Here's an unusual, large-scale architecture project from Iran that seeks social betterment. Presence in Hormuz is a village designed by Iranian architecture firm ZAV Architects with an unorthodox appearance and mission:

Presence in Hormuz is a continuous process aiming at building trust rather than architectural objects, in order to encourage the participation of local people and the inclusion of their interests in any intervention in the island.

The project is a multitude of small-scale domes built with the superadobe technique of Nader Khalili, the innovative and simple technique using rammed earth and sand. Domes are familiar structures in the region. Their small scale makes them compatible with the building capabilities of local craftsmen and unskilled workers, which have been prepared for this project with previous smaller projects. Today they are trained master superadobe masons, as if Nader Khalili multiplied exponentially.

Under the economic distress of sanctions, increasing the GDP generates social change, which in this project is achieved by:

1. Building economically, to the benefit of the client.

2. Earmarking a bigger share of the budget to labor costs rather than expensive imported materials, to the benefit of the local population, empowering them by offering training for construction skills.

3. An adaptive and future-proof spatial scenario that can respond to unpredicted need, to the benefit of the client and the island.

4. Using materials and human resources from Iran, to reduce construction and transportation costs and increase the GDP, to the benefit of the whole country.

You can learn more about this fascinating project here.