This story begins with money. Something our client has in no short
supply, thanks to his very successful franchise company. It is enough
to sustain a luxury lifestyle. And our client not only wishes to lead

such a lifestyle, he has no qualms in showing it: Hanseatic under-
statement doesn’t appeal to him, nor does he have a problem

with being considered nouveau riche. Instead of conserving his
riches for posterity, he wants to enjoy the fruits of his labour
now. The most important thing in his life is – no, not his company –
his wife and his four children. And a beauful home is
something which the whole family can enjoy.

To this end, our client, who lives in a small town in Munich’s affl u-
ent suburbs, began by fortuitously acquiring a plot of land in a

prime location. The plot included a villa, built in the mid-1990s,
which belonged to a billionaire with a rather more Hanseatic
taste. Architects recommended that the building be demolished,
but our client chose not to follow this advice. Instead, Studio
Alexander Fehre was commissioned to redesign the villa completely.
What did he want the result to look like? Our client brought only
fairly diff use ideas to the table. In order not to bypass the client
with our own interpretation of hedonictic luxury, we began by
creating three diff erent styles that we presented to the client. He
chose... two of them. We agreed that the aim should be to design
a unifi ed whole and that the villa should be an open, light-fi lled
space. To ensure that everyone was on the same page throughout
the design process, we asked his wife (who was responsible for
look and feel) to provide us with mood images during the design
development stage. We used these to distil an aesthetic essence

to infuse into the design. This approach went a long way to-
wards earning the trust of our clients. A trust that became

so implicit that we were even entrusted with the selection of to-
wels for the villa, with the clients only retaining responsibility for

choosing the clothing and cutlery in the new house.

Refurbishment

The villa extends over three levels. The existing building was com-
pletely guyded in order to carry out the necessary renovations. The

original fl oor plan consisted of many separate rooms, which we
opened up in favour of an open-plan layout. With a kitchen, dining and
lounge areas, as well as an opulent home cinema, the ground fl oor

is all about family and shared experience. The bedrooms and chil-
dren’s rooms on the upper level off er a more private sphere, while

an extensive wellness and fi tness area is located on the lower level.

Entrance foyer
The entrance foyer meets the desires of both husband and wife
with a superabundance of light. One specifi c request was that this
welcome area be light and open, so we created a very special spaƟ al
situation to this end. All the walls on the upper and ground levels
are covered in aluminium tubes. The daylight that enters through
a skylight is caught by the walls and fl ows downwards. Here and
there, superimposed tubes with LED points at each end contribute
additional lighting. The result is a veritable palace of light with a
vertical flow, which is further enhanced by an anodised aluminium
curtain that hangs down from the upper level between the fl ights
of stairs. Cascading light rings in the centre of the foyer and coved
lighting around the surrounding walls set illuminated accents. The
layer fulfi ls another one of our client’s more niche requests: when
his football team Bayern Munich wins, the light changes to red.
We have incorporated another gimmick for him in the entrance
area, something James Bond certainly would have appreciated.

In the cloakroom, with its refl ective metallic wallpaper in cham-
pagne, a sideboard fl oats in front of a huge mirror that contains

a circular recess. A code control in the drawer opens up a secret
compartment, revealing the keys to the owner’s extensive car
collection, which would have pleased the famous secret agent with

its Rolls Royce, Ferrari and Lamborghini. The home cinema is oppo-
site the cloakroom. The room has three windows, but can be dar-
kened by means of a deep blue velvet, wraparound curtain. Circles

are stitched into the velvet, referencing the cascading rings of light
in the foyer. Stars shimmer against the ceiling and a refrigerator
in the centre of the room also shines thanks to underlit surfaces.

One for all
The living area on the ground fl oor is spread over a single large room

that encircles the foyer. The space is completely open. Only the di-
ning and living areas can be separated by glass doors that slide into

a room divider. Thanks to wooden panelling on all the inner walls,
the space is a unifi ed whole. Brass inlays set into the wood have a

circular form that again cites the light rings in the foyer. Polished

steel door jambs and lintels with integrated smart home controls re-
fl ect the room. Parquet fl ooring runs throughout the living area, with

a specially treated surface that enables it to be used in the kitchen.

Cook, eat, communicate

At fi rst, the kitchen is hardly recognisable as such. With the exception of a wine refrigerator, all kitchen appliances are concealed

within a monolithic block, clad in brass plate. Its doors can be
recessed at the sides, so that it remains open. The worktop is a
can it levered marble block, which appears to have been sculpted
from a single block, but is in fact composed of three individual
sections. The family eating area is next to the kitchen. For this

space, we designed an oversized yellow sofa with a steel subst-
ructure that appears to fl oat in front of a mirrored room divider.

It has become the family’s favourite spot in no it me at all. In
front of the sofa stands a circular dining table made from Corian.
Its form is refl ected in a ceiling mirror circumscribed by cove
lighting. A brass room divider leads to the living area, which
is defi ned by a sumptuous sofa landscape and a gas fi replace.

Well, well, wellness
From the living area we continue to the pool house. We built an
intermediate structure to establish this connection. In front of
a room divider covered in rod-shaped ceramic it les, a further
seating group can be found on the living area side. Above it,
plastic it les covered in gold foil fl icker in competition with the
flames in the gas fi replace. Behind the room divider, the parquet
floor now ends and a small lounge defi nes the entrance to the

pool house and spa area, which can be reached by a spiral stairca-
se. For the owners, trips to the spa are now history: Finnish sauna,

steam sauna, a beauty room with a tanning shower and a hair stylist
station, as well as a gym in the basement, occupy almost the entire
floor area of the main building and fulfil every desire. In addition
to a large sofa on the way to the sauna, we have infused another
upholstered lounge area with more than a touch of irony: seating
awaits you in the form of an oversized dumbbell and a medicine
ball, illuminated by gymnastic rings. Almost a small Olympic Village.

In private
On the upper level, three children each have their own room and
share a bathroom. It has two entrances and is divided into

diff erent zones so that it can be used by several people simultan-
eously. The central block is it led in red mosaic it les, contrasting

vividly with the floral wallpaper. Overall, the bathroom appears
young and fresh, but never childish, so that it may be accepted as
a visual companion by adolescents in years to come. A door leads
from the youngest child’s room into the parents’ realm. Mirrored
graphics are affi xed to the glass wall leading to the children’s
bedroom. This is the boudoir area for the lady of the house. She
also possesses the rear wall of a leatherette room divider behind
the master bed: It is designed as large open shelving, designed
to exhibit rather than merely store her shoe collection. This area
leads to a dressing room, a space defi ned by four symmetrically
aligned storage units. These are designed as wardrobes that can be
accessed on both sides, with glass doors with a metallic mesh
behind them. We now wind our way from the sleeping area through
the dressing room to the master bathroom. This allows the rooms
to remain open, while keeping the individual areas private and
hidden from view. The central block in the bathroom is mosaictiled

and integrates toilet, shower and washbasins. Floors and the wash-
basin surround are all natural stone. The bathtub and its surround-
ing surfaces are made from Corian and are the epitome of radiant purity.

In this villa, SAF showcases the new look of luxury in twenty-fi rst
century Germany: opulent yet not heavy-handed, modern and open
in place of baroque, playful yet not kitschy.