Amirabbas Aboutalebi interviews Maap Architecture

"This interview has been published in the printed version of Villa Magazine's Special Issue Annual Edition 2022, Vol. 13. You can read the full interview content in Persian here:"

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Edited by the Villa Magazine editorial 
Special Issue Annual Edition 2022
Vol. 13 
© All rights reserved. Villa Magazine 2015-2026
ISSN: 2981-197X (EN) 
ISSN: 2981-1961 (FA)
Registration No. 74246
All images are © each office/photographer mentioned.

How do you know the origins of the villa in the history of architecture?

Since I live and work in Germany, I look at this issue from another perspective, and consider Greece and the Roman Empire simultaneously; In fact, the villa was considered a political place in the past; That is, the politicians and powerful people of the Roman and Greek empires used to build such buildings for seclusion in a region with good weather.

 

Has the villa had a political purpose?

The political purpose of the villa was to the extent that its owners showed their rise to power by building it.
By examining the evolution of the villa in the history of architecture, we see that with the industrial revolution and the growth of the bourgeoisie in terms of financial power, the capitalists reached such a social position that they built such buildings to show their economic power to others. In my opinion, this issue shows evolution; That is, only powerful politicians did not do this; Rather, the bourgeoisie, which begins with the Renaissance, is included in this evolution.

 

Does this mean that Villa's evolution will reach from politicians to the bourgeoisie?

Yes; A capitalist who built a factory, became a banker, and established large companies, and in general, citizens who reached such financial power based on their industrial production that they were able to build such buildings as villas for themselves. Most of these villas were located outside the cities; Because of the occurrence of the industrial revolution and the construction of factories, the air in the cities became very polluted, and this pollution caused capitalists to flee and seek refuge outside the cities and build villas.

 

With this account, can we call palaces the historical roots of villas?

A palace has similarities with a villa, but they are not the same. Palaces are the center of political power; Palaces and castles were both a display of political power and a place for political decisions. Castles were also full-fledged arenas for displaying political power.

 

Are the palaces that were built for otium similar to the villa?

The peak of these palaces can be seen in France, especially during the Baroque period; Because they wanted to show all of Europe how powerful they are. This is also evident in the palace of the last German emperor; He wanted to show his power with this magnificent building and of course, he lived in this palace. This palace is located inside the city and nature has no dominion over it. It has dominated nature itself. When we look at the gardens of these palaces, we see that a great effort to shape nature is one of the characteristics of these palaces, which is an example of dominance based on the surrounding nature.

 

Has the villa paradigm become more democratic today?

Yes, it becomes more democratic; Now in the West, it has reached a point where you no longer need to be a big capitalist to be able to own a villa; A doctor may also own such a building; Which means it becomes more democratic.
The construction of the villa, which was the monopoly of the king and the ministers, and for this reason also appeared to be a prominent political category, gradually left its exclusive path and reached big and small capitalists; It means that having a villa is not a big and far-fetched thing for people, and even a teacher can have a villa in countries like Germany, Austria, and France.

 

In terms of form and specifications, what kind of building can be considered a villa?
As an example, is it necessary to say that it has four facades, or is it used as a second house, or is it necessarily involved with nature? In general, what building do you consider a villa?

The villa does not depend on the form and is an independent topology that establishes a two-way dialogue with the surrounding nature. The villa must be a single building in its context; It means that ideally, it should have no neighbors, or if there are neighbors, it should have a sufficient distance from them.

 

Does a villa have to define by four facades?

It can have five; Four vertical views in the form of surrounding walls and one horizontal view in the form of a roof. If we look at "Villa Savoye" by "Le Corbusier", we see a panorama.

 

What is your idea about "neighboring", in a villa project?

Between the villa and the neighboring buildings, there should be enough gardens or green space to preserve the privacy of the villa and feel alone.

 

What is the appropriate proportion of built areas to the unbuilt spaces to fit into the concept of a villa?

