Close to Düsseldorf, a villa split in two goes back to being a single family home

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villa from the sixties, which was split into two separate properties, has gone back to being a single family home; this was done by giving a fresh new look to its dated interiors. This is doctor B.’s new home. After becoming head physician of a Düsseldorf hospital, doctor B. moved from Luxemburg with his wife to start a new life here, a stone’s throw away from one of the most important cities in Germany.

The sleek modern decor of the dining room. The open-plan kitchen slots in like a separate volume, in fact it has a different type of floor and a drop ceiling with built-in spotlights and kitchen hood.

We are in Meerbusch, a small town made for the most part of magnificently expensive villas, a 15 min. drive from Düsseldorf and its airport on the opposite banks of the river Rhine. With approx. 50 thousand inhabitants, Meerbusch is the home of the highest number of millionaires in the whole of Germany. The town has a limited turnover of properties and most of them are unaffordable. Therefore, in order to keep costs at bay, buyers often refurbish or remodel houses which until a few years ago would have been pulled down and rebuilt from scratch. And this is exactly what happened here.

Left hand-side, an aerial view of Meerbusch and its villas. Right hand-side, the river Rhine and beyond it the city of Düsseldorf and its airport, which is one of the most important in Germany.

Doctor B. and his wife relied on the Internet to find a suitable home, as well as an architect in line with their ideas. This search led them to both, and they asked architect Ferreira to accompany them to their first viewing and guide them through this process. This isn’t such an unusual approach. In fact, architect Ferreira tells us that he gets at least two or three clients a year, who approach him after having seen his projects on line.

Kitchen to the left and corridor to the right. Right in centre of the room, a staircase with a void at the same height of the landing, between the two flights of stairs. In the foreground, the dining table.

In the centre of the room, Light Table in American red oak, designed by Mattheo Thun for Riva 1920.

Our couple asked their architect to understand if this intricate maze of rooms and corridors had the right potential to become the open-plan and light-filled home of their dreams. Initial sketches, as well as trusting in the architect’s vision and skill, convinced our couple this was the right home for them.

The entire home has the same flooring (apart from bathrooms and kitchen). Large slats in oil treated oak.

The corridor seen at both ends. Left hand-side from the entrance and right hand-side from the dining room. Bespoke glass console tables, which are almost invisible, take up one side of the generously sized corridor, not cluttering up the space.

The new staircase is the core of the home. It replaces the old spiral staircase and with its voids, it brightens up the long corridor, turning it into a pleasant boardwalk with many different view-points. On the ground floor there are only three doors, which lead to guest bedroom, bathroom and garage. The rest of the floor is a free-flowing space; this lets you perceive the home in its fluid totality.

The staircase which leads to the bedroom floor. Right hand-side, the void which looks over the dining room.

On the two top floor bathrooms, a central partition houses water pipers. Shower and WC are concealed behind the washbasin.

Doctor B. and wife have a keen eye for aesthetics, as well as being two extremely practical people. Pushing the limits of imagination, they were faced with a maze of internal walls, doors and corridors, faded wallpaper, narrow bathrooms and outdated spiral staircases. So, our couple called upon the architect who had inspired them, to turn a villa, defaced by previous work, into a home worth buying and that maybe someday, could be sold to their advantage. The outcome is an open-plan home filled with natural light, which unexpectedly filters through the voids that pierce its structure. Here, the light is a constant source of amazement, bringing the joy of a ray of sunshine.

Design project

Renovation of a single family villa in a residential neighbourhood.

Location: Meerbusch, Germany
Floors: 2
Size: 280 sqm
Time-frame: 12 mesi

Architecture project and interior design:
Ferreira | Verfürth, Architektur und Design Studio 
Düsseldorfer Straße 88, Meerbusch, Germany
Tel: 0049 (0) 2132 – 99 55 477
Email: mail@rfcv.de

www.rfcv.de

Joinery: Christian Nix, Düsseldorf

Photos:
Credits Julia Vogel, Cologne
Courtesy Ferreira | Verfürth