Background

Founding and Vision
The award was conceived by Amirabbas Aboutalebi, Editor-in-Chief of Villa Magazine, as part of the magazine’s broader mission to deepen discourse on villa typology within contemporary architecture. It evolved from a series of curated academic and design discussions held between 2016 and 2021, culminating in the first official edition of the Villa Magazine Award 1400 (2021–2022).

 
First Edition and Theme
The inaugural edition, titled Unbuilt Villa Projects — Why Unbuilt?, was launched in Iran in 2021. The award’s central theme positioned unbuilt works as vehicles of architectural research, imagination, and theoretical innovation, rather than limiting architectural value to realized constructions.

The 2021 edition included categories such as Unbuilt Villas, Architectural Experimentation, and Future Prototypes, encouraging submissions that explored the villa as both a cultural artifact and a conceptual laboratory.

 
Jury and Academic Collaboration
The jury of the Villa Magazine Award has included international figures from Finland, Italy, and Switzerland, including Professor Esa Laaksonen (architect and art critic, SAFA, Finland) and Professor Elisabetta Terragni (City University of New York, USA).

The award collaborates with universities, embassies, and professional associations — including SAFA, Archi-Depot (Japan), and ETH Zurich — to promote intercultural dialogue and international exchange in architecture.