Location: Kish Island, Iran

Program: Research on Potentials for Cultural Development on Kish Island

Area: NA

Client: WND

Status: Research Completed

NoRA was commissioned in 2017 to conduct a research and brief definition for a multi-functional cultural facility to support the transformation of Kish Island in Iran from a shopping destination to a creative city. Seizing the opportunity of Kish’s strong interface with both mainland Iran and the rest of the world, the creation of a singular platform that consolidates all functions inherent to Art will drive the production, dissemination and exposure of Iranian indigenous arts & crafts making them part of the global contemporary scene.

As a result of 40+ years of targeted policies towards achieving a consumerist paradise, Kish Island is widely – and perhaps exclusively - known as “the” shopping and entertainment destination of Iran, heavily supported by domestic tourism. Today however, the growing national and regional competition in the tourism sector renders it indispensable to re-assess the island’s socio-economic and geographic potentials in an effort to deploy a more integrated vision for the future of Kish, one that would transform it into a 'creative city' as announced by the Kish Free Zone Authority.   

NoRA’s research investigates the potentials of the island and proposes a vision for a diversified economy and a renewed attractiveness for visitors, domestic and foreign, through the – so far under-exploited - vector of Culture and the Indigenous Arts. One proposed architectural manifestation to materialise that vision is through the construction of an Art Foundation where production, education, exhibition, auction, storage... all intersect.