Project: Villa Schatzlmayr
Architects: Philipp Architekten
Location: Passau, Germany
Photographs by: Jose Campos
Villa Schatzlmayr by Philipp Architekten
Philipp Architekten has designed a luxurious single-story residence coated in bright white, contrasting the abundance of greenery around it. The Villa Schatzlmayr is located in the German town of Passau, on a slope overlooking a meadow and a part of the river Danube. One of the main goals of this design was the focus on nature and the views from the home of it.
A gentle slope with open views of meadows, the Danube and a seemingly endless sky – and the property is a real gem. What a perfect place for a special home. The clients – a middle-aged couple – fulfilled their lifelong dream here. They wanted a spacious, ground-level home, where nature, views and seasons play the main role.
The Villa Schatzlmayr is a three-part ensemble with a total of 760 m2 of living and usable space, which opens to the landscape with uninterrupted floor-to-ceiling glazing. Towards the street, the deliberately reduced purist façade ensures architectural contrast and privacy. The center is the lounge-like designed living area with open kitchen, dining, and a subsequent fireplace room. From there, a glass bridge branches off into the sleeping part with a master bedroom, master bath with a free-standing bathtub, dressing room and fitness room. From the outside, the cut into the volume gives a short view of the private house as far as the infinity pool. This partially extends into the building and fuses in the garden visually with the horizon and the Danube.
A two-storeyed cube with a sloped roof and a separate entrance mark the creative area of the couple: she is a fashion designer who works in her atelier and above it is his workspace characterised by the panoramic views and furthermore, the cube also houses two guest apartments. Between the residential and the studio is the main entrance of the villa. Attached to this second glass bridge of the building is a covered, sheltered outdoor space directly accessible from the kitchen and dining room. From the first rays of sunshine in spring and far into the Bavarian Indian summer, the boundaries between inside and outside merge, so that nature takes up space and shapes the ambiance of the villa with its seasons. The beginning of the terrace with its pergola extends almost over the entire building length of approximately 46 m.
In keeping with the white purist exterior, the interior is also reduced and timeless: few natural shades and high-quality materials such as the sand-colored stone floor, walnut furniture, and cocgnac-coloured Chesterfield leather sofas give the rooms their structure, character, and warmth. The kitchen fits in, in plain white with a few dark gray details. A chandelier above the dining table sets a playful accent.
Behind a wall of narrow, fine wooden slats hide the main entrance door, a cloakroom, a sliding door to the atelier and access to the underground car park and the basement: the basement level compensates the height level between the street and the sloping plot so that the villa appears as single storey. Downstairs, next to the technical and utility rooms, is the underground car park with several parking spaces. The landlord is a passionate collector of fast cars and motorcycles. Down here, where the unique landscape with its seasons can no longer be dominant, the deliberately colorful color concept in contrast to the otherwise timeless restrained design of the building is a surprise: warm orange and a powerful pink loosen up the atmosphere.
This playfulness, wit, and irony can also be found in the two-storeyed guest toilet with a skylight, which is completely in pink. The first visitors were already reported missing because they were so overwhelmed when they entered the “quiet place” that they wanted to share with the world their experience via social media.
All in all, Villa Schatzlmayr is tailor-made architecture that is entirely aimed at offering nature a large stage: the glass front set across the entire length of the ensemble opens up the living space to the surroundings and the sky: depending on the season and the time of day the hosts are provided with a fascinating and also sometimes a dramatic play of light and color, which in their own words, they can never get enough of.
–Philipp Architekten
