Villa Lavan by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
Villa Lavan is a house in Madrid, Spain, by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, laid out as two elongated volumes turning gently across the site. The plan separates daytime rooms facing the garden from upper-level bedrooms oriented to a nearby lake, while the rotation carves shaded terraces crucial for Madrid’s sun. Built for permanence, the dwelling threads climate sense with a clear, enduring structure.
Shadow slides across pale walls as the sun arcs, slipping under deep overhangs and across covered terraces. Two long bars turn a few degrees off axis, catching breeze and view in a single measured move.
This is a single-family house in Madrid by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, conceived as paired, single-story volumes calibrated to climate and outlook. One bar holds the day rooms toward the garden; the other lifts the night rooms to meet a nearby lake, visible only at height.
Rotate for Light
The gentle rotation between the volumes does tangible work, setting up shade where it’s needed and view where it matters. By skewing the bars, the plan pulls covered terraces from structure rather than add-ons, creating outdoor rooms that stay usable through Madrid’s brightest hours. Small shifts yield big comfort.
Views and Shade
Ground-level living opens to the garden for daily life, with broad glazing that frames greenery at arm’s length. Upstairs, bedrooms lift just enough to catch the lake, a prospect reserved for the quieter part of the day and protected from glare by the rotation’s built-in overhangs. Each outlook connects to use.
Open Sides, Air
Each bar uses two solid structural flanks and two fully open elevations to set orientation and draw cross ventilation north to south. Air moves cleanly through rooms while the solid sides anchor privacy where a neighboring house sits higher, and a transverse circulation core splits the more public rear from the rest. The plan breathes, then organizes.
Light From Above
A circular skylight on the upper level, cut from a single piece, drops calm light into the interior and marks the rotation in section. Below grade, the garage and wellness rooms are daylit by a skylight that satisfies local regulations and keeps the lower level from feeling buried. Light is treated as structure.
Built to Endure
The house is drawn for transgenerational use, with a clear, lasting framework that can be reinterpreted over time. Natural, durable materials invite care, resisting short cycles of fashion and wear while keeping the plan’s legibility intact (and desirable) across decades. Against obsolescence, the architecture opts for permanence.
By afternoon the triangular shadows sharpen, sliding along the terraces and into the rooms. Air threads through the open elevations, and the lake holds steady beyond. The house works with sun and breeze, quietly, day after day.
Photography by Fernando Guerra
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