Rasht Rain House
A raised house with a pitched clay-tile roof, drawing on Gilan’s rural architecture to cope with humidity and near-constant rain.
Rasht is Iran’s rainiest city, and damp is the constant enemy of its buildings. For centuries Gilan’s rural houses have answered with raised floors, generous overhanging roofs and wrap-around verandas.
Talar, veranda and moving air
We lifted the main floor one and a half metres on concrete piers so that air moves freely beneath the house. A continuous veranda, the local talar, shields the walls from driving rain and provides a semi-open room usable most of the year.
The frame and floors are glue-laminated timber, prefabricated in a workshop in Lahijan. Rainwater from the clay-tile roof is collected in an underground cistern and reused for the garden and toilet flushing.
The project shows that renewable materials and vernacular knowledge can deliver a dry, bright, low-energy house in the humid Caspian climate.
