KISH ISLAND Context Just 30 minutes flight from Dubai, located in the Persian Gulf in Iranian territory , Kish Island, covers a total area of 91 sqm. Given in 2010 by the New York Times one of the 10 finest islands in the world, the island is a free port, essentially tourist, inhabited by about 20,000 people that become more than 1 million during the winter season ,when the mild climate attracts tourists mostly from the Iranian mainland and in particular from Tehran. Because of a massive urban development in the tourism sector, the municipality is planning relevant infrastructure interventions, including the expansion of the airport, to be made in the next years. From a conversation with the governor of the island emerges the will to create conditions to attract an increasing number of foreign people both in the tourist and in the commercial field. Architecture From the architectural point of view the landscape is rather than neutral. Until today, few significant interventions have been made: new ones pretty traditional and old ones with the decadent charm of 70/80’s architecture . The striking aspect of Kish Island is 'its virginity' compared to the exponential growth of the near Dubai. The atmosphere is rare, silent and impalpable, in osmosis with the cultural climate that characterizes the present social system in Iran. The establishment of the Free Zone has opened the door to a quicker and more qualitative development and in this context, some entrepreneurs are working with great commitment to the redefinition of the island from the architectural point of view and to the development of social and commercial activities that will ignite a growth of interest also from the foreign audience. Projects A wind of innovation on Kish Island comes from the planning of some interesting local projects designed by the entrepreneur Nader Keshtkar, chairman of the Mika Kish Tower Co. and of Keshtkar and General Trading. Nader Keshtkar, inspiring host of new initiatives at and cultural architectural level , has launched the first challenge inaugurating the Mika Kish Tower on the 14th of November 2011. Mika Kish Tower is a building created for residential and for office, looking the most famous beach of the island. Mika Kish Tower inaugurates the type of luxury residence in Kish Island with apartments of various sizes and wide terraces overlooking the panoram and, on the ground floor, a welcoming lobby area with reception service 24 hours on 24. The semi-circular building overlooks the sea and develops apartments and terraces on the upper floors according to a structured diagram. The offer consists of apartments of one, two and three bedrooms, houses and apartment suites, as well as a swimming pool with spa area on the top floor, available for the tenants owners. The design is simple and rigorous, an architectural style modelled on the function and on the spatial positioning. From the top floors the view on the beaches with palm trees is amazing.
The project was realized by a team of Iranian architects. A project developed in close collaboration with Nader Keshtkar and his team and that knew several changes during its process. For internal and external finishes, coating materials, flooring, bathrooms and accessories, were chosen exclusively Italian companies. So starts, in Kish Island, the first experiment in collaboration with the system made in Italy. Thanks to the tenacity of Nader Keshtkar, the union with the Made in Italy was consolidated on the next project. In this case it's a mall, a particularly sophisticated project, designed by an all-Italian team. The project inspired again by Nader Keshtkar is called Jelly Kish, a metaphor of a mysterious jellyfish landed on the island from the Persian Gulf. Jelly Kish was designed by ITALIAN DESIGN FORCE, a joint venture company made up by King Size Architetcts design company situated in Milan and the retail and branding company NEW TONE located in Mestre. Maurizio Favetta for King Size and Walter Deppieri for New Tone have designed this organic-looking architectural design with the idea of giving to Kish Island its unforgettable "symbol". Conceptually Jelly Kish was born to become not only a commercial center but a real catalyst on the island for social relations, the meeting point for local audience tourist and the host. The very first expressive and communicative architectural intervention in Kish Island. The space and the architecture start to serve the community ,creating perceptual stimuli, positivity in relationships, opportunities in trade. The city expands its borders by establishing a new center, slightly offset from the down town of Kish Island; it introduces a new system of development and growing of activities in the drop point and a string of connection between the tourist areas. Jelly Kish is a structure consisting of 5 underground floors and 5 aboveground. Within a system of commercial services with shops and a supermarket one floor underground, there is a floor dedicated to kids entertainment and an outdoor restaurant on the terrace. The project, from a constructive point of view, is an engineering challenge. The asymmetric shell shaped dome moves in the space covering a solid glass envelope not too hard, organic, modular, impalpable. The development of Jelly Kish is planned by 2013 and in its design are involved Italian companies again.
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