Villa Museum Competition

July 27, 2026

VILLA MUSEUM
Preserving the Past. Inspiring the Future

The Biennial Competition & Collection Programme

The villa has long served as architecture's most enduring laboratory—a place where new ideas, spatial concepts and ways of living are first explored.

Villa Museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving these ideas before they are built; It is not preserving buildings—it is preserving ideas.

The programme invites submissions of conceptual villa projects developed primarily as architectural investigations rather than commissions for construction. Eligible proposals should demonstrate original research, spatial innovation and experimental thinking.

Selected projects become part of the permanent Villa Museum Collection, are exhibited at Villa Expo, and published in a dedicated printed and digital edition of Villa Magazine.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Concept Villas: Experimental Ideas for Future Living

Eligibility

The inaugural edition of the Villa Museum Biennial Competition & Collection Programme is open exclusively to Iranian architects.

Eligible submissions are conceptual villa projects developed as:

Experimental architectural ideas
Research-based design investigations
Spatial concepts and diagrams
Future residential prototypes

Projects developed primarily for construction or commercial development are not eligible.

CURATORIAL COMMITTEE

The Curatorial Committee comprises Professor Nader Ardalan, Honorary Chair; Amir Abbas Aboutalebi, Founder of Villa Museum and Curatorial Director; and appointed members of the Villa Magazine International Advisory Board of Trustees.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Submit one A3 PDF board (maximum 10 MB) including:

Project title
Images of a 1:100 white study model
Drawings and diagrams (optional)
200–400-word manifesto
Hand sketches (optional)

Email submissions to info@villamagazine.org.

Only selected projects will be invited to submit the physical study model for exhibition and inclusion in the Villa Museum Collection.

AI-generated design proposals and presentation images are not accepted.

SELECTED PROJECTS

Permanent Villa Museum Collection
Villa Expo Exhibition
Villa Magazine (Print & Digital)
Permanent Digital Archive

SUBMISSION FEES

For payment enquiries, please contact:
info@villamagazine.org

KEY DATES

Competition Launch: 01 August 2026
Registration & Submission Deadline: 10 January 2027
Announcement of Selected Projects: 15 January 2027
Deadline for Physical Study Model Delivery: 25 January 2027
Villa Museum Exhibition at Villa Expo: 4 February 2027

Villa Museum

Physical models become part of the permanent Villa Museum Archive and Collection.