It depends on the size of the land; For example, in a 100 square meter land, which can no longer be defined as a green area between the villa and the neighboring building. You can have a good villa on a mountain plot of 100 square meters; Because you have no neighbors at all. As a rule, I cannot say a specific percentage; because it depends on various factors; But whatever it is, nature must prevail over the building!

 

That is, the architecture of the villa should have an audible dialogue with nature.

The capitalist builds the villa as his second place of comfort. Most of the villas that are built in western countries today are no longer a second place for relaxation, but the first place of life and a full-time living place; Although these villas have become the first place to live, they still follow the villa system; That is, nature is predominant over the building; It means that the green space is bigger and wider than the building.
The owners of the Renaissance and Baroque looked at the villa as a second place of life until the modern period; But today, this is no longer a definite rule for the concept of villa accommodation; Because it can accommodate both lifestyles; Both full-time and part-time!

 

Do you agree that the villa has an independent typology? That is, it is not a subcategory of "Housing".

yes, I agree; The villa is independent. This is again related to the same rule that nature prevails over the building; That is, if you are in the city, it is more difficult to realize this idea.

 

Is the villa plan always fixed?

In my opinion, it cannot be fixed; Because the way of life of each person has always been different throughout history; The needs, lifestyle, and personalities of the builders of yesterday's villas are hugely different from today's, and this issue has a significant impact on the villa's plan. I believe that the villa should be directly related to the way of life of each person and time.

 

What does the purpose of the villa for humans?

Villa is very person-oriented. Maybe an artist wants to do his artistic activities in his villa in addition to resting, so he also needs a workspace; A factory owner, a writer, and a doctor all need a special space to advance their work goals; In general, it is not possible to express a single formula to reach a simple answer.
Every employer has a specific request, and of course, the background, context, construction, and characteristics of the area are influential in the processing of the villa program.

 

With this account, does the villa become "man-nature-architecture"?

Yes; It can be interpreted like this.

 

Can the architect influence the client and advance his wishes?

This is a two-way issue; A back-and-forth interaction between the demands of the client and the architect must be established; In my opinion, the dominance of the architect over the client is not correct. The architect must be able to listen very well to the client's wishes and, above all, be aware of his wishes in the design. As an architect, I will not build every building; If someone says "design this building for me with these features and you don't have anything else to do", I won't accept it; Because this design will be one-sided and the dialogue between the client and the architect will not be shaped.

 

The word "villa" is rarely used in Germany; Isn't that so?

"Eine Familie Zuhause" is said to be a villa, but the word villa is also used.

 

Did the root of the word villa come from Italy to Germany?

Reaching a definite and reliable answer in this field requires research in the field of linguistics. In Germany, the word villa is used; But not the way it is used in Italy. In Germany, they mostly use the phrase "Eine Familie Zuhause"; Which means "a house for a family", of course, the word villa is also used; But in my opinion, the boundary of its use is not clear.

 

What do you think of the 1927 Stuttgart Villa Exhibition? Weißenhofsiedlung Stuttgart

They are prototypes and with the modernity they had against traditionalist architecture, they believed that traditional and conservative architectural methods no longer meet the demands of the industrial society. The Stuttgart exhibition was propaganda for modern architecture and the architects who believed in it exhibited their works to show in which direction the architecture of the day should move. All the villas at the Stuttgart exhibition can be placed in the heart of nature to work alone; Why? Because the environment was not important to them at all. Le Corbusier's Villa Savoy can be removed from its bed and placed anywhere; This villa has nothing to do with its environment, it just needs a flat and non-sloping bed that is green. In this building, it was important to convey the idea of architecture. In Villa Sava, the flow of life has not continued even for a single day and no one has lived there; Because it faced many challenges in terms of construction techniques. Where is the best place for a villa? Where I am in contact with nature; But Villa Sava does not do this; Because in this villa, the space on the ground floor is dedicated to uses such as parking and services, and the place where the flow of life is realized is the first floor; This means that there is no direct connection between you and nature.

 

Le Corbusier seems to have used the villa as a platform for testing ideas and foresight in architecture!

