"Hormuz Island, located in Iran, was a strategically significant port in the Persian Gulf, characterized by its landscape of colorful mountains. Despite its tourist appeal, the island faces significant socio-economic problems, with the local population having historically faced economic hardship. In response, the Majara Complex by ZAV Architects was conceived not merely as a building but as a deliberate architectural intervention designed to give control, opportunity, and economic benefit directly to the local community."
"This method, pioneered by Iranian-American architect Nader Khalili, was developed as a response to NASA's call for low-cost, self-sufficient human settlements on the Moon and Mars, relying entirely on on-site materials. The technique involves filling long polypropylene bags with moistened earth and arranging them in layers, with strands of barbed wire placed between courses to provide tensile strength and prevent slippage. The system is limited to using arches and domes, as these shapes allow the earth-filled bags to handle loads through compression."
Hormuz Island is a strategically located Persian Gulf port with colorful mountains and long-standing socio-economic hardship among its local population. The Majara Complex by ZAV Architects was conceived as a deliberate architectural intervention to return control, opportunity, and economic benefit directly to the local community. The project channeled investment into local human resources and prioritized accessible construction techniques to create pathways for localized wealth creation. The project received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2025. The Super-Adobe technique, pioneered by Nader Khalili in response to NASA, uses on-site earth-filled polypropylene bags with barbed wire between courses, favors arches and domes that carry loads through compression, provides improved seismic resistance, and reliably forms single domes up to 22 feet (6.7 m) diameter while larger spaces require clustered domes or barrel vaults.
Read at ArchDaily
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