Exploring the socio-political significance of boundaries by reimagining how the enclosing garden wall could define the concept of public and private space within Jahan Garden, Karaj.
This design thesis challenges the existence of women-only gardens in Iran and, more specifically, examines the Jahan Garden in Karaj. As its starting point, the project conceptualises the wall enclosing the garden as a socio-political boundary. The project uses this idea as a springboard to evolve a design which actively questions and reshapes the garden space by redefining the nature of the enclosing wall. The re-designed garden encourages dialogue of varying scales, access, and natures, between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. It aims, at the same time, to serve as a critique of the current political context, presenting the redefinition of the garden as a symbolic manifesto of feminism for the city. The overall plan of the proposed garden is based on and inspired by the themes present in some of the most influential women figures in contemporary Iran.