Yes, and for this reason, the employer took Le Corbusier to court; But he was lucky and due to the outbreak of World War II, the hearing was not held; Therefore, part of the plan of the villa depends on the architect. The plan of the villa is highly dependent on the personality of its residents. A good architect is someone who does not only see himself and also pays attention to the client's wishes so that he can design the most ideal form for him.
As an architect, we also want to experiment in this field so that we can display our ideas in the villa.
Le Corbusier introduced the purpose of building this building to manifest his famous five principles in the body of a villa; That is, he wanted to implement his architectural idea in Villa Savoye.

 

How do you see the evolution of the villa over time?

I think evolution is very important for humans. Today, we think more about the impact of climate than we did fifty years ago; That is, how the buildings we build are in dialogue with the climate of the region. The Stuttgart exhibition also says, "The experience is good, But we have to move with the times." Today we say that experience is good, But it cannot continue; It's like building a car, you can't use the car of a hundred years ago today; I think time is crucial for architecture.

 

May every new idea we try today become a result in the future?! Or vice versa, old ideas will one day be used as new methods?

Yes. That's right; Every concept should move us forward. We gain more experience with each building and it is based on these experiences that we should take the next steps and increase the quality. The villa is an experiment for future architecture, and the architect must also be forward-looking; Live both in the present and in the future. We have to tell the story of our time for future generations with the building we build. When we go to the old context of Yazd, we realize how its people lived; With the villas we build, we must show future generations how people live today. Why were houses built like this in Yazd in the past? Watching the old houses of Yazd is like reading a story; By reading this made-up book, the way of life of the people of this city is eloquently narrated; We must transfer this process to the present and then to the future; But at the same time, I am against copying the work of the past in any way.

 

Do you agree that the classical style at the time of "Andre Palladio" was a modern paradigm and an invention?

Good and high-quality architecture has always been the storytellers of their time; Therefore, the classical style was modern in its time. The buildings of Yazd were very modern in their time and their architects thought so.
I believe that the term modern architecture creates a little problem; As if contemporary architecture is not modern; Because modernity is a thought. Modernity means that you find the best answer for the problems of your time.
The classical architecture that Palladio built in the Renaissance period was modern in his time; In those days, many people did not like this type of architecture and were against it. Villa "Adolf Loos"[4] in Austria was attacked and he was accused of bringing this type of architecture from the Middle East.

 

After this period, other movements were formed in Europe, which introduced important architects to the world. What do you think about architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Adolf Loos, and Alvar Aalto? And which do you consider more impressive?

I see Adolphe Loos as older; Because Adolf Loos was very, very radical; Both in speech and structure, and of course, he lived before all these architects. He was the only narrator of this radical thought in Austria, even though the Bauhauses were a team. In my opinion, without Adolf Loos, there would be no Le Corbusier and no Bauhaus. For me, Adolf Loos is one of the strongest people who founded the modern view of architecture in Europe.
There were other architects, But they were not as radical as Loos. There were always architects who wanted to modernize for their time, But Loos's thought was very intense and radical and no one came close to him in this field. Decorating the facade of the building was important for many architects, But Adolf Loos Décor considered it a crime.

 

Several prominent architects worked in Peter Behrens' office: Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Walter Gropius.

Behrens also thought modern in his time. He was also a radical, but more cautious than Luce. I believe that a successful architect is an architect who thinks modernly.

 

You said something about the accusation of the society of architects at that time to Adolf Loos about adapting the architecture of the Middle East.

Both Adolphe Loos and Le Corbusier had long-term travel experience in Turkey and Egypt. Decorations are rarely seen in the architecture of houses in the Middle East region.

 

Does this mean that the idea of removing decorations has anything to do with Eastern culture? And whether there was a transfer of the culture of mystical simplicity from the East to philosophy.

History is full of cultural and artistic exchanges between different nations and regions. In my opinion, these two architects took this category from the Middle East and brought it as a souvenir for Europe by dressing up in the culture. I mentioned earlier that many people attacked Loos that got this idea from the Middle East, and to acquit himself from this charge, he resorted to the statement that "We Europeans have a high culture, and like the Iranians, our culture is not so low that to We need decor" and this is although, at that time, Tzeitat was not as strong in Iran as it was in Europe; Therefore, Luce attacks Iran to repel the attack of his critics.

