Villa is the first architecture magazine in IRAN that attempted to provide digital access on top of conventional means of printed magazine distribution. The magazine is now nationally recognized and distributed in both digital and print formats in IRAN, and is accessible to the subscribers across the world by web. Villa is an architecture and design magazine founded in 2015 by architects, Amirabbas Aboutalebi and Saman Mesgarian. Published by editorial board of Villa, the magazine is issued on a seasonal basis and has its headquarters in Yousefabad, Tehran. Villa recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine architectural design to address issues of globalism, culture and health using implementation of design innovation, novel technologies and materials from the architectural digital revolution era. It is a forum that examines the relationship between architecture and the natural world, community and urban settings. To achieve the highest quality, Villa is printed by the state of art printing technology, custom-built in Switzerland and Japan. We try to develop good approaches to study, analyze, preserve and transform social and cultural activities within the urban context. Villa team holds educational workshops for students and is committed to provide support and training for emerging design professionals.
The Norwegian ambassador to Tehran, Mr. Sigvald Hauge unveiled Villa Magazine’s new edition “The Norwegian Villas Issue” on March 8th 2021.
The ceremony was held by Villa Magazine and was supported by @norwayiniran, to celebrate the Annual Edition printed version release of the Norwegian Vilas issue.
AmirAbbas Aboutalebi , editor in chief of Villa Magazine, welcomed the guests, praised the Villa Magazine editorial efforts, and highlighted the role of female in villa magazine team since the event happened on #IWD :
So there’s this thing we love – and we’re itching to share with the world how we feel about it; A second home, an escape, a sanctuary, a base for adventure, expeditions, ski trips, bærsanking and bike rides. A place to relax, rejuvenate, and restore. 1
We feel like there might be something unique about our passion for villas that we could share with the world; “The villa does offer a larger degree of detachment from others, and often a larger connection with nature. The restorative powers of natural settings in contrast to the brawl of city life is an important part of the villa program.
Separation is an excellent word here. Human minds need to be restored.
Sometimes People need to step out of their life routines to zoom out, see things from a distance and find a meaning of things”. 2
Villas are a utopian setting for Architectural Inventions & Architectural Conversations and there is no borderline for such a dialogue among different cultures.
WE truly appreciate your attendance on this occasion.
Your presence will support our future.
I would like to invite our guests of honor, MrSIGVAL HAUGE. Mr. KEIJO NARVANTO and Mr. MATTIAS LENTZ to receive a memorial gift and a sign of our true appreciation for their attendance.
May this be the start of a great cultural exchange between our 2 countries for the years and decades to come.
AmirAbbas Aboutalebi, Editor-In-Chief of Villa Magazine Speech.
1- (The Norwegian hytte; The essential guide to the great Norwegian hytte-Jenny K Blake)
2- Dagur Eggertsson
Dear Amir Abbas Aboutalebi, ladies and gentlemen, salaam , and a good afternoon to you,
I am honoured to be here today, for this Launch of a “Norwegian Villas Edition” of Villa Magazine.
And it is a great pleasure to celebrate International Women’s Day with you all in this way, together with my wife Vibeke and good colleague, Mahsa.
Nature – perspective, topography, landscape - is never far away in Norway and continues to be an essential feature of many of our architectural projects.
Our buildings are subjected to powerful natural forces, to prolonged periods of ice and snow, along with rain, sun and wind, creating the need for high-quality, durable architecture.
Wood is a widely available, well-known building material, both in today’s construction industry and historically, with our unique stave churches and the long Norwegian shipbuilding traditions.
Also, materials such as stone, steel or glass are used to reflect the surrounding landscape in modern buildings. Some are even designed to appear at one with nature, like Oslo’s opera house which seems to float like an iceberg on the fjord.
This is Norwegian architecture making international headlines and that most people hear about. But in reality, buildings such as these are exceptions; they stand out amongst the majority of buildings being built in Norway today. To appreciate the true nature of a broader range of Norwegian architecture, we need to look deeper.
Historically, Norwegian architecture was mainly a modest and practical interpretation of continental styles, or sturdy homes and utilitarian buildings. Today, construction is Norway’s largest land-based industry, measured in the number of companies, and the total turnover amounts to about 15% of the country’s value creation.
The oil industry, by comparison, contributes about 22%. About 30% of new buildings in Norway today are designed by architects. Seen in a global context, where only 2% of buildings are designed by architects, this is high, but it is still low compared to how much is being built in Norway at the moment.
That is why the few projects that really stand out are exceptions, but they are important because they highlight innovative thinking and because they have achieved something despite, not because of, the realities of today’s building industry in Norway.
What Villa Magazine is doing with this new issue being launched today is to invite us home to Norwegians, to their residential houses and cottages.
You open doors and facilitate dialogue across borders, what essentially I am trying to do as Ambassador in Iran.
That makes you, Amir, and your colleagues, important Ambassadors, too. For Iran, for Norway and for architecture and design.
Thank you
Mr. Sigvald Hauge, Minister Counselor, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs speech.
I am proud to be a part of @villamagazine @memarivilla.
May this event be the start of a great cultural exchange between the two countries 🇮🇷 🇳🇴 for the years and decades to come!
Villa magazine team:
- Amirabbas Aboutalebi
- Fatemeh Tajik
- Hosna Pourhashemi
- Mahshid Motamed
- Farnosh Bandi
- Faraz Khojasteh far
- Mohamad Ghafari
- Baharak Arash
- Mahrokh Poyanmehr
- Kimia Saboni
- saeedeh mahdavian
- Behzad Sadat
- Golrokh Shahbaz
Photo Credit @villamagazine
Photography Team:
- Mitra Salehi
- Roozbeh Fouladi
- Kiana Amirmazaheri
For further information, follow villa on social media.
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