Sayart.net - Fran Silvestre Arquitectos Completes Villa Lago in Alcobendas, Spain

Spanish architecture firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has unveiled Villa Lago, a striking residential project completed in 2024 in Alcobendas, Spain. The 11,906-square-foot home represents a sophisticated exploration of the relationship between built environment and natural landscape, featuring an innovative ascending layout that rejects traditional compact volumes. Photographed by Fernando Guerra, the project showcases the firm’s signature minimalist aesthetic while introducing new complexities in spatial organization. The residence is situated on a unique plot in Madrid where the connection to surrounding nature holds exceptional value, prompting the architects to develop a design that maximizes contact with the landscape. The project deliberately abandons conventional rectangular forms in favor of a longitudinal arrangement that creates multiple garden spaces and blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior. The design team sought to resolve a fundamental architectural dichotomy: creating a structure that is simultaneously geometric and organic. While the building’s underlying structure is precise and rational, the inhabitant experiences it as something natural, almost as if it had randomly settled into the site. This approach draws inspiration from certain works by Spanish architect Alejandro de la Sota and others who explored similar relationships between architecture and topography. The result is a home that feels both meticulously planned and effortlessly integrated into its environment. The architectural concept combines two ancestral archetypes: the pavilion, understood as an open and centrifugal space, and the courtyard, conceived as a more sheltered and uncovered area. The design team has long been fascinated by the relationship with the exterior in elongated plan projects from architects like Glenn Murcutt and Stephane Beel. Villa Lago’s pieces are configured as longitudinal and passing elements, obtained through a large radius that creates flowing, curved forms. These bodies are juxtaposed to optimize circulation and create a sense of discovery as one moves through the spaces. From this relationship arise five distinct gardens with their own identities, functioning almost as open courtyards defined by the arrangement of the architecture. Each garden offers a particular atmosphere and multiplies visual relationships, ensuring that the exterior is always an active presence in the overall experience. These spaces are specifically prepared to accommodate large plant species that will mature over time, further strengthening the architecture-landscape connection. The program is organized following an ascending logic that creates clear zones while maintaining visual continuity. On the lower level are the pool and guest rooms, establishing a foundation for recreation and hospitality. Above this, the daytime area is developed, oriented toward a nearby lake view that becomes a focal point for daily activities. At the highest point are the night quarters, gathered in a piece that acts as a bridge and generates a wide shaded terrace beneath it. This cascading arrangement creates multiple opportunities for outdoor living while responding to the site’s topography. At the point where the different pieces converge is the communications core, which articulates the levels and reinforces the continuity between architecture and landscape. This central vertical circulation element becomes a sculptural presence that organizes the entire composition. The project ultimately arises from something as ancient as it is essential in architecture: proportion. Through meticulously adjusted widths of the elements, the architects achieve the sought-after spatial relationship between built form and open space. The design demonstrates that radical innovation can emerge from fundamental principles rather than superficial stylistic gestures. Nothing more and nothing less than precise dimensional control creates the project’s powerful experiential qualities. The team included project architects Fran Silvestre, Carlos Lucas, and Neus Roso, along with numerous collaborating architects and specialists. Alfaro Hofmann handled interior design, while Estructuras Singulares served as structural engineer. The developer was 37 THREESEVEN, and technical architects Jorge Carrión Ponce and José Miguel Cota San Andrés ensured construction quality. This collaborative effort resulted in a residence that pushes the boundaries of contemporary Spanish architecture while respecting timeless principles of site response and spatial proportion.