Iranian architect Mohamad Rasoul Moosapour has developed an innovative architectural concept called the Shir-Dal Retreat, designed as a semi-open living space that seamlessly integrates with its natural forest surroundings. The conceptual structure is envisioned for a densely forested site and serves as a temporary refuge rather than a permanent residence, offering visitors a place for contemplation and reflection within the natural landscape.
The retreat's revolutionary design completely eliminates the traditional boundary between interior and exterior spaces. Moosapour's architectural approach frames a semi-open structure where walls, roofs, and floors each serve distinct functions while maintaining continuous interaction with the surrounding environment. Rather than organizing space through conventional enclosure methods, the project opens itself entirely to natural elements, allowing the forest surroundings to actively co-define the visitor experience.
The geometric design philosophy behind Shir-Dal is notably neither fixed nor purely ornamental in nature. Floor surfaces extend directly into the landscape, while the roof plane angles strategically toward the forest canopy above. Minimal partitions divide different spaces without completely enclosing them, creating differentiated yet highly responsive architectural forms that connect through a logic of interrelation rather than traditional hierarchical organization.
At the heart of the Shir-Dal concept lies a distinctive wooden platform that Moosapour designed to detach completely from the main structure and float freely on water. This innovative mobility feature introduces a ritualistic dimension to the overall retreat experience, transforming movement itself into a medium for heightened awareness. The process of departure and return becomes part of a contemplative rhythm that cultivates both physical and psychological transitions for users.
Moosapour approaches this floating element as a natural extension of the retreat's flexible spatial logic and its broader ambition to inspire inner stillness and reflection. The architect envisions this detachable platform as more than just a technical gesture, but as a tool that invites users to disengage from their habitual patterns and engage more fully with the present moment and natural surroundings.
In developing the Shir-Dal Retreat design, Moosapour crafted each architectural component with a significant degree of autonomy while ensuring overall cohesion. Floor slabs, roof planes, and partitions function like individual organs with specific roles, yet they work together to form a cohesive, animate architectural body. This organism-like quality represents a central element of Moosapour's vision for the retreat, offering an alternative model of spatial logic centered on natural rhythm and environmental attunement.
By deliberately forgoing static composition in favor of responsive articulation, the project draws attention away from traditional built form and redirects focus toward lived experience within nature. Throughout the design process, Moosapour investigated architecture as a threshold concept rather than a definitive structure, positioning Shir-Dal between presence and absence, between shelter and exposure, and between stillness and movement.
The retreat's breezy architectural proposal successfully dissolves conventional boundaries between built architecture and natural environment. Each surface within the structure plays a distinct functional role while contributing to an interconnected overall composition. The wooden deck's ability to detach and float freely on water adds a unique ritualistic element to both arrival and departure experiences, while the structure's gentle movement invites quiet reflection within the living forest landscape.
The Shir-Dal Retreat design team included Elnaz Baniasadi, Fatemeh Kazemi, Fatemeh Ganjeyi, and Hasti Monjazeb, working under Moosapour's architectural direction. The project currently remains in the conceptual design phase, representing an innovative exploration of how architecture can respond to forest settings through radical openness and environmental integration.
