Who Are We?
We are Swap. A group of architects led by Farnaz Manzour & Mehdi Taheri. Our studio is in Tehran. And Swap is our ongoing project.
How Did We Get Started?
Back in 2019, after graduating from university and the CAAI School of Architecture, we decided to start our studio. This is an exciting stage in our architectural life — just the beginning.
What Do We Do?
We are captivated by the tension between the mundane and the extraordinary. Our work begins with the unassuming — overlooked, basic elements of architecture and urban life — and transforms them into sites of wonder, interaction, and meaning. Guided by an obsession with normality and its latent absurdity, we explore architecture as both a functional practice and an expressive art form.
What Do We Stand For?
This approach allows us to craft spaces and interventions that provoke thought, spark curiosity, and invite reinterpretation. Whether through adaptive reuse of materials or layering history with contemporary narratives, we challenge conventional boundaries while remaining deeply rooted in the specificity of place.
Our Journey
2022 – 2024
We question the ritual way of consuming, perceiving, and designing the things around us — the spaces and buildings, old or new. We try neither to repeat ourselves nor the ones before us.
2019 – 2021
We believe that within every context, there are unanswered questions — and right there we find what helps us answer them. Not only do we answer the question, but we give something more to the users, the public, the neighbourhood, or the city.
Achievements
You can find all projects in the Projects section.
And this is just the beginning.
We are Swap, and we keep finding magic in the ordinary.