Corobrik: A Journey Through The Senses With Face Brick

Image: Amir Ali Ghafari Stitched together with sheets of metal, a mysterious cube with openings on either end, presents itself between the busy Afif Abad Street and the tranquil Afif Abad Garden in Iran, Shiraz. Created for an architectural installation competition near the historic Persian garden, the structure, known as The Pause, has captured the imagination of many a passerby. With a strange and fascinating appearance that lures onlookers away from their busy surrounds, and invites them in to explore its unusual contents, the cube incites a child-like feeling of adventure and curiosity.

And this feeling is unexpectedly maintained as they pass through the entrance and suddenly find themselves encircled by a spectacular body of suspended bricks that spiral up towards a small opening in the ceiling. From the soothing sound of the garden’s fountains outside to the play of light created by hundreds of tiny mirrors that decorate the conical structure’s interior, the explorer is dazzled with a variety of rich sensory information.  

Creating A Structure For The Senses Responding to the need to reconnect with the senses, Ashari Architects have designed The Pause to serve an experiential purpose. “Pause tries to revive the feelings that we have been ignoring. Feeling of brick texture – tactile; hearing the sound of our steps on the metal sheets, looking at the sky which we pass under every single day without paying any attention to it, not even trying to pause to enjoy it,” Ashari explains.

By actively encouraging viewers to disengage with the busy world around them and to take a moment to just pause and appreciate their present surroundings, Ashari Architects have not only created room to rediscover the senses, but have also created room to rediscover the self.