Villa Von Stein

Sustainable Luxury
On a gently sloping corner lot in a grown residential area in Frankfurt, Germany, a house was to be designed, offering the owners both a maximum of privacy as well as a high degree of openness. The clients described their dream of the desired living environment as "Los Angeles loft feeling" coupled with the desire for a maximum room experience.

On this background a radical and uncompromising game between opening and closing was generated. The minimalist building shows a consequent closed unity towards the street, to which it only opens through the front door and the garage. It therefore protects and shelters the privacy of the owners. On the other hand openness and transparency characterise the building in direction of the garden. A barrier-free 18 m long high-end glass façade reveals the view into nature and the pool.

The pool is equipped with solar technology and additionally connected via heat exchanger to the air-water-heat pump of the building services. Therefore it can be heated and used all year long. Integrated in the floor plan the pool is directly adjacent to the bedroom and the spa area and thus interlocks the inside and outside. Beyond that the light reflections on walls and ceilings are a wonderful design feature.

The ground floor’s timber construction serves as a carbon storage and thus contributes to climate protection. The renewable building material, grown in local forests, creates well-being thanks to outstanding biological building benefits. Wood is naturally heat-insulating, ensures a healthy and comfortable living environment and also shows itself as a sustainable raw material in modern.

Visitors enter the building, which appears as a closed cube on the outside, on the ground floor and immediately sense the stunning architecture which will be revealed to them a few moments later. You are welcomed in a foyer showing a water-atrium, a light channel open to the sky, equipped with a water basin on the ground. The here presented street art graffiti forms a counterpoint to the purist interior design, which is only highlighted by a few high class pieces of furniture. 

From there you continue into a wide-ranging loft area, which is home to dining and cooking. It offers a beautiful view of the garden and pool thanks to the imposing glass front. Up to 18 m² large barrier free panoramic sliding windows were integrated into the facade. The spacious loft feeling is furthermore underlined by the concrete floor extending to the terraces. It shows the purist style of living, whose ambience is merely enhanced by a few, quality furniture pieces: a sofa in the corner, a white table, selected works of art. Because of different building regulations, the desire of the owners for a house with a flat roof could only be satisfied using a visual aid - a sunken hipped roof. By increasing the attic walls the visual impression of a cubic flat roof is given.

Philipp Architekten
Architecture: Anna Philipp