The top floor is a key element to life in the house. It accommodates the living room, dining room and kitchen in a generous, uninterrupted space measuring around 100 square metres and opens onto a roof terrace. The intention was to make it the centrepiece and highlight of the house. "The clients wanted a fluid transition to the living and dining areas as well as to the exterior space," says architect Alexandra Meyer. Together with Sebastian Schmidt from Pirkelmann + Schmidt Möbel- und Küchenmanufaktur, she experimented with the idea of redesigning the house. The result was new zoning in three major areas. Facing the dining table, the team installed a block "as a wave breaker and meeting place", as Alexandra Meyer describes it. Then came the work zone with sink and hob – again designed as a compact block. These two zones are supplemented by a room-forming cube. Accessed through a room-height double door, its interior houses not only a dumbwaiter but also an oven, an upright freezer and a small storage space.

Facing the glazed facade aligned to the roof terrace, this "room furniture" accommodates a bar with seats and a counter with, in the architect's words, "a fantastic view of Lake Starnberg". The colour scheme of this element creates a direct connection to the treetops that can be seen from here. The boundaries between indoors and outdoors become fuzzy – especially when the doors to the roof terrace are opened.

To enhance the visual impact of the kitchen and all other elements in the interior, the rooms needed a new, quiet setting. The designers and clients therefore decided to visually tone down all the surfaces in the house: parquet floors were sanded and white-oiled, wall surfaces where filled to make them smooth and white, white built-in furniture with no handles was integrated wherever storage space was required. Very large tiles achieve the same effect in the completely refitted bathrooms. Against the background of these tranquil, even surfaces, the selected designer items and works of art – already owned by the family before the refurbishment – are able to unfold their full impact. This could only be achieved in conjunction with the lighting, which was also completely overhauled. The idea of using Nimbus luminaires was put forward by the design-savvy clients.

With its discreet look and wealth of variants, the luminaires from the Q Four family proved to be the perfect solution: visually, they are very discreet.  Precisely adaptable to varying requirements, their main contribution is to give rooms soul through their light language. At dusk and in darkness, their light creates a living, cosy structure composed of lighter and darker areas. A total of five different variants of the Nimbus Q Four were installed in the villa, including dimmable versions, varieties with adjustable light colour and models whose light can be directed to exactly where it is needed.

For example, Q Four IN LED luminaires are installed almost flush with the ceiling in the hallways and bedrooms to give soft general lighting. In contrast, the cone of lighted emitted by the tilting and turning  Q Four TT ceiling spots highlights every nuance in the colourful works of art or create golden beams of light on tranquil surfaces. Q Four LED ceiling spots have been added where focused downlighting is required – for example onto the work surface of the kitchen island. All Nimbus Q-Four luminaires have special lenses that suppress glare and bundle light. They reduce light emission to a minimum. Light is either distributed throughout the room or accentuates smaller areas, depending on the beam angle. Thanks to its great variability, the lighting atmosphere becomes an ever changing design element.

The family is very happy with the new layout and new design and appreciates the adaptation to its specific needs. Architect Alexandra Meyer summed up by explaining, "Everyone involved in the project played a role in achieving this result," adding "Without the open-mindedness of the clients and without the commitment and significant input of the furniture, plumbing and lighting designers, the project could never have been such a great success. It was a tremendous joint effort."

Client: Private
Architecture: Architekturbüro Alexandra Meyer, Starnberg
Lighting design: Nimbus Group
Design and realisation of the kitchen and interior fittings: Pirkelmann + Schmidt Möbel- und Küchenmanufaktur, Ismaning
Bathroom design: Das Badstudio, Ismaning
Executed: 2021
Total living space: Approx. 315 square metres

Layout:
Ground floor: Storage spaces, technical systems, fitness room, child's bedroom with bathroom
First floor: Bedroom with master bathroom, study, child's bedroom
Top floor: Kitchen, dining room, living room
Photos: Philipp Funke Fotografie, Zurich

Stuttgart, December 2022
Reprint free of charge / File copy requested

Nimbus has belonged to the Häfele Group since 2019. Located in Nagold, the internationally operating specialist for furniture fittings and lighting is indispensable for furniture production and the carpentry trade, while the Stuttgart-based Nimbus Group is held in high regard in the architecture sector. Two target groups, two different worlds. And yet they have come together and boast a broad joint portfolio of lighting systems for rooms and furniture as well as integrated lighting and acoustics solutions. Product development in the fields of light and acoustics is centred in Stuttgart.

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