
Great Adoryan Religious and Culture Center (Competition)
Location: Tehran/Iran
Year: 2007
Client: Tehran Zaroastrian Organization
Architect: Jila Norouzi
Design Team:
Neda Rasooli
Bahareh Vaezi
Area: 31833 m²
Project description
Three introverted volumes, facing the inner courtyard, have been created like three sacred fires to safeguard the world. The sacred triads represent the triad of day and night: dawn, noon, and evening. The triads of time are the three moral teachings: good words, good deeds, and good thoughts. There are ceremonies held three days after death, threefold sacrifices, and the three sacred fires.
Mithra, the bearer of the vast plains, appears mounted on his chariot, moving westward toward a vast land filled with countless trees. The structure opens its embrace to plant greenery upon itself and to take a fresh breath.
Ahura Mazda has built the most beautiful places for Mithra on that high and brilliant peak, from where Mithra watches over the entire earthly realm.
At the time of the sun’s disappearance, Mithra gazes across the entire earth from his celestial abode, enveloping all places to observe everything in the heavens and on earth.
The light of fire and sunlight is the manifestation of Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda manifests through light; light is the essence of life, and the sun is the embodiment of life itself.
To pierce through darkness and eliminate the traces of the evil one, they kindle the fire. The outer light triumphs over the inner darkness; hence, the structure is solid on the outside yet transparent, bright, and radiant on the inside.
The gap between the two volumes stitches the sky to the earth and the east to the west, while Mithra illuminates the interior of the structure from dawn until dusk.
Water makes life possible, while fire gives it spirit. Six torches, representing the six divine protectors of the sacred fire, are placed within the water, bestowing their blessings upon the inhabitants.
The ceremony of honoring Mithra is celebrated with the reconciliation of the north and south high in the sky, at the heart of the structure, and in the sanctuary. This elevated sanctuary, with its eight heights, watches over our deeds. The glass ceiling of the sanctuary, resembling a fire bowl, is always bright and radiant, reaching towards the heavens.











