Iranian Architect Alireza Taghaboni Wins RA Dorfman Award

Taghaboni and nextoffice are best known for the Sharifi-ha House, whose turning rooms (watch them move in the videos below) earned the project a shortlist at the 2014 World Architecture Festival. The RA's statement on the Dorfman Award describes the house's rotating rooms as a means to "adapt to Iran’s fluctuating lifestyles and [offer] a critical response to building regulations and zoning by-laws."

The new RA Dorfman Award was ​announced in February, when Itsuko Hasegawa was named the inaugural winner of the Royal Academy Architecture Prize. The two prizes express "the RA’s increased commitment to architecture," while the announcement of the Dorfman Award coincides with the RA's inaugural Architecture Awards Week, which includes a lecture by Hasegawa and discussion panels and presentations by students and educators.

Louisa Hutton, chair of the Dorfman jury, said in a statement from the RA: "We congratulate Alireza Taghaboni on his extraordinary achievement in realizing buildings of high architectural quality in today’s turbulent context of Iran. Despite the political challenges, Alireza remains rooted to the local and social issuers of his country. These uncertainties, however, do not stop him experimenting with material, form and construction, working towards his own distinctive aesthetic."

The Royal Academy Dorfman Award, supported by the Dorfman Foundation, was decided on July 4th after each of the finalists presented their work in front of the jury and a public audience.