A--D -- Observatory in the desert

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Observatory in the desert

Tabas, Iran

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Location:
Tabas, Iran

Category:
education

Phase:
in use

Updated:
12 August 2021

This project is going to revive the abandoned earthen village of Esfahk by attracting the attention to the starry sky of this part in the middle of the desert.
This project has been made hundred present from local material (adobe and cob) and in collaboration of locals and students from different cities.
We intended to revive the traditional techniques for contemporary structures that bring harmony to the site.

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The project

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Introduction

In this project we used the same traditional construction material and defined a contemporary structure that shows these sustainable materials can be used to respond to our needs for today. Three earthen technics have been used in this single project. 1- Cob walls, 2- Mud-breaks and3- traditional cooked bricks.
This project has been realized in two weeks and 10 students that gathered for a hands-on workshop.

general view and the model

image: Anis Eshraghi |

some rights reserved

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Impact

In two ways the project contribute to the long-term development. First by atracting the visitors and explorers to the village, they will stay in renovated mud-brick house of the abondad village and brig money to the community of the villagers that now they are living nearbye. Next by its architecture and show the important role of these traditional materials in the context and for the future development

sdgs

Core team

The first part of the project started with meeting villagers that wanted to revive the old part of the village (this earthen part was abounded after 1979 Tabas Earthquake). In that meeting the villagers came to the idea of having an observatory to attract tourists and people living around Esfahk historical village.
In the second phase a group of the villagers produced mud-bricks that the participants in the workshop (students) covered the cost. The construction of the observatory also done together with this team and the students, in which the students also learned traditional technics of making cob walls and adobe walls.
In the third phase, the council of the village covered the rest of the budget to finish the work. After that from 2017 till now a local guy named Mehdi Hoseinimoghadam is the tour guide of the observatory (to describe the starry skye of the location) and use this observatory.
Project: Observatory in the desert
Consultant and design: Pouya Khazaeli

Under construction

image: Aidin Emdadian |

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Image gallery

aerial, the village-01

image: Esfahk Mud Center |

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aerial-location in the village

image: Esfahk Mud Center |

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Construction

image: Aidin Emdadian |

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during construction

image: Aidin Emdadian |

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village and observatory

image: Anis Eshraghi |

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Three Material of the project

image: Anis Eshraghi |

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near and far

image: Anis Eshraghi |

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observatory and the wall

image: Anis Eshraghi |

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walk trough

image: Anis Eshraghi |

some rights reserved

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top view

image: Anis Eshraghi |

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in use

image: Anis Eshraghi |

some rights reserved

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in use-2

image: Anis Eshraghi |

some rights reserved

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Technical drawings

plan

image: Sonia Beygi |

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section

image: Sonia Beygi |

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site plan

image: Esfahk Mud Center |

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Help bring our project to life!

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Where are we now

The project is already there but we need to renovate it and provide observing tools for the project.
At this moment after nearly 5 years we need to repair the observatory. Specially the floor and stairs of the observatory are needed to be covered by bricks, because at the time of the construction we had limited budget and used the same mud-bricks of the walls to create the stairs that are broken now. Also the floor need to be leveled again. We should also provide a suitable cover to put over the middle wall of the observatory. Finally with your support we are looking forward to provide an explora dome (observing room) to be placed in the middle of the project.

An indication of our team’s capacity:

100% expertise already found

100% materials / equipment already found

100% builders already found

Finance: € 3,000

We will need 1500 Euros to renovate the project and also looking forward to provide a rotating observing room that cost another 1500 Euros.

Renovation	1,500
Observing room to be installed	1,500

Help bring our project to life!

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