed.
Regarding to the importance of the main streets facade
and also the corner buildings especially in the central
intersection, some architectural projects have been defined
as ‘unique projects’ which should be designed
carefully.thes architectural projects are a accommodating
some functions which are really needed for the city such as
cinema, shopping center, recreational space and they also
have a character to take a special architectural form to give
identity to the area. These projects are discussed in third
scale
3. Architectural scale: given the areas, boundaries and
the function of specified projects roughly from regeneration
master plan, which are mainly located around the central
intersection to improve and also emphasis on its central
character (Figure 13), architectural design for four
buildings-projects has been practiced:
• The first project is a mixed used building in the
corner of central intersection which the current land is used
as a garage. The main function of the building is to be a
small cinema with a capacity of 400 seats which is seriously
lacking in the city. But as cinema can make dead facades,
some other functions have been added in the edge
including retails in the ground floor and a tiny hostel on the
second and third floor which makes the building living at
night. As the walking is still the dominant mean of travel
trough city and also due to the shortage of land in the
central part, no parking places has been planned for the
cinema. The form of building has been tried to define the
corner properly.
• The second project is designing a new edge (fence)
in the eastern part of the intersection which is currently
occupied by ICT (Information Technology and
Communication) head building with a poor design. It has
been tried that in the new edge the venders which now are
agglomerating in front of ICT building, are provided with
some small spaces for their business.
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 • The third project is four stories mixed use complex
By : Nikara Movafaghi

which accommodates a shopping center and offices in the

ground and first floor and small and medium size
apartments in the third and fourth floor. This complex has
been designed with of a compact structure and the
inspiration is form traditional Iranian bazaar.

The shopping center can be accessed from several points

and the shops have been organized around a central

Figure 13: Architectural projects have been
Redevelopment of City Center in Kmyaran

corridor with skylights on the top for providing accessing

carried out to define and improve the form of
central intersection.
corridors with proper daylight. As in the cinema, it has
been tried to add residential units to the complex to give it life at night and also at holidays.
In this way a special consideration has been made in designing and the layout the flats to
get the minimum effects of the crowdedness of the center. All residential units have their
own private access from courtyards in the second floor which accommodates the children
playgrounds too. In addition, all the apartments have a small private yard which the
bedrooms are facing into them. The basement has been dedicated to the parking places
which is accessed from a minor street located in the back of complex. Since a big part of
current land for this complex is used by a small medical center, a new well designed and
compact center instead has been provided in the southern corner of the building. In
designing the building it has been tried that new building to make an attractive façade to
the main street.

• As there are almost no open or green spaces around city center, the last project is
making use of the specious wasted space in the middle of intersection in order to create a
small square for people to sit, hang out and other recreational activities such as taking a
coffee. This small park –like square has been planned at one story below the street level to
be partly protected from the noise and pollution. A few shops, a coffeshop and a restaurant
have been provided in this small park which is accessed by two circular ramps.
Master Degree Project in Architecture:

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