Villa L / Pool Leber Architekten

Architects: Pool Leber Architekten
Area: 475 m²
Year: 2020
Photographs: Brigida Gonzalez
Manufacturers: FSB Franz Schneider Brakel, HeidelbergCement, Huguet, Warema
Structural Engineer: Christian Eisenhauer
Electrical Engineers: EPB Elektro Planung
Building Physics Adviser: Hansen Ingenieure
Design Team: Isabella Leber, Martin Pool, Valeria Polakovicova, Joanna Tomaszewska, Moritz Marquard, Marta Falchi, Stefan Krauß
Sanitary Engineers: Haas und Holler
Landscaping Designer: Klaus Schurr
City: Gräfelfing
Country: Germany

Villa L, designed by Pool Leber Architekten, is a single-family house in a monolithic concrete structure, featuring an office wing and an au pair apartment. Inspired by 1930s houses, the six-sided design maximizes space for a garage and garden. The house centers around a lozenge-shaped stairwell, with rooms arranged around it and opening to various outdoor areas. The ground floor includes a kitchen, living/dining areas, and the au pair apartment, while the upper-level houses bedrooms and office space. The basement features a swimming pool and fitness area. The design emphasizes material unity, using infra light concrete, rough planking, and natural finishes throughout.

House L is a single-family residence featuring an office wing and an apartment for an au pair. Sculpted as a massive concrete monolith, the house is entirely concrete inside and out, with no additional insulation or cladding.

The crystalline form of the house is inspired by the surrounding 1930s houses with hipped roofs, each standing in large gardens. The six-sided structure is angled to provide space for a garage on the northwest and a spacious garden to the south.

The layout centers around a lozenge-shaped stairwell, which serves as the load-bearing core and integrates the central service shaft. The rooms are arranged around this core, each opening to different outdoor spaces.

On the ground floor, the kitchen adjoins the living and dining areas, opening onto a terrace on the eastern side. Behind the kitchen, a small apartment for an au pair has its own entrance and private garden space in the northeast. Storage and cloakroom spaces are interconnected with the au pair room and the kitchen, providing direct access to the garage.

The upper level houses the children’s bedrooms, the master bedroom, and a guest room on one side, with office space on the other. The office has a separate entrance via a stair from the main driveway, but it can also be accessed from within the house. The southernmost room can be flexibly used as part of the office or as a children’s room.

The V-shaped staircase’s light well extends to the basement, which features a swimming pool, steam bath, sauna, and fitness room, all opening onto a sunken garden on the east side.

The ground floor plan has a polygonal yet compact form that shapes the interior rooms, garden areas, and the folding roof.

The unity of form is mirrored by the unity of material. The thick, self-insulating walls of infra light concrete have a smooth, veined surface, while the roof’s underside is finished with rough planking, emphasizing the various surfaces’ directions. This diagonal shuttering extends to the cream-white polygonal tiles in the entrance area. The soft surfaces are complemented by neutral tones of cream-white plaster, grey stone, and carpet, as well as natural oak and smoked oak furnishings.

After closer examination revealed that the exposed concrete would not be sufficiently durable, the upper surface was protected with a sealant. This surface is coated with liquid polymer waterproofing and sprinkled with fire-dried quartz sand in mottled colors, mimicking the appearance of the infra light concrete, which naturally features dark pores. The base of the wall is safeguarded with a mineral cement slurry that matches the concrete’s color.