It will be a six- (according to other sources, five-) storey building of acute-angled outlines with asymmetrically located window openings. The main element of the project is a strong cantilever stem in the center section. The facades are planned to be faced with marble and some cheaper light stone.
The building does not at all resemble a fortress: it will be accessible to the public and will include an art gallery to display the works of young Iranian artists, as well as a cultural center. The project is intended, according to the customers and the author, Iranian architect Armin Daneshgar, who is practicing and teaching in Vienna, to present in London a new image of Iran - including its contemporary art, little known in the West.
The new building will appear in South Kensington, on the site of the parking lot belonging to the Iranian Embassy and not far from its current building, a converted townhouse. The surrounding area consists mostly of residential buildings from the 18-19th centuries, and only 6 meters from the future building is the neo-Romanesque church of St. Augustine, which has the status of a monument. The question of the adequacy of the project to the historical environment worried both representatives of public organizations (in particular, the Victorian Society) and local residents, who have already managed to both criticize the project for its "tactlessness" in relation to the context in media interviews, and ask for help from Prince Charles, who is known for his fight against modernist projects in central London (however, his participation in the "destruction" of the Richard Rogers apartment complex in Chelsea was ruled this summer by the court "inappropriate", so his activity may now be reduced).
The local authorities' secrecy, which is unusual for Britain, caused particular irritation to both citizens and heritage defenders: for security reasons, they did not publish the project submitted to them for consideration on their website, and when interested persons began to inquire about it, they were invited to familiarize themselves with the project in the building district administration, and you should have with you an identity document with a photograph (also an unusual procedure for the British). After public outcry, the authorities published several renders of the project on the Internet.
However, Paul Finch, chairman of CABE, a government agency that monitors the architectural quality of new buildings, praised the proposal from Daneshgar Architects: in his opinion, it takes into account the location of the building among dense urban fabric; he was also attracted by the modern rather than traditional spirit of the project.
