The project began with a commission to design a spatial setting for showcasing cars on the floor of the central void of a commercial–office complex, located at one of the busiest intersections in Shiraz. Despite its favorable physical proportions and prominent position at the heart of commercial activities, the project site, due to its inefficient and passive spatial definition, had failed to establish a meaningful connection with its surrounding urban environment.

The central question of the project was: how could the commissioned function of car exhibition be transformed into a secondary role, while instead creating conditions for social presence and an active indoor plaza? A space that would both respond to the everyday needs of citizens and serve as a destination for urban events. In other words, our aim was to extract social potential from a purely commercial mandate and to draw the fluid flow of the outside population into the complex.

The central question of the project was: how could the commissioned function of car exhibition be transformed into a secondary role, while instead creating conditions for social presence and an active indoor plaza? A space that would both respond to the everyday needs of citizens and serve as a destination for urban events. In other words, our aim was to extract social potential from a purely commercial mandate and to draw the fluid flow of the outside population into the complex.

The floor of the complex’s central void—similar to comparable examples—was located at the intersection of retail corridors and primarily functioned as a transitional space. Our idea was to transform this area into an indoor plaza with a multilayered structure. By tracing the dominant movement paths and converting them into opportunities for diverse activities—such as strolling, pausing, sitting, charging mobile phones, displaying objects, and using a café—we sought to turn this space into a flexible and dynamic urban destination.

To achieve maximum flexibility and avoid occupying the space with bulky elements, we focused the design on the architecture of the floor—like a “tattoo” inscribed upon a horizontal surface. In certain points, this pattern rises as if lifted from the plane, transforming into surfaces for sitting and pausing, without disrupting spatial or visual continuity. These localized swellings of the floor not only generate diverse functional possibilities but also encourage people to linger in the space, drawing flows of visitors from both inside and outside toward it.