(under construction)
The Shrine of Shah Cheragh is the tomb of a Shi’ite Imam’s son, descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. It attracts a great number of pilgrims and is the only heavily visited tomb in the southern part of Iran. Pilgrims are, in fact, vacationers in a way, but vacationers who want to satisfy a request. People come in families and spend much of their time within the shrine.
The Shi’ite sect is a Persian adaptation of Islam, and stems from the Iranian desire to preserve identity after the Arab invasion. Pilgrims make donations to the shrine in the hope of satisfying their requests, and the shrines are run as charity foundations, making them economically viable and instrumental within the community.
The project called for expansion of facilities and services, as the number of pilgrims and the amount of their donations were increasing annually. A large area around the shrine was cleared for expansion of outdoor and indoor facilities, including hostels, libraries, a museum, restaurant facilities and shops. We tried to follow the tradition of vernacular architecture, which is a prominent feature of the immediate neighborhoods, by making internally oriented architecture with interconnected courtyards, arcades and covered passages linking two existing mosques and a bazaar. We went still further by trying to alter an existing modern avenue and traffic circle by introducing a new street with arcades and shops.