Villa 18 Balances Three Volumes for Lakeside Living
Villa 18 lands in Madrid, Spain as a house by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, composed with measured clarity and an eye toward the adjacent lake. The single-floor home organizes day and night functions across three offset volumes, making room for a southeast-facing terrace and a north-facing entry court. Calm materials and a choreographed route through water, light, and shade give daily life a clear rhythm without strain.
Morning light slides across pale stone and ash wood as the rooflines step toward the lake. From the entry court to the water’s edge, rooms align in a quiet sequence that holds views and guides movement.
This is a single-floor house in Madrid’s La Moraleja district by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, planned around diagonal views to the golf course lake. The composition hinges on three volumes and the routes between them, knitting together terrace, courtyard, and a lower level anchored by a skylit pool.
Stage the Approach
The three volumes pull apart just enough to shape a north-facing entrance courtyard with a calm, contained character. Crossing it, the eye catches a clear axis toward the landscape, held open by geometry that eliminates supports and keeps the horizon intact.
Shift Volumes, Form Terrace
Daytime rooms occupy two volumes of different heights that subtly slip past one another to frame a southeast-oriented terrace. The taller body rises to almost one and a half floors, lending vertical relief while the offset creates a sheltered outdoor room that soaks in morning sun and filters heat as the day turns.
North Court, Open Span
A third structure gathers nighttime rooms and claims its own private outdoor pocket, separate from the social terrace. Structural clarity keeps the main vistas unobstructed—long, column-free spans hold the plan loose now and adaptable for future uses without contortions.
Continuous Loop by Water
Downstairs, a pool and gym sit under a skylight, drawing daylight deep into the wellness rooms and setting a slow tempo for movement. Above, rounded exterior edges at terrace corners ease both construction and circulation while interior rooms stay orthogonal, so the path flows from pool to terrace to facade and back again (a quiet nod to Andreu Alfaro’s knot-like sequences).
Warm Whites, Calm Rhythm
Materials keep to a warm spectrum of whites—Colmenar natural stone, ash wood from nearby forests, and brass close to 9016—tempered by lighting tuned to 2,700K. Tactile shifts do the talking, creating a gentle cadence that supports the plan: cool underfoot at thresholds, soft grain at touch points, and a consistent tonal field that steadies the eye.
Evening returns the glow to the terrace as shadows pool under the overhangs. Paths read clearly, rooms breathe, and the lake’s diagonal view remains the quiet anchor—steady, open, and unforced.
Photography by Fernando Guerra
Visit Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