 

If we look at the villa from the perspective of experimentation and ideation, there are relatives between the villa and the pavilion!

Yes; This kinship is established and in the case of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, one must speak of a villa; That is, if we separate this pavilion from its construction site and place it in a spacious bedroom with pristine nature, it is a full-fledged villa.
We have more freedom in pavilion design. You have to live in a villa, But there is no need to live in the pavilion; The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion is fortunately a building made of water that can be lived in!

 

What is the value of villa design in your office?

Yes; It is important. Do we test our ideas by designing a villa to see if it is possible to realize this idea or not?!
Can we implement our desired principles in it or not?!

 

Have you ever come up with something like a design principle, method, or manifesto in your office?

My manifesto has nothing to do with Villa and it is current in all my works; This question does not have an answer. "Context" is the most important thing for me. Each substrate is different from another substrate, and I mean not only the ground. By context, I mean a mixture of the environment, culture, religion, economy, and even the personality of the employer; The result of these causes is that no two platforms are alike. Each platform does not have one and only one answer but has different architectural answers.
Every platform is exceptional and if we, as architects, discover these exceptional points, our answer will also be exceptional.

 

Which of your villa works will you submit to the villa magazine for publication?

"Farhad Dolatabadi" villa.

 

Whose villa design can be impressive to you?

As I mentioned, these days I am designing the "Farhad Dolatabadi" villa; The design of this villa is attractive to me from two points of view; First, in my opinion, the construction site of this building is exceptional, and the second reason is that the design of the villa is for people who have playful thoughts and are not subject to a certain pattern; Design experience for such employers always brings an intellectual leap. These employers want to tell their story with the help of innovations and contemporary architecture; Here the employer is no longer the employer and is a partner in the design process.

 

You have a very nice villa in Tehran; Who is the architect of this villa?

Do you mean my father's house? It is not a villa. The villa should be defined so that all architects accept it and be subject to a single definition. In my opinion, a villa is a place that engages with nature; My father's house is not involved with nature.

 

In which climate, in which country, and in what size do you like your villa?

A place with vast nature; I like mountainous and coastal climates.

 

What materials do you choose to build your villa?

This is what is determined in the design process, But the characteristics of the region will be effective in this choice.

 

Who do you entrust the design of your villa to?

to "Peter Zumthor"

 

What size do you consider for your villa?

In my opinion, the villa doesn't need to be large; The space of the villa is more important to me.

 

Is a thousand square meters of land enough for your villa?

It depends on whether I have neighbors or not; But if I don't have neighbors, I don't need a thousand square meters.

 

And if you have neighbors?

It depends on how much-built space I want; For example, two hundred square meters is enough. I believe that two things are necessary for the existence of a villa: first, to be in harmony with nature, and second, to be a second place of life. Today, the villa has become the first place of life for many people; This villa is no longer that ideal villa. My ideal villa is a place to relax and take refuge from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

 

Every person can be interested in a certain space in the villa and highlight it; What is the focal point of your villa?

Kitchen and workspace. In my villa there must be a space where I can think and work about architecture; Because architecture fills a big part of my life; It means to have a studio, even all of these can be one; A large room that is both a studio, a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen. For me, the kitchen is the center of the conversation with others; Because our life is constantly changing. Today, the living room is in direct connection with the kitchen.

 

How do you rate Villa magazine compared to German magazines?

Considering that I have been following your magazine for a long time, I can say that the quality of the magazine has increased a lot; In my opinion, this magazine can completely compete with its peers in Germany. One of these German magazines that significantly introduces villa works is "Häuser" magazine, which means houses. Your magazine is even better than Häuser magazine in terms of graphics and content.

 

How do you see the dialogue between the villa and the city?

When there is a city, a villa is created, and if there is no city, the villa has no meaning; It means to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and seek refuge in a place where they can experience solitude; This is better in big cities.

 

 

 

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