Post- JCPOA Tower: Crypto-Park
As the United States withdrew from JCPOA (Iran Deal), on 13 October 2017, a new series of harsh economic sanctions have been enforced unilaterally by the United States Government. These renewed sanctions effectively cut off the Iranian market from the international trade network and have resulted in an almost full-fledged economic collapse. Inflation is skyrocketing while the currency has dropped in value drastically. The collective psyche of the masses is quite low and hope seems to be hard to maintain.
What is next for Iran as a nation-state? How the unjust sanctions can be manipulated so that a survival path would be discovered out of this crisis?
Architecture as a discipline can step in to propose an act of resistance par excellence. We propose a 560-meter-high skyscraper that is basically a mining facility in the air, intended to mine crypto-currencies, day in, day out and all year long. Yet for a nation under severe US-imposed embargo, harvesting crypto-currencies is not admissible at all. What is next? We need to do it well and do it en caché, that is, secretly and undercover. Hence, a hybrid type is proposed, a mining farm that is juxtaposed by a vertical water theme park. The water infrastructure hides the hi-tech facility while operating as a heat sink for the processing units on one hand, and providing a vertical landscape of joy and free entertainment for the masses on the other.
Cryptocurrencies are among very few products with decentralized and untraceable nature, which with the current economic situation and being isolated from the international trade network, could work as a way out.
The tower is situated on top of an inner-city hill, the Abbas Abbad Hill. A structure of such height and scale will be visible from all around the city of Tehran, as an index of resistance against unjust international politics.
We believe architecture acts as a powerful platform which represents, critiques, and responds to environmental, cultural, and more importantly, geopolitical issues people face. Current currency devaluation and economic collapse may be the most severe crisis our nation is facing today affecting millions of lives. This project aimed to convey this problem through a very radical approach not only to emphasize the current social climate, but also to explore topics which architecture can tackle and provide fresh new angles upon.
With special thanks to Behzad Khorram and Nashid Nabian
Design Team: Ilia Attarpour, Dadbeh Mohebbi Gilani, Ramtin Taherian