006 The hidden agenda : studio Ljubo

The hidden agenda 03/2009
competition entry, Design in Tehran, organised by the Benetton Group

Apparently besides wearing burkas or big beards, praying five times a day or, as claimed, building nuclear weapons Iranians keep themselves busy with other things too. Some Iranians even more than others. These people are present in bigger cities, especially in Tehran. They read, discuss, watch foreign TV, explore the Internet, but also get together, have parties, enjoy music, fashion and “high culture” in general. Still this is Iran and that is why such citizens have to satisfy their desire for the outside world secretly, in hidden places. There is an active social network behind these events. In a way this secrecy creates in the people who take part of it a sense of belonging to a special community, an elite.

It fact it not only comments on this situation, it has as its purpose to insert itself into this special hidden social network. A thick, rigid, massive shell that encloses and protects the hidden agenda of Tehran’s “alternatives” covers the proposed building. Inside the shell one finds the soft, joyful, relaxed interior of a world different from what the religious leaders preach about. The programme is distributed around an atrium, an internal garden. The massive shell protects the building’s users and allows them to get at ease around and into the interior garden. Still the shell is thinly sliced on its outside to allow passers-by suggestive glimpses into the interior. One is not able to see what is happening inside the shell, one could only imagine. The building becomes mysterious and intriguing.

